Copywriters
Copywriters work with art directors and creative directors to produce the various elements of an ad campaign. Copywriters provide the words; art directors, the images; and creative directors, the inspiration or the spark.
Copy writing takes a special talent-the ability to paint a picture in the reader's mind with words. That picture must then be so appealing that it makes the reader want what is in it. This applies not only to written words but also the words that are heard in a radio or television commercial.
Research
Contrary to popular notions about advertising, creative ideas and positioning strategies are not simply pulled from thin air. Advertising professionals base every concept, slogan, television and radio commercial, print ad, billboard-virtually every message-carrying vehicle used-on thorough market research, product history, competitor's activities, and the demographics of the audience to be reached. When a campaign is over, follow-up research is usually done on the effect the campaign had on its audience.
Researchers are the scouts and detectives of the advertising industry. They seek out all of the relevant information necessary to build a campaign, then compile and present it to the agency's creative people and the account service team. Verbals who are more comfortable reading than writing are often drawn toward the research end of agency work.
All business types
The all business types come from every imaginable educational background. They can be either verbal or visual in orientation, although their inclination for pragmatism and logic definitely tilts them toward the verbal side of the scale. The all business types do share one common denominator: they understand that the all important, delicate balance between client and agency must be maintained at all costs. They know that this important balance directly translates to bottom-line profits and agency growth.
The all business types know without a doubt that regardless of their personal contributions to agency work in the form of creative output, client service, or even their particular status in the agency that without the agency they cease to exist in a business sense. Thus, the all business types are company-centered men and women. Because these people understand how business works, they are most often drawn to positions in which they either deal directly with clients or into areas of specialization that enable them to translate their innate sense of business acumen into agency activities directly related to marketing, finance, and negotiation.
The all business types include: account executives, account supervisors, marketing directors, media planners and buyers, and business managers.
Account executives
Account executives "bring home the bacon" in an advertising agency. The art, copy, and production people "fry it up in the pan," which the account executives then "serve" to the clients and pray they will love it If rejected it is the account executive who takes the heat. And here, in this simplistic analogy, is the ever-present rub between an agency's creative team and the all business types.
While the creatives are working their little hearts out to produce something that will make peoples' eyes pop, the account executives are worried about their client's budget, the interpersonal dynamics between themselves and the client, and, ultimately, the client's satisfaction. Personally, I think account work is one of the most difficult parts of advertising because you are always forced to walk a tightrope between what you know is the best thing for the client and what clients think they want.
Media planners and buyers
Media planners work together with the marketing and creative people to tailor each campaign to the targeted audience group. Once the appropriate creative strategy has been established, the media specialists will recommend which media to use for the campaign and what percentage of the client's budget to dedicate to each selection.
Depending on the agency, media planners can also be media buyers. This is generally the case with smaller agencies. The larger agencies, however, do have enough volume to keep a media planner so busy that a media buyer is essential to complete the agency's media cycle.
Buyers take the media schedule developed by the planners and contact each of the selected radio and television stations, newspapers, magazines, billboard companies, and any other media vendors the planners have recommended. Sometimes that can even include sky writers or balloon companies. Working with each of the media's own representatives, buyers communicate exactly what the final schedule breaks down to, in terms of money to be spent versus the number of advertisements that can be purchased for that amount. The most important skill a media buyer must possess is the ability to negotiate the best possible price for each media buy.
Business managers
Business managers oversee agency finances. That includes monitoring all project cost records, preparing client bills, and supervising bookkeepers and secretaries to make sure incoming bills are properly recorded and paid on time. They also make recommendations to management on agency spending and financial planning, and work with the agency's accountant to prepare year-end financial statements.
Business managers are the heartbeat of an advertising agency because without their careful attention to financial details the agency would be out of business in no time.
It takes all kinds
There are three more niches that require such a vast cross section of skills that it is nearly impossible to say whether the people who are drawn to these areas are of one particular type or another. More specifically, the following positions seem to be inundated with people who possess a well-rounded combination of visual, verbal, and all business attributes. In other words, it takes all kinds to fill the openings in these agency niches: secretary, traffic coordinator, production coordinator, account coordinator, and creative director.
Secretary
Secretaries in ad agencies are some of the most important team members. They become the support for any creative, management, or sales team. Aside from the typical office management functions that secretaries perform in an ad agency, secretaries are greatly valued if they are capable of editing ad copy, proposals, and client letters, along with troubleshooting budgets, billing, financial reports, and media schedules. In addition, secretaries are frequently asked to participate in creative brainstorm sessions and client meetings. Their opinions and insights to campaign concepts and creative strategies are welcomed by art directors and copywriters who can get too close to the creative process.
Traffic coordinator
Imagine an advertising agency as a giant intersection with roads coming in from every possible direction. Each road represents a new project coming in to the agency. In the middle of the intersection, at a very large desk, sits the traffic coordinator. The traffic coordinator quite literally gives an account executive a red or green signal for each new project they bring into the agency, because the traffic coordinator is the person in charge of scheduling and controlling the flow of agency work.
