Maeve O'Connor

Why did you choose the Advertising (MS) program?

I had studied Marketing and Supply Chain Management in my undergrad, and I found that I really loved my marketing classes. However, many of my classes at Maryland were focused on client side marketing and after interning at a small creative agency in my senior year, I knew that I wanted to focus more on the advertising aspect of marketing. I love Boston, so when I was researching advertising programs and discovered that BU had a program I was very excited. Once I took a deeper look into the curriculum and saw I would have the opportunity to study abroad in London, I knew I didn't want to go anywhere else.

How did your time at COM help prepare you for your life post-COM?

There are so many things in my day to day job that rely on skills that I learned at BU. I had the opportunity to be a COM 101 teaching assistant, which was one of the best experiences I had at BU. Every week I led a discussion section and it helped to greatly improve my presentation skills. We also presented so much in our classes, that presenting became so much less stressful overall. When I was asked to present in front of a client for the first time in my job, I knew I could rely on the skills I practiced all the time as a TA and in my classes at BU.

The variety of classes that BU offers in the degree helped me to focus on what I was interested in. I never knew I wanted to work in media, but after taking a Media Planning class my first semester, it opened my eyes to a career path I never had considered before. We had to make full media plans for the class and I was able to show them in my interviews, which helped me stand out from the crowd and ended up resulting in a job offer at OMD.

What have you been up to since you graduated?

After finishing my masters in London as part of the Graduate Mass Communication abroad program, I ended up moving to Dublin. I played on the University of Maryland Women's Water Polo team in my undergrad, and joined the BU Women's club team when I started my masters. After I finished my degree, I got the opportunity to play for the Irish Women's National team. Less than a month after finishing the program in London, I moved to Dublin to start training. I have been living in Dublin for almost 2 years now, and I work at OMD and train with a club water polo team, as well as the Irish National team. I also recently got engaged, so planning a wedding from abroad has been no small task!

Can you talk about your current position? How did you choose it? What makes it exciting?

I started at OMD in September of 2015 as a Digital Account Executive. As an exec, I assisted the managers in getting campaigns live, monitoring performance and optimization, and end of campaign reporting. I also would liaise with creative agencies, media suppliers, as well as our clients in order to make sure campaign objectives were met. I have since worked my way up to an Digital Account Manager, and now I get to work more on campaign strategy and media planning. I love being given a brief and having a blank page to start my plan on, I can take a campaign any direction I want and its fun to find publisher that can help execute my ideas.

I knew I wanted to work at an agency, and digital is such a fast moving and ever changing area that I knew I would never be bored. When I went for my first interview and heard about all of the aspects of the role, I knew it would be a good fit since there always something new to learn. I think it is exciting since there is always a new technology, a new platform, or a new innovation that helps keep digital campaigns fresh. In comparison to traditional mediums like TV/Radio/Print, there is always change in digital and something that was relevant as little as 6 months ago, might not be relevant now. It means my team and I have to always be looking at trends and researching new opportunities.

What advice would you give to prospective students considering the Advertising (MS) program?

BU is a great place for so many reasons. The professors are amazing and all of them have had so much success in the advertising field and they are a wealth of knowledge and real world experience. Living in Boston is a great opportunity, it is one of my favorite cities and it is a great place to be a student and it is also wonderful for getting internships and real world experience. AdLab is a great way to polish your skills in a real world setting, but still with the guidance of your professors and classmates which helps to make it less stressful. There are also so many clubs/extracurriculars you can get involved in as a grad student, and Boston is such a great city that you will never be bored! Plus, we have the BU Pub, and who doesn't love a sneaky pint while studying?!

What about students in the Advertising (MS) program who will soon graduate?

I would tell students who are graduating soon to talk to their professors and get as much knowledge and advice from them as possible. They have so many connections and they are eager to help BU students get jobs. When I graduated and I was looking for jobs in Dublin, Prof. Berkovitz (better known around campus as Tobe) was helping me see if there were any BU connections on this side of the pond. They even helped me get in contact with the BU study abroad office in Dublin to see if they had positions. So reach out to your professors, tell them where you are applying and ask for help. They are more than willing to help work on applications, or give feedback on portfolios and resumes. Every little bit helps in the job search, and chances are they might now a BU Alum who is hiring!