Portland 2016: Sportlandia Part 2

The view of Portland from the top of Wieden + Kennedy's office building

While my trip to Portland was focused on sports media, a few of the places we went to had less of a focus on sports but were still related to sports and sports media.

(Apologies for the lack of photos in this post. These were smaller places so there wasn't always something to photograph.)

Wieden + Kennedy

Wieden + Kennedy is an independent advertising agency. Nike is one of its biggest clients, which is one reason why the Portland office was a stop during the immersion trip.

The second I walked into W + K, I could tell this was no ordinary office building. It wasn’t just a corporate building where people came to everyday from 9-5 to work. Outstanding artwork greeted us right as we stepped in the door. The left wall was adorned with hundreds of portrait photographs, and the back wall listed a bunch of what appeared to be Greek names.

The building seemed very open with a lot of space for movement and flow. This theme continued throughout the building as we later discovered during the tour.

A fun room on the top floor of W+K's office called "The Nest," which is sometimes used for conferences, but is also a nice place to just chill and relax.

But before the tour was a short video followed by a Q & A session.  As a journalism major, I didn’t find the Q & A as helpful as others, but it was still informative. I learned a bit about what working in advertising entails and what the different aspects of it are. I most enjoyed hearing about how the employees got to where they are today. Stories tend to be something as I enjoy as journalists love stories.

My favorite part the tour. We went all over the building and saw a bunch of office spaces for each of the different departments involved. But, as I previously mentioned, it wasn’t like a typical office building. It was not rows upon rows of cubicles.

A neon Nike sign in the Nike section of W+K's office

W + K’s office has an open floor plan, so there aren’t too many walls separating everyone. The entire building had this cool, modern vibe. Artwork decorated the entirety of the building from the wooden floors to the beams and ceiling. Video games, food and drinks are easily accessible and available to employees. Those components definitely made W + K seem like a fun place to work at.

Part of the "Just Do It" wall in the Nike section of the office

North

North is another advertising agency, but it is smaller than Wieden + Kennedy. One of its main clients is Columbia Sportswear, which connected them to our focus of sports media.

A few of the first things I noticed at North's office were the dogs, how the vibe was different from W+K, and how many people were wearing flannel.

The second we walked into the building, a dog came up running to our group. In fact, I saw at least four dogs during our time there. It's cool that it's an animal-friendly space, and I'm sure that alone would attract people to work for them.

I also saw at least five different employees wearing plaid flannel button-up shirts in the building. I only saw about 10 employees in total when I was there, so it's safe to say they like flannel at North. (Although I'm sure Portland in general is a fan of flannel. It seems to fit the culture.) From that, I took that North is a casual workplace, much like the city it's in.

North's office building is not as big as W+K's, so there was no tour. We went straight to a conference room area, but from what I did see, it was more office-like than W+K. There was a large area of desks which I saw as cubicles without the walls. North also an open floor plan, but since the building is smaller, it's not as easy to notice.

We spent all of our time there doing a Q&A, and it was very heavily focused on advertising. There seemed to be a lot of jargon going around that I didn't quite understand.

I do admit I felt very out of my element during the visit at North. It was definitely one of the more specific and focused visits. Since I’m not an advertising major and have only taken PR ad classes, I was lost sometimes. But there were definitely bigger and more general messages that North’s employees told us that I could understood and took away. For example, what stuck with me most was to make the message simple. That was something everyone in the class could take away, which I appreciated. 

Green Sports Alliance

Green Sports Alliance is a non-profit organization that works with sports teams, leagues, and venues to promote sustainability in the sports world.

Our time with the unique company consisted of a presentation and Q & A. It was only about an hour since the company is not very big ― there are less than 10 employees ― so there wasn't really anything to tour either. But I was amazed that a company as small as GSA has worked with so many sports organizations across the country and even around the world! GSA works with many collegiate and profession sports teams and leagues in the U.S. and has recently ventured into Europe.

Before this immersion trip, I had no idea such an organization existed. I knew professional sports leagues had sustainability efforts, but I didn’t know there was a non-profit organization that encouraged sports companies to have and help with these efforts. So to learn about that was interesting.

Next up in my Portland blog series is about the fun, non-school related things I did in Rip City! There's a lot included in that, so it will also be split into two parts. Stay tuned for a lot of food and photos!


Portland 2016 blogs:
Portland 2016: Sportlandia Part 1
Portland 2016: Food in the City of Roses
Portland 2016: A Glance at the City of Roses
Portland 2016: Shopping Haul