New York! New York!

Last week we jetted off to the one and only New York City - and it was absolutely amazing!!! Well, apart from the torrential rain we were greeted with on our first day. I must admit, it wasn't much fun trying to make our way around Times Square through a mass of speeding umbrellas! Not to mention the cold, soggy mess that became of my feet! (For future reference - suede boots and big wet puddles really don't go together well). Despite that, I had a fabulous time.

3 days really wasn't long enough to explore such a vast city, but we did our damn best! Unfortunately, the rain slowed us right down on Tuesday - but we did manage to get a fair bit of shopping done and after a quick change out of our drenched clothes and shoes, we went to see a show on Broadway. Much to our disappointment, The Lion King was sold out! So instead, we went to see a show called Memphis. I have to say, being a bit of a musical fanatic, I was quite surprised that I had never heard of this show before. It was definitely worth a watch though (even though I didn't know the songs to sing along to).

The weather on Wednesday was a hell of a lot drier, so we went about seeing some sights. We got the Subway into Brooklyn and then walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge. We then ventured through the financial district over to Ground Zero and visited St. Paul's Chapel, which was quite an emotional experience. I still cant believe that that little Chapel remained untouched amongst all the chaos and destruction that occurred. I mean, not even a broken window - it truly is remarkable. Perhaps even a miracle?

As well as shopping and sight seeing, we also visited 2 New York advertising agencies during our trip - McCann Erikson and DDB. Both are really great agencies, and it was useful to see first hand how the ad industry works over there. A lot of the things we were told were similar to what we've heard on visits to London agencies, however there also seemed to be some substantial differences to how the industry functions in New York. The main thing that stuck out to me was the importance of a creatives' CV (or resume, as they like to call it). We were told a few times that it is imperative in the recruitment process for a prospective creative to have a good CV and relevant qualifications. In this country, this isn't really the case. Getting into a career as an advertising creative is all about portfolio and personality - or at least that's what we've been told (repeatedly!) But i guess it's useful to know that if i ever decide to pursue an advertising career in New York - i'll also need a cracking resume!