Advertising and Brighton

I had been looking forward to this day for quite some time now. I knew that I was going to Euro RSCG London, which is one of the top five advertising agencies in the United Kingdom. With my major being public relations I also have a great interest in advertising. When I arrived at Euro I was met with an impressive array of pastries, fruit and coffee. As the group began to enjoy breakfast, we were all introduced to Mr. Russ Lidstone, CEO. During Mr. Lidstone's presentation he told us about some of Euro RSCG's clients which include the companies Evian, Chivas Regal, Dulux and Reckitt Benkieser to name a few. I must admit this is quite an impressive portfolio to have and I knew at that point that this was going to be an awesome day. Mr. Lidstone continued to share with the group the vision of Euro RSCG London. He stated the vision is to "get clients through the door to talk to them". Quite confident in the capabilities of EURO, Mr. Lidstone shared his belief that if a client comes through the door Euro RSCG will be able to gain the business. I was very impressed to find out the active role that Euro RSCG plays in the community. Mr. Lidstone shared the efforts that Euro had made to aid the Copenhagen Climate Crisis and I was pleased to see an ad agency taking such an active role to help those in need. Little did I know, this was only a small portion of the community work that Euro RSCG does, but I'll share more about that later. After Mr. Lidstone's presentation, Ms. Rebecca Moody, Senior Planner, gave a presentation on the importance and the process of strategic planning. Ms. Moody shared that there are two clear roles in planning, the brand and the channel. She said that it is very important to define a compelling idea and to determine the reactions the consumer will have at various steps of using the product being advertised. Ms. Moody shared that the best way to understand people and effectively plan is to be a good people watcher. She told us that being in tune with those around us and observing others can really pay off in the long run. The next presenter, Ms. Devanshi Asher, Account Director, shared a second way in which Euro RSCG is reaching out to the community. The program that Ms. Asher has been working on is called Green Britain Day. This day is associated with EDF Energy and its push for sustainable energy. Green Britain Day is all about making people more aware of energy consumption and working to use it more wisely. Some very clever ads have been created to publicize this day, but instead of just putting up ads about the day, Euro created five phases to create a successful campaign. Phase one was to "tease the day" which included a commercial with the company and the date of Green Britain Day. Phase two was "launch the day" which consisted of a :60 TV commercial made of 100% recycled video footage showcasing what the day was about. Phase three was "showcase the action" which was the call to action for the community to make "greener" choices. Phase four was "celebrate the day" which included activities around England for people to participate in. The fifth and final phase was "maintain relationships". Euro RSCG realized that to have this successful campaign continue, the relationships created must be maintained and new ones created. I thought this was a great way for a the agency to get involved with the community and I also thought the ads were great too. The next presentation was given by Mr. Mick Mahoney, Executive Creative Director. During this time the group was divided into two and each given the task of coming up with a creative commercial idea for Chivas Regal. The information given to us was the the commercial needed to be about having a designated driver. Each group did a great job of developing a couple of ideas to fit the required mold. I am proud to say that my group's idea was the favorite. :) After playing around with commercial ideas, it was time to meet the next presenters. Ms. Jess Tarpey, Account Manager and Mr. Ken Mulligan, Account Director, came in to share the amazing story of the Dulux project. Dulux is one of the top name brand paint companies here in the UK. Glidden paint in the US is actually owned by Dulux. Getting the business from Dulux was a very important job for Euro RSCG because it is such a popular and recognized company in the UK. For the last six months the people at Euro RSCG have been working on the "Let's Color" campaign. This is an absolutely phenomenal campaign that sends people and gathers volunteers to go around to different countries in areas of low socieoeconomic conditions and paint bright colors on the buildings to liven up the cities. These bright colors are used because color makes such an impact on the mood of an individual. It is thought that if color can be brought into a dark gray place that would otherwise be quite undesirable, then those living in the area will enjoy themselves much more. I provided the ad that was created from this project. I think that it is an awesome ad that shows how much a little bit of hard work can do. To wrap up the wonderful trip to Euro RSCG, we were served a delicious lunch spread. My visit to the agency was far more than enjoyable, it was amazing and thought provoking. It was so refreshing to see a company so focused on helping out the community. A company that has this much involvement in helping people is definitely the type of company that I would like to work for in the future. I am so glad that this visit was saved for the end because it was a wonderful grand finale.

Fast forwarding a few hours....

To make my London journey complete I decided to take a train down to Brighton, England. I knew that Brighton had a beach on the Atlantic ocean but that was about all I knew. When I was on the train I didn't know what to expect, but I was so excited to see the ocean. The town turned out to be very cute with tall hills and winding roads. Brighton reminded me of a coastal town from the U.S. with a cute boardwalk and a variety of shops. I made my way to the beach and enjoyed the breeze for a few hours. It was the perfect relaxing way to end my journey in the busy town of London. The beach in Brighton was different from any beach I have ever visited, it was a pebble beach. Surprisingly, these rocks were quite comfortable to lay on. It was almost like getting a free back =massage by laying on the rocks. I couldn't go to the beach and not put my toes in the water, but I knew it was going to be quite cold. The ocean felt like a giant glass of ice water washing up on my toes. Some people were actually swimming in the ocean, but I was not brave enough to do so. After spending some time on the beach, I explored the town, grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the station to grab my train. It was such a fun journey to the beach and I was sad to see it come to an end. Brighton will definitely be a place that I will visit again. :)

AM