The WSYA Media XChange

The organizers of the WSYA did a very good job looking for companies that would enable the Winners to talk about their projects with high-level executives in the media and advertising industry. During the WSYA events in New York there were two media exchange programmes:

1) The Visit to the Bloomberg Headquarters

Bloomberg started out in 1981 with the core belief that bringing transparency to capital markets through access to information could increase capital flows, produce economic growth and jobs and reduce cost of doing business. Today Bloomberg builds on that foundation, everything that Bloomberg does connects decision makers in business, finance and government to a broad and dynamic network of information, news, people and ideas that enable faster and more effective decision making. 

The Winners of the WSYA were invited by executives of Bloomberg to discuss their projects, learn about new methodologies used by Bloomberg and how these can be used for their projects.

Our visit to Bloomberg started out with a tour of the most amazing building I have ever seen in my life. WOW! is the only thing I can say. The architecture and interior design were one of a kind. All offices are open plan or have glass wall, this reflects the high level of transparency that is important to Bloomberg. Eames Chairs, contemporary designs, coy fish ponds, fresh flowers, a curved escalator, pink tables and a free food bar for employees  and visitors were the highlight of our tour, given to us by a Bloomberg financial analyst.

We were not allowed to take any pictures within the building, but I found some nice images on the Bloomberg website http://www.bloomberg.com/about/ 

After our tour we were greeted by Deborah Edelman and 3 Bloomberg GM's (For Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg .com and Bloomberg mobile). The GM for Bloomberg mobile just by the way is a Nigerian called Oke Okaro. He helped give an insight to the way Bloomberg uses mobile technology to help communicate with their users. Everything seems to interlock and fit perfectly together, like pieces of a puzzle or perfect clockwork inside swiss watches. Nigeria has a very long way to go, but I believe we can take a step forward each day and we will surely get there and catch up with the rest of the world. Let's make it happen.

2) The Visit to Wunderman 

The visit to Wunderman was educative and insightful for the Winners and me-myself-&-I. Four of the top executives - 

Margie Chiu, Executive Vice President, Strategic Services

Thom Kennon, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategist, Global Nokia

Karan Gera, Vice President, Strategic Planning Director, Nokia & Land Rover 

Matt Tarulli, Creative Lead, Dell SMB 

- handling major accounts took time to listen to presentations by the 6 of the winners and giving them useful advise on how to make their websites better. As a member of the jury this advise came in handy, as now I have more things to look out for when it comes to functionality, navigation and ease of use.  

Wunderman is a media and advertising agency that has world-wide reach and offices across the globe. More information can be found on their website http://wunderman.com/  They work for clients like MSN, Xerox, Johnny Walker, Ford etc. 

I loved the fact that they took the time to talk to the Winners and analyze each project individually. They were truly blown away by the quality of the projects and offered support, advice and any other assistance the Winners may need. Truly a wonderful experience.