Let's Grab a Coffee

Written by: Madison Zuckerman, Art Intern

Why I Coffee Chat:

Hi, my name is Madison, and I’m on a mission to learn everything there is to learn about working at an advertising agency. As a creatively analytical person, I decided that agency life is where I could best put my skills to use. However, as someone studying Marketing, Graphic Design, and Global Fashion, I realized I’m pretty clueless about where I would fit in.

Before There Was Razorfish Health, There Was Internship Searching:

Feeling on my own with no direction, I started to reach out to anyone and everyone working in advertising. I spoke with family friends, distant connections, and made LinkedIn cold calls. Through these conversations, I learned about the different agency roles and discovered that art direction was the one for me.

I’m Here, Now What?

The networking I did leading up to my internship taught me that learning from the experiences of others is an invaluable source of knowledge. I was ecstatic to be starting my work as an Art Intern but knew that if I wanted to truly understand what makes an agency tick, I would need to pick the brains of people in divisions all across the company. So, I launched into another stream of cold emails and calendar invites, and was off.

Looking Outside of Art:

In a conversation with Lauren Smith (Strategy), I learned the difference between experience strategy and brand strategy. She spoke passionately about user experience and how important it is for successful advertising. I left that conversation with a better understanding of the meticulous strategy that goes into my art direction work.

Ashley Radel (Account Services) spoke on the delicate balance of being an account manager. Constantly in the middle of the client and creative, she helped me understand how to better take feedback on my work.

Did you know there’s a whole team at the agency dedicated to bringing in new business? Well, I didn’t before speaking with Devon Stewart and Kelley Cox (Growth). They showed me an entirely new side to the agency where I could potentially utilize my creative skills.

Wisdom From the Ones Who Made It:

Meeting with senior leadership gave me insight into how to succeed as a young creative. Michael Groff (Creative) explained that confidence is key (but make sure to be humble, too). Kara Kinsey (Creative) told me that being an art director means much more than being a good designer when it comes to succeeding in healthcare advertising. Our conversation inspired me to be a creative that knows their brand just as well as the strategists do. Despite these insights, they both agreed that the key to success was nothing revolutionary. They reaffirmed my long-standing belief that working hard and advocating for yourself is how they got to where they are today.

We All Come from Somewhere, And Sometimes It’s Not A Direct Path:

I learned that almost everyone I talked to had an untraditional path into healthcare advertising. I spoke with former medical device salespeople, consumer goods marketing veterans, and even nutritionists. All these people had ended up here whether it was their second role or their sixth. Learning about different paths into the industry helped ease my anxieties about breaking into such a competitive space. Listening to my coworkers tell stories of the hard work they put in to get here fueled my desire to be the best art director I can be.

In Conclusion:

Coffee chatting across Publicis Health gave me the well-rounded agency experience I was desperately searching for this summer. By making connections outside of my immediate team and agency, I learned more about healthcare advertising than I could have possibly discovered alone. The most important lesson I took away from my summer of networking is: if you’re looking to accomplish a goal, don’t do it on your own.

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Are you just graduating college? Are you wanting to make a career change? Or maybe you’re looking for a place to start your career? Check out our open roles to see if we have something that sounds like you. We know you are not your resume, we understand you are not your work, and we respect that you are so much more than a job description. You are you. So come be you and do you with us.