FCB Site Visit: A Student’s Perspective
Squeezing through the rush hour maze of foot traffic in Manhattan to meet up with the rest of the group from IPhO, I had very little idea of what was in store for our site visit to the New York branch of FCB Health (a company under FCB, short for, “Foote, Cone, & Belding”). My mind had imagined a floor lined with drab, closed-off cubicles: a stereotypical office environment. After taking the elevator up, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see atmosphere of wide windows and open-aired desks (later I would learn from Christina Hines, one of our presenters, that their workplace environment facilitates communication and minimizes workplace “silos”). Rather than forgettable framed paintings particularly common in other offices or workplaces, the high-ceilinged, white-washed walls were adorned by large, eye-popping decals emblazoned with the company’s signature rainbow colors. As if the branch’s interior aesthetics were a commercial in itself, I was immediately drawn in to learn more.
Christina Hines, a recruiter and one of the coordinators for our visit, welcomed us and brought us all into a chic board room. She gave us a run-down of just how big the overarching umbrella company of FCB is (the New York office itself has about 600 employees but has branches in about 90 countries) and how well connected even the branch of FCB Health is (the company has partnerships with 18 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies). She also explained that FCB “advertises on any platform imaginable”, from conventions, taxi tents, holograms, to even classic print publications.
As Christina does a lot of the junior-level hiring, she also gave us an extremely helpful outline of what steps future PharmD’s like me and the others attending can do to step into the world of advertising. One of the key takeaways I got from Christina was that in anything one wishes to pursue, in an interview or application, you need to do your research and show that you care.
Sonya Akrout, Chad Hildebrand, and Lisa Varghese, all PharmD’s, spoke to us next. I was surprised to learn about their varied backgrounds and roles at FCB: Sonya (a senior copywriter) had previously completed a residency; Lisa (a senior medical director), a Rutgers Fellowship; and Chad (a medical director), years of experience working in medical writing. They explained the different areas in the workplace (Account Services, User Experience, Web Development, Creative, Managed Markets, Traffic, Media, Medical Education, Strategic Analytics, and Strategic Planning) all the while pointing out the roles where PharmD’s can be potentially very valuable to a company like FCB Health (especially in areas like Creative and Strategic Planning). Afterwards, they further explained that despite the many paths into advertising even getting in through an entry level position works as well because of the opportunities to learn a lot and move up.
Listening to all of the speakers, I came to the conclusion that the shared qualities of those at FCB were not only good communication and teamwork skills, but also drive and commitment (evident especially during the very late nights preparing for pitches). I believe that not only myself, but the 18 others who attended got so much out of the site visit. The vibrant passion exuding from the employees demonstrated to me that advertising is definitely a high-pressure world, but at the end of the day, if one loves what one does on a day-to-day basis, it makes it all worthwhile.
By Nicolle Rochino