So Long, London. Hello NYC
I’ve often heard people say that Londoners feel at home in New York city right away, because in spite of their differences there is a sense of familiarity. Despite originally hailing from Sydney, until January I was happily living in London. But when the opportunity arose for me to experience NYC firsthand, I thought I’d judge the city for myself.
New York and London do have a lot of similarities. But they have a lot of their own quirks too. For example, I’ve just experienced a defining moment in my new hometown – what We Are Social US MD Leila Thabet calls “a true New York hangover”, the one that lasts from Saturday morning until Sunday night and makes you stay in all weekend ordering Seamless on repeat.
My past life was in the We Are Social London office as Client Services Director. I spent just over two years there, and during that time we grew the agency from a small team of fifty to over one hundred and thirty five. As we won clients and grew our team, the market matured and so too did our remit with our clients. We had to rethink how we did business.
We brought in specialist roles across strategy, creative, editorial, design & development and worked hard to integrate these within the existing teams to create client teams able to deliver the full remit of social strategy, creative and management at global scale. We experienced a shift from social as a campaign afterthought to being the lead creative agency delivering social thinking and ideas with social at their heart.
Even now, looking back over a time of such dramatic change, the thing that sticks is how well we managed to retain the culture.
And perhaps even more surprisingly, the culture in our New York office – where I’ve now taken on the same role – feels so similar to our London office. Except there is suspiciously more clapping and whooping at our company meetings – which I’ve already grown immensely fond of.
At almost fifty dauntingly talented and passionate people, we’re reaching a crucial stage in our growth. We’re still small enough to feel like family, an entrepreneurial one at that but big enough to be a serious contender in the US market.
We’ve even got some big name clients to prove it. And I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with brands like Reebok, Beats by Dre, National Geographic Channel and Armani Exchange. The team has already delivered some seriously brilliant campaigns. And I have a feeling we’ll be delivering a lot more in 2014, so watch this space.
Our office is in the perfect SOHO location – within a radius of great coffee and food. The team runs on caffeinated beverages, Spotify playlists, Skype chats and occasionally those glutinous baby cupcakes.
Oh, and did I mention…we’re hiring! We’re looking for talented people across all levels and specialisms – from Account Directors and Account Managers to Senior Designers and Creatives. So if you’re interested in joining New York’s most exciting agency then get in touch: email us your CV and an introduction to how great you are.