Jessica Florey (IMC17)

Associate Director of Marketing Sciences, OMD

Jessica Florey began her career in fundraising and spent four years in Northwestern’s Office of Alumni Relations and Development. In this role, she focused on young alumni and student giving. Her responsibilities included email marketing and growing awareness about philanthropy, and she pursed the IMC program to help her improve her skills in these areas.

Through her IMC courses, she realized her passion for marketing, which ultimately led to her transition into a marketing role. After graduation, she changed jobs and landed at OMD as a senior analyst of marketing sciences focused on programmatic media. Currently, she is the associate director of marketing science focusing on audience strategy at OMD.

What are your main responsibilities at OMD?

At OMD, my primary responsibility is audience strategy for a CPG client. For media campaigns, I use different data sets to help determine who the primary audience should be, as well as uncover key insights to help us understand the most efficient and effective way to go to market. I also help manage learning agendas and measurement plans for the campaigns.

How do you use the IMC way of thinking in your current role?

My role is centered around audience strategy, so the importance of consumer insights is something I think about every day. I also have to ensure that all teams and agencies working on the campaign take those insights into account as they create the creative and media plan for the campaigns.

Why did you decide to pursue your master’s degree and choose Medill IMC?

When I was working at Northwestern, I had someone from my team enrolled in the Medill IMC master's program. When we had meetings, I saw that she asked great questions that led to smart decisions. I realized that to be even better at my current job, I needed to have a more concrete understand of marketing.

Tell me about your transition from working at Northwestern to your current role. Did your IMC degree help you make this career transition?

During my coursework, I realized my favorite classes were about data analytics and brand management. While I loved my job at Northwestern, I knew that I was ready for a career that offered more analytical work that also had more of a marketing focus. I knew that a marketing agency would allow me to use my new skills learned from my courses and continue to learn best practices and new trends in the marketing world.

Without earning the IMC degree, I would have most likely never made a transition to the marketing world. It not only helped me discover my love for the analytical side of marketing, but also helped me gain the fundamental marketing knowledge I needed to be given a chance to interview and ultimately be offered a job.

How has the Medill network helped you in your career?

Making a career transition isn't always easy. A current IMC master's student was kind enough to pass along my resume to OMD's HR team.

What advice would you give to a future IMC student?

My best advice to a future IMC student would be to take classes that not only interest you, but also take you outside of your comfort zone. I was definitely intimidated by some of the analytics courses, but I am so thankful I took them. They helped me uncover a passion and ultimately led me to a new, rewarding career path.