Joanne Zaiac, President of Digitas
Our school was privileged to have Joanne Zaiac of Digitas speak with us this past week. The theme “media is the new creative” has become commonplace in our classrooms, so it was interesting to hear from someone who is immersed in the digital and new media field. We left the presentation inspired and more informed.
Here are some points Zaiac made in her presentation:
- Digitas creates active brands — brands that inspire people to take action.
- Digitas focuses on participants rather than traditional “consumers.” An interesting point drawn from factors like crowdsourcing, social media, and an understanding that dialogue should be shared with consumers.
- As an integrated marketing agency, Digitas values “SoMo” — social and mobile advertising methods
- Digitas’ care for its employees is clear in its development of “culture clubs” (sports clubs, single mothers, LGBTQ, etc.) Agency values include diversity, passion, energy, charisma, curiosity, articulateness, and good writing and strategy.
- Digitas dedicates one day of the year to community service. You can visit their YouTube page to see news clips covering their days of service.
- It’s important to stay on the cutting edge — Digitas offers strong training programs for employees of all levels and concentrations. For those interested in advertising, Zaiac recommended taking up leadership opportunities, reading trade and print publications related to the industry, taking advantage of alumni networks, learning about media tools, and becoming participants.
Phim: Some of my personal take-away’s was that Digitas has a very fresh and hip outlook, when working with clients, participants, and employees. It values fun but measures accountability along the way.
Yoli: The agency clearly picked up on the groundswell (participants who share, discuss and obtain information they need with and from each other). Digitas uses the voices in the groundswell to help clients create purposeful, valuable brands.
