How does playing lawyer as a kid prepare a person for a career in media planning? Jenn Ridler explains her childhood ambitions and this essential role in advertising agency services, along with her thoughts on some other totally random questions.
How do you typically spend Thanksgiving?
When I was a kid, we would go to my Aunt Donna’s house. Donna is the best cook, and her dinners were always delicious. I would look forward to going. Now, since I have been growing in the field of the culinary arts (no longer being afraid to cook), I am going to try to replicate Donna’s recipes and, eh, we will see what happens.
What did your 5-year-old self aspire to be when you grew up?
I may have been a smidge older, but I remember playing “law” with my friend Jessica. We were lawyers, we had desks, and that’s about all I can remember. But who plays law if they don’t want to be a lawyer? With that said, I wanted to go to law school.
And how does that relate to what you do now?
As a media planner, I craft arguments and present cases (media recommendations) with the goal of client support. During the presentation, I need to anticipate questions (and/or objections) and to be prepared with accurate answers. A lawyer would be prepared in the same manner, with different, tenser subject matter, of course. A few weeks later, if it’s approved, we move to execution, and we become accountants with billing. Each day is challenging, and I learn something every day.
Describe how you power up for a big day—at work or otherwise.
Practice. A big day at work to me means client presentation—like a quarterly report or an annual media recommendation. I take notes from my fellow planners giving me advice or helping me along with how to say something, and I practice it by reading it out loud.
Before a big day of weightlifting, I spend a good amount of time before competition rolling on a foam roller, doing yoga, eating good food and drinking water.
It’s crazy how the smallest things make the biggest difference.
My most controversial (nonpolitical) opinion is …
The toilet paper roll needs to be loaded to go over the top.
Oh, and I like candy corn!
On a Sunday morning, you can find me …
At the gym at 10 a.m. with my weightlifting coach Brittany along with Aly and Beka for our weekly team lifting sesh with a side of high-intensity interval training.
She cooks with (newfound) confidence, loads the toilet paper the “right” way and lifts weights. Oh, and she does some killer media planning—just one of the agency services we provide. Check out our capabilities here.
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