My Trip To Anomaly

Anomaly, the deviation or departure from the normal or common order, form or rule. That is the first sentence you see when you go to the home page of Anomaly, the reason for their name and what they strive to achieve. Anomaly is an advertising agency established in New York by Jason Deland and Carl Johnson in 2004. They have six agencies in all to date including New York, Los Angeles,Toronto, London, Amsterdam and Shanghai. Some of their clients include Beats, Converse, Google, Budweiser and New York Life Insurance to name a few. My class and I had the opportunity to visit the Anomaly headquarters in New York. There we heard from Andrew Guirguis, Head of Design at Anomaly and Benita Conde, Director of Creative Management.

I definitely had an aha moment when Benita suggested when we go into an interview ask the interviewer, how does their company bill their clients. That would never have crossed my mind and even at first seem like a rude question to ask. But it makes sense to ask questions to see if these companies align with what you stand for. At Anomaly they take pride in not having their employees full out time sheets so in that case you are not billed by the hour but by your overall work. And another good question is how does the role of the designer plays into your agency.As a designer I would like to know before hand if I am going to be micromanaged or do designers have the freedom to be trusted to execute.

A new terminology I learnt was comm strategy. I saw it on one of the slides when Benita was explaining how the roles of a client’s project or message is divided. This is also where they figure out which is the best medium to communicate the client’s message more effectively. Comms strategy is short for communications strategy. A communication strategy is formed to help the group communicate effectively and meet core organizational objectives or goals.

Before coming to Anomaly I did not know the intricate steps a person in Andrew’s position as Head of Design had to take to have his designs and campaigns become a reality. After being presented with the design brief a mood board has to be created. The mood board insures that Andrew and his team are in the right direction with the client on how the look and feel of their product would be seen. This will also save time in the long run with the client. Next is the visual identity which are all mock ups and the photo direction. Then the campaigns. I did have to ask if Anomaly and a client did not agree on the direction of the project does Anomaly just give in and give the clients what they want? The answer was no. Surprisingly that was they everyday battle, trying to sell the client on their ideas. But at the end if the client and Anomaly can not come to agreement the two would have to path ways.

I can most definitely see myself working in a place like Anomaly. My goal was to always work in branding whether it might be on the creative side or the strategy side once it was in an advertising agency. I love the fast pace, get it done atmosphere. But with Anomaly they are able to corporate the work life and social life in one place. You are not forced to stay at your desk, you can bring your pet to work and I just love the fact that I would be free to walk around and find an area that would be productive to my work. The bars, kitchens and thirsty Thursdays do not hurt either. Looking at reviews on Glassdoor for Anomaly a lot of the pros go to team work and the vibes of the workers being a good one. The fact that Anomaly did not always have the work and play balance incorporated but was willing to listen to reviews of their employees go to show that they listen and are willing to satisfy the needs of their employees. A big factor for me loving Anomaly is they invest in their employees. Whether by education where they have a room dedicated to guest speakers coming to speak and teach the employees and a library of books to also investing in employees side hustle projects.

I was very happy for the chance to go to Anomaly. I only wish New York College of Technology itself would place students in the field and have the chance to intern with places like this. It was sad when a fellow student
asked about their Summer Internship Program only to be told it was already full.
With the right advancement students would know when was the best time to apply for internships.That is nice that we can see these places but can we work in them too? Its not fair that the few students who do get a little heads up or reference on when to apply for certain jobs or internships are when they are that professor’s favorite. Thanks professor for showing us and teaching us so much this semester though.