Job Title: Vice President
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Submitted on: 27-Jan-05
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Corporate Culture - The traditional entertainment "publicist" roots of
Rogers & Cowan are apparent within the agency which has grown practice
areas well beyond personality to now also include lifestyle,
technology, sports marketing, music, product placement and promotion.
The approach of the management is in line with the "publicist"
mentality - believing that big names are important to a company's
client roster list regardless of the fee paid. Fostering such a
philosophy results in less billable, less profitable accounts and also
puts a strain on the employees who are working extremely long hours to
get the job done. But yet there is a gray area within the agency in
that the president, formerly CFO and does not have classic PR
experiences, emphasizes the importance of building the agency's brand
worldwide through expanding areas of expertise. His mission is
globalization. Obviously - there are cross-purposes among the top
leadership of the agency. This is not uncommon in the PR world. The
agency also functions more in the silo (account group) work environment
versus the team philosophy. There is little cross-group interaction.
The exception being new business opportunities that tap multiple fields
or a specific client brainstorm sesisons which can draw members of
multiple groups. Information is not communicated frequently by the
management. The president hosts an annual meeting of senior management
to discuss the year's performance and outline the goals for the coming
year. Although - the senior management has requested more frequent
meetings (quarterly) of the group at which each lead relays updates on
accounts, staffing needs, new business, etc. Senior staff is well-
entrenched in the agency. The department heads are long-tenured. Many
of these people have left the agency and returned. In emails generated
from the headquarter office in New York the staff will receive news
about the network and highlights of promotions, etc.
Diversity - Rogers & Cowan and for that matter Weber/Shandwick and IPG
(parent company) has an employee base that is multi-ethnic, well
representing all age groups (20-somethings to 70-year-olds). The
background/experience of staff is also extremely diversified. There
are staff that moved into the agency from the education/academic
sector, movie studio world, record label company as well as employees
who spent years in-house and wanted to experience the PR agency
universe. There are also long-time agency evangelists who have spent
their entire career in the agency arena with no interest in the
corporate setting. Rogers & Cowan gets an A+ when it comes to
diversity!
Hours - I have worked at 5 agencies during my 18 year PR career and
Rogers & Cowan is the first agency in which there are no games about
coming in and leaving. Employees are truly treated like adults. Staff
are expected to arrive on time (early if need be or late if they worked
an event or trade show) and leave when they feel appropriate. This
adult mentality is not taken advantage of. The job gets done. There
is no stress about it. The agency is rigorous about employees
inputting their time on a daily basis. However - time card entry does
not apply to all departments. Apparently - the more traditional
publicist teams have clients on retainer which do not require tracking
of activity by hour. Whereas - the technology and more corporate
communications-oriented groups are required to do detailed time entry
on 15 minute increments. A billable work week is 40 hours.
Dress Code - Rogers & Cowan stands out from many agencies I have worked
in the past because like the hours policy - dress code is not a
mandate. People don't discuss it. Again - the management treats the
staff like adults. You will see jeans during event set up and black
suits and dresses for client meetings. Daily - people are well put
together - "business casual." But again - considering the varied
practice area - dress will be a bit different depending on department.
However - the management of the company is always in business attire.
The receptionists, office manager and other heads of departments are
also well dressed - nicely representing the agency.
Opportunities For Advancement - Rogers & Cowan has a very complex
performance evaluation process. There are many documents to complete
including a chart by which to outline goals (based on the SMART model)
by which to be measured. The HR department truly has open door policy
and is available to speak with employees about career advancement,
issues, etc. There are also a series of workshops through the training
program offered by the agency to help improve management, traditional
PR skills, leadership, etc. to augment on-the-job training. Promotions
do seem to occur at the agency. They seem to be awarded once an
employee is doing that level work. The employee is already competent
in their position.
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