When I was in college trying to decide what career path to take, ABC’s TV series “ThirtySomething” pointed the way. Barely in my twenties, I wasn’t thinking much about the importance of family and friends — even if subconsciously it made an impression. But when Michael and Elliot left for work and walked into that agency, something about it excited me. The rest of my career story is history; I’ve been an ad man ever since.

That was the last time advertising as an occupation was successfully portrayed to the masses on the small screen. Then along came “Mad Men”. There once was a time when mindless, “getting to know you” chit-chat started with talking about the weather. Nowadays when someone finds out what I do for a living, I hear “do you watch ‘Mad Men?’”

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For those of you who don’t know me, I am a self proclaimed “PR princess.” Don’t believe me? Check out my Twitter bio. I even graduated from college with a degree in PR and freelanced in the field for some time. So how, you may ask, did I end up working as an account coordinator for an advertising agency?

The truth is that it isn’t so strange for someone like me to be working in advertising: I don’t see public relations and advertising as separate entities. While there may be PR firms and ad agencies, I think that it makes sense strategically to employ tactics from each discipline to achieve the best mix of results.

I think Fast Company blogger Wendy Marx puts it best; advertising versus PR is like the battle between the sexes. While each maintains specific characteristics and powers, in the end, there are a lot of similarities between the two. And to top it all off, they need each other in order to be successful. I mean, what would spaghetti be without the meatball?

One of the things I was most excited about when I started working here was seeing the inside of an advertising agency. While I knew my way around social media pretty well, I had zero agency experience. I was eager to see how the entire machine worked, not just the Push-n-Pull side of things. Since then, I’ve developed an understanding of the nuts and bolts of a full-service agency such as this one.

Along the way, I’ve discovered that while I really love word of mouth marketing, I definitely have an interest in traditional marketing and advertising, too. I always look forward to the chance to step outside of the web world for a bit and join in on brainstorm meetings. Even though the conversation may not to have a lot to do with the exact work I’m doing or campaign I’m implementing, hearing what the other departments are working on and giving them feedback helps me understand the client’s “big picture”. By just observing my colleagues doing what they do best, whether that be creative direction or account management, I’m learning about marketing, period, not just the social media part.

It’s pretty sweet that I work at the kind of place where I get to carry out new media projects but also dabble in the traditional side, too. Good advertising means that each part – creative, copy, online, offline – complements the other, so experience with the fundamentals of marketing is great context for the WOM I’m doing; it helps me do my job better.

A friend of mine once said that advertising doesn’t work. That he’s never bought something because of an ad. I then asked him what mobile phone service he uses and he replied, Verizon Wireless. He went on to say that he had to sign up for Verizon because he travels all over the country and needs to have a good signal. I laughed to myself and thought of the tagline: “It’s the network.”

Many people see a commercial, but don’t rush out to buy the product. Unfortunately for us ad folk, consumers see our ads but don’t act on it as quickly as we’d like. When they finally do act on it, they usually don’t even know why.

My conversation with my friend was quite funny to me. How many products do you think you have bought because of some aspect of marketing? You probably won’t be able to name many. Take a look in your cabinets and closets and see how many store brands you see. Probably not many. You’ll see mostly brand names everywhere you look. But why? Have you ever tasted Safeway store brand mac and cheese? It’s awesome. But you bought Kraft.

There’s no mistaking the power of building a top of mind brand. Even if you won’t admit it.

Hello there – I’m Danielle Destrade Ali, and I’m the newest addition to The Cyphers Agency. Jocelyn introduced me earlier this week, and shared how I will be contributing to Push-n-Pull, the Word of Mouth division of the agency. As a social media devotee, working in this department is a great fit for me! For the next few months, I’ll be blogging about my experience as the newbie around here.

The Cyphers Agency is my first job at an advertising agency, and while I have experience in online marketing for various organizations, I had no idea what to expect at an agency. Would the workplace be like a modern day Mad Men? I hoped not – I’m not really in favor of smoking indoors. While I didn’t know what I was walking into, I did know that I would be working with people who had a lot more advertising experience than myself. I was more than a little nervous about being able to measure up to all the talent here.

My first day, I sat in on a brainstorming meeting, and expected to just observe and learn. I was a bit surprised when my colleagues were interested in my opinion! I quickly discovered that The Cyphers Agency has a friendly culture where the members of our team are constantly collaborating. Even the open layout of the office lends itself to teamwork. This lack of pretentiousness really allows everyone to share their great ideas freely. I’ve been invited to contribute my own suggestions from the very beginning, and I’ve helped come up with awesome plans for our clients. I love being a part of a team where everyone works together and supports each other, and its been exciting to get validation from my super talented co-workers.

Of course, I am still just getting my feet wet. While I’ve already had opportunities to contribute creatively, I know I will continue to grow and gain more responsibility. I’m excited to continue working, especially with our campaign for The National Chicken Council, which is an excellent example of how social media marketing can be fun, useful and effective all at once!

Keep checking back to read more about what I’m working on and learning about.