London: Company Visits

Our final day in London consisted of our company visits as well as our group dinner.  Luckily,  nothing happened until 3:00 pm, so all of us were able to catch up on some much needed sleep (I set the record of sleeping in until 1:00 pm).

For our first company visit, we traveled into the heart of London to go to London and Partners.  London and Partners, in short, is a P.R.- like firm for London, working to attract tourism, business, and overall interest to the city.  At London and Partners, we discussed the trade and investment side of their efforts, the need to make London more efficient and eco-friendly, and the efforts to bring company headquarters to the city.

Students had an excellent Q&A time during this visit.  Because many students are interested in new energy technologies and sustainability, they were able to discuss the specifics on making London a greener city.

For our second visit, Idea Shop (part of Ogilvy Group) came to us at London and Partners headquarters.  Idea Shop is a small, yet effective sub sect of Ogilvy that works to give small businesses, non-profits, and artists free marketing advice.  Although Idea Shop could only present for a short period of time (we had to leave our meeting room because a yoga class was meeting there), we were able to learn about how the company began and the work it has been doing in the city.



In the evening, we all met for our group dinner at Albert's Pub, which served us a carving-style dinner (consisting of beef, turkey, and pork) as well as our choice of chocolate cake, cheesecake, or apple pie for dessert.  The dinner was amazing (although the dining room was packed and extremely warm).  Overall, it was a great time.

It was an early night for most; the trip to Paris commenced at 8:30 the next morning.