Titi Ogunbayo Blog Entry #5

One of the things that was apparent as we walked into Cohn & Wolfe was the sense of community. Newly engaged employees taking photos and the chatter and smiles on everyone’s faces; definitely not your average office environment. Cohn & Wolfe looked like the bar I would want to visit after work and it didn’t seem like they were putting on a show either. When our class was being briefed by the various employees, that camaraderie could still be felt and I wondered how come everyone was so comfortable that they chimed in when their co-workers spoke? Clearly, they were comfortable around each other and they had synergy but it wasn’t until when Amy spoke that I realized it wasn’t all in my head.

“Emergenetics” was the science behind their synergy and if nothing else stood out that day, this certainly did. Emergenetics is a method by which Cohn & Wolfe teams are put together based on how the brains of individuals in those teams work. That way teams benefit from having members who might think differently but work synergistically. I loved it and I actually wanted to learn more about it but I didn’t think that was the purpose of the presentation. Maybe next time, I’ll just ask!

I also enjoyed the Choice Hotels presentation because it was interesting to see how they took raw data and created some really insightful work. I didn’t expect that from a PR firm but it makes sense that they would do work like this due to the branding nature of their work. I really am stuck in dinosaur mode- communications sure has changed since I left college all of 5 YEARS ago. I may still be holding on to some obsolete definitions of PR but that is the beauty of this class- it forces me to let those definitions go and open up my mind.

I always knew that certain celebrities didn’t write on their twitter handles and that their tweets were carefully crafted by their manager or some handler but I had no idea that this was actually a widely used tool in PR. From celebrity PR to Pharmaceutical PR, there is a completely different voice, or in this case set of hands, behind the keyboard. It feels completely disingenuous but I guess there are other things to worry about like making money.

I think Cohn & Wolfe is a marketing communications firm and PR is one of the main tools they use to drive results. The scope of their practice is not as I expected but I would have liked to hear about other departments or clients instead of Pharmaceutical PR. However, I will say it was inspiring to see the passion the two speakers had for that field. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it was a good thing that we got to hear about the Pharmaceutical branch of their work just because it showed me that just because something seems boring, doesn’t mean it is.

An opportunity Cohn & Wolfe faces by serving their diverse roster of clients is that they can attract a variety of talent who don’t just want to take their careers further by working on a myriad of brands. One of the challenges they may face is that one particular strategy may work for one client but may not work for another. Learning to come up with a different approach for each client or for a different group of brands might be difficult.

I am not sure that Cohn & Wolfe is the place for me even though I do want to try my hands on PR. However, their Emergenetics Program is such a selling point for me that I may want to consider getting an internship there.

P.S. Nothing to report from Summer's Eve this week. If something comes up before next class, I'll be sure to add it here.