To: Ermira Mazziotta, Professor of Accounting
From: Sarah Theurer, Accounting and Finance Double Major
Date: December 4, 2017
Subject: Marketing and Social Media
When attending the talk for marketing lead by Alex Davis, I learned a great deal about
the world of marketing. Davis works as a Director of Engagement Strategy at Allen &
Gerritsen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As soon as I heard where she worked, I gained
much interest because I live near Philadelphia. She started off her marketing career
working for a huge firm where it seemed like everyone was encouraged to be like
everyone else. After a short period of time, she realized that she just had to learn to be
herself because that is what is most important. She realized that advertising agencies
really champion diversity, so being you is the best thing a person can do. Early in her
career, Davis came on as the assistant account executive on the U.S. Army account,
which I thought, was very cool. The people she worked with help come up with the
current slogan for the U.S. Army, which is “There’s strong and there’s Army strong.” In
order to come up with this slogan and get to know the client better, Davis was actually
sent to participate in basic training.
One of the most helpful pieces of advice that she gave during her presentation was that
something would always go wrong, so you should be prepared for it. I thought this was
an important piece of advice because it showed me that not everything is going to perfect
in the business world because things come up and you have to deal with them. She also
talked a lot about context throughout the presentation. She defined context as, “the right
message, at the right place, at the right time.” Again, I think this definition really helps
people realize what a good advertisement is. Alex did a very good job with keeping the
audience engaged. In most classes at Muhlenberg, we really focus on making engaging
the intersection of those three. When a person finds the intersection of those three points,
they have created the perfect advertisement.