“There’s never a perfect time to start anything, you just have to go ahead and do it.” These are just some of the inspiring words Aaron Kwittken had to say to us at KWT Global today. On our 15th and final stop, I was truly amazed at the dedication and thought that went into our visit.
KWT Global is a global brand strategy and public relations agency located in SOHO, New York. We were immediately greeted by CEO Aaron Kwittken, who took time out of his busy day to personally welcome us to his company. Kwitten is a George Washington graduate who started the agency in his basement 14 years ago. KWT synthesizes the most impactful elements of PR, influencer engagement, social media and content marketing to tell stories that drive reach and build relationships. They are a purpose-driven agency that strives to fulfill their social responsibility by offering clients a 10 percent give-back fee to an organization of their choice.
Aaron Kwittken was a personable man who had an abundance of relevant advice to offer us. According to him, in order to be successful in an agency you must show curiosity, optimism, collaboration and empathy. One piece of advice that resonated well with me is that you should never let fear get in the way of an idea. Whether you want to start your own company or dive right into a big agency, Kwittken stressed the importance of taking risks while you are young.
Alumna Dara Cothran was a wonderful host and went above and beyond in making sure we had an enriching experience. She is the senior account director at KWT Global. After a brief presentation, we were able to get our hands dirty in a mock creative briefing for Extend Fertility. We broke up into smaller groups and worked together to make a plan to increase awareness for fertility and egg freezing in NYC in an effort to drive more paying customers to Extend Fertility.
My group worked together to come up with numerous strategies to bring awareness to the cause, empower women to take control of their futures and direct them to Extend Fertility to do so. Jack Taylor, Alexa Porter, Christine Bartruff and Philicia Thompson were amazing team members. We decided one of the best ways to bring awareness would be to showcase success stories of women on social media. We wanted the audience to see real women who took the initiative to control their future. We emphasized the importance of having the ability to choose when you want to start a family. After the creative briefing session we presented it to the class and were able to see what other groups came up with. After observing so much from other agencies it was really cool to finally be able to put our newly learned skills to use.
Our KWT Global visit was the perfect example of hands on education. What we did today simply cannot be taught in a classroom and is one of the reasons all of us ventured out to New York City this week. We saw first-hand what goes on in an agency and were able to participate and feel noticed in this overwhelming and fast-paced industry.
