Senior VP, Corp. Comm., Discovery Communications
▶ I don’t regret one minute of starting my career in the agencies. I got to work on the TaylorMade golf account, which was every golf-lover’s dream and completely lost on me. But it was a great opportunity. In fact, when I am hiring I give a lot of weight to candidates with agency experience. I know they have the fundamentals; they can multitask, serve the client. You carry those your whole career. I have tons of friends at agencies doing their best work with a variety of brands in their portfolio. It keeps them fresh. I thought I would be most effective going deep on one brand. Early on I realized I wanted to be part of an organization and tell a story rather than be a representative of an agency doing it. I was a Discovery viewer and had friends there. I knocked on doors until one of them opened. That was 15 years ago. I’ve been incredibly lucky to be on this ride and have worked with and for people like David Leavy, Annie Howell, David Zaslav and Joe Abruzzese.
▶ You have to read widely from The Atlantic to People and be well rounded to think strategically and come up with winning ideas. Know your brand and build relationships, but you also need to establish your own brand as a responsive, trustworthy partner to media that you work with. The foundation of communications, building relationships, knowing your brief, articulating your message, those don’t change despite the medium.
▶ At every level of the business you need to raise your hand. You have your core job, which you have to do well, but [also] look around for opportunities within the organization that excite you. People who raise their hand, are curious about how the business is run and broaden their skillset beyond their comfort level are the ones who succeed.
(By Catherine Frymark as told to PR News.)
(Catherine Frymark will be honored during PR News’ Top Women in PR luncheon, Feb. 27, at the Grand Hyatt NYC.)
CONTACT
Catherine Frymark, [email protected]
This article originally appeared in the February 23, 2015 issue of PR News. Read more subscriber-only content by becoming a PR News subscriber today.