Observation
Experience
The Richards Group
For my observation
experience I interviewed and spent time with Karen Dougherty from
the Richards Group. The Richards Group is a marketing firm in Dallas,
Texas. It has received national recognition as the most creative
advertising agency and the largest independent advertising agency
in the United States. Last year the agency billed 850 million dollars
which is figured by the amount of money its clients spend on advertising.
Karen Dougherty
Karen
Dougherty is an Account Planning Director for The Richards Group.
She has worked for The Richards Group for 12 years and previously
worked for Decision Analysis in Arlington for 8 years. She is an
extremely savvy and creative business woman who has been very successful
with The Richards Group. Her job is to learn about her client's
customers in order to create creative brand strategies that promote
their products and services. This can be done by focus groups, research
of consumer profiles, current research on a specific industries,
etc.
Affiliates
Mrs. Dougherty has a number of resources at her disposal to assist
in creating brand strategies. There are affiliates which are independent
profit centers in The Richards Group. The affiliates are essentially
sub companies within a company. The affiliates are Click Here (web
group), Desk Type (presentation, graphics and desktop publishing
group) and Richards Interactive (interactive Internet advertising
group). The affiliates work with their own clients and are also
called in by the Account Planning Directors of The Richards Group.
Sometimes it is evident from the beginning that the affiliates will
need to be called in to help with projects (especially if they are
a .com company), and other times the affiliates are called in to
assist with planning and projecting needs.
Click
Here
Click Here creates and or updates web pages for customers. The head
of the group is approximately 50 years old and was previously an
Art Director who focused on graphics. He has a gift for developing
logos, annual reports and advertising that is striking. His focus
is always on the visual look and appeal of a web site. He was promoted
to director of the web group because of his focus on design and
layout. He has technical personnel that work for him to create the
sites.
Desk Type
Desk Type creates
presentations, graphics and any desktop publishing work. The head
of this group has a design background as does his employees. Their
main focus is to keep all client advertising consistent with the
same look and feel.
Richards
Interactive
This affiliate
creates banner ads and animated advertising for the online environment.
Recently they created a unique pop-up advertisement for a Florida
orange juice company. The advertisement starts with orange juice
pouring into the pop-up ad and filling up from the bottom. Mrs.
Dougherty said the advertisement was very effective. The director
of this group is middle age and was previously an art director.
Affiliate
Importance
Mrs. Dougherty believes that the affiliates are becoming more important.
Stan Richards who is the Chief CEO would not keep them if they were
not profitable. However, Richards Interactive has been affected
by a number of the .com industries going bankrupt.
Personnel
Most of the personnel in the affiliates, especially the directors,
focus on and have backgrounds or work experience in design and art.
Technical personnel are always needed but they must have strong
design abilities to move up.
Company
Focus
The Richards Group focuses on the integration of all of a client's
advertising. This means that all advertising has the same personality,
look and feel, graphics and language. Advertising includes all commercials,
web pages, brochures, pamphlets, logos, etc. A company's advertising
needs to work together as a whole to create a personality for the
brand.
Reflection
on the Interview
The time I spent with Mrs. Dougherty was very beneficial to me.
Her strong moral character and high ethical standards have made
her a valuable employee and a trusted account director by her clients.
I have been good friends with Mrs. Dougherty for 35 years (since
3rd grade) and seen her develop high standards for herself and others.
It is thrilling to see that these qualities along with her creative
talents have allowed her to advance in the advertising business.
I believe that helping students to understand the consequences of
their choices and helping them to develop high standards might be
the most important part of my job as a teacher.
It is evident
that technical skills must be accompanied by good design skills
and techniques. In order to be promoted in these fields, strong
design skills are required. The affiliates of the company focus
completely on the design, personality and integration of the client's
advertising. I knew that design was very important, but now I know
it is extremely important! It is also evident to me that the integration
of web pages, videos, animations and desktop publishing is critical
for students to understand if they are to be marketable employees
in the future. Next year I am going to focus on design in every
Technology Application subject and integrate technologies on a number
of projects in order to prepare my students for employment. |
