Elena Rivera-Cheek recalls starting Copy & Art in the basement of a small house in the historic Battle Hill section of White Plains ”“ site of the Battle of White Plains during the American Revolution (Oct. 28, 1776).
Eleven years later, it has become a top advertising agency in Westchester County, offering a quality of service comparable to any of the larger agencies in New York City but on a smaller scale that is more agile and responsive to client and employee needs. Recently, Rivera-Cheek has taken steps to underscore her place in the advertising world with offices that are a far cry from a Battle Hill basement.
“We recently moved into a custom-built, 7,000-square-foot office in the heart of White Plains,” she says. “We really tried to build an office that people would actually be energized to go into, which is a hard thing considering nobody wants to go into an office at all right now.”
Copy & Art”™s offices feature an open floor plan, modern furnishings and walls adorned with splashes of color and inspiring phrases and quotes.
“I would say what we brought with us was a little bit of that cool,” Rivera-Cheek says, “that New York City vibe. When people walk in, they”™re like ”˜Ooh, this is a New York City-caliber experience.”™ It”™s cool, there”™s no other way to put it. It”™s not an accounting firm. It”™s clearly a sharp, creative space.”
Rivera-Cheek carries a fair bit of New York cool herself. Born in the Bronx, she went to college at the State University of Stony Brook on Long Island, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English. (She also holds an M.B.A. in media management from Metropolitan College of New York and studied digital business strategy at MIT Sloan School of Management.) After meeting her husband, they moved to Westchester County. For many years, she worked in the kinds of advertising firms she now competes with and, in the process, had an epiphany.
“Clients hate how budgets get inflated at big agencies,” Rivera-Cheek says. “Let”™s say you”™re running an ad with an agency and you want to make a three-word change? That might take you $15,000 and two weeks if not more, and that”™s a low-ball.”
Filtering requests through multiple people who all add to the billable hours even if their input is minimal bloats the budget and extends deadlines without necessarily improving quality, she adds. That is why at her agency she has focused on developing a streamlined process that provides multilayered collaboration among departments but doesn”™t encourage hemming and hawing before delivering results.
Inefficiency, Rivera-Cheek concludes, is the thing that clients hate most about working with ad agencies. She concentrated on eliminating that at Copy & Art but also realized that to build the strongest possible agency of her own, she also had to eliminate what workers hated most about ad agencies.
“What they love is that creative feel,” she says. “What they love is a little bit of the flash that comes with being at an agency. What they hate is being deprioritized, not mattering as much as the bottom line.”
At most agencies, she says, that feeling is exactly how the agency works. “They”™re not concerned with the culture, and that”™s a big word now as an employer. We”™re getting a lot of play for our culture, because I have intentionally made sure how my people are treated is second to none. I will do anything and everything to make sure that they have the best.”
“We spend a lot of time at work,” Rivera-Cheek says. “You should love what you do and how you do it.”
Of course, creating the ideal work experience for her employees has other benefits. Rivera-Cheek says her people enjoy the amenities like a Peloton in the gym or a coffee bar. But it”™s particularly useful for letting clients know the ethos of the agency they will work with.
Teamed with a highly vetted group of diverse and motivated workers from across demographics, Rivera-Cheek says they can ensure that there are no flat ideas, only work that moves the needle.
For more, visit copyandartny.com.
