Cohere Media Agency

Hey guys! My names Mike Murray, and I’ve been interning at Cohere Media Agency over the summer. One of our newer and more exciting clients at Cohere is the Philadelphia Navy Yard. We are working alongside PIDC and Levlane to build a culture inside and around the Navy Yard in order to make it become a new destination that Philadelphians want to explore. As a part of this process, I helped to analyze data gathered from a focus group which included Navy Yard tenants such as: GlaxoSmithKline, RevZilla, and of course Urban Outfitters. To help further my understanding of the space, I was invited to come take a tour of the Urban headquarters – which I previously had no idea even existed in this city.

            Arriving at the Navy Yard was an interesting experience in itself. The big blue gates at the entrance seem to confuse people as to what’s inside. Even my Lyft driver thought I worked in the U.S. Navy. However, once you pass the slightly unwelcoming gates, the place looks like a college campus. Massive factory buildings used previously to construct warships now house imported French fabrics, quirky breakout spaces, and even a couple dog parks. Aside from the elegant aesthetics of the headquarters, one of the things that really grabbed my attention was the work place culture that exists within their company.

Instead of closing themselves off and creating cliques like you would expect any big fashion brand do, they seem to pride themselves on being the most welcoming company of all the offices in the Navy Yard. The way they see it, and it is hard to disagree, they act as influencers to current and future tenants of how the Navy Yard should be. In a meeting with one of the head developers on the Navy Yard, there was much discussion about how they are being careful with how many new offices they allow to open within the next few years, as they would really like to see the Navy Yard become the next cultural attraction, and not end up as an office park wasteland.