Advertising Agency job descriptions
Created | Updated Jun 6, 2003
Once the near-mystical guardians of the blue-chip company's brand, ad agencies have had a tough time over the last couple of years.
Seen by many as a rather work-lite, faintly mysterious, rather glamorous and essentially hedonistic job, working in advertising can be an immensely demanding job. The various types of job are:
Account Manager: the hub, the facilitator, and the one person in the agency that just about everyone hates. The account manager (the title differs from agency to agency: account handler in some, account supervisor (la-di-da) in others) represents the agency to the client and the client to the agency. They receive the brief from the client and translate that into a brief for the agency. They then sell the work, at its various stages of development, back to the client. Reviled by the rest of the agency for not "pushing" the creative product hard enough, and harangued by the client for not taking its input on board, the account manager is always going to have a stressful time of it. Which is why they get paid more than just about everyone else.
Creative: the standard creative team consists of an art director and a copywriter. Pics and words... simple eh? So what about radio ads, I hear you cry. Do they require an art director? Shush, I reply. Creatives are notorious for having hissy fits at the slightest provocation (and occasionally without any provocation at all), wandering around in jeans and trainers and generally looking scabby (there are exceptions, but not many) and drinking more than the rest of the agency combined. The most important thing to remember is never to try and get any creative work done on Friday afternoon. They'll be in the boozer. The creative director, the agency's head creative honcho, is almost certain to be a complete and utter tool, as well as (or because of) being the highest-paid guy in the building.
Production: the unsung heroes of advertising, production (or traffic) managers cover up the account handlers' mistakes. They're responsible for the physical production of the work, be it a proof for a newspaper ad, some retouching on a photograph, or whatever. They deal directly with the press to ensure that they get what's required, and look on in derision when account handling collapses in a sobbing heap after realising that there's no way they're going to make a copy deadline. Cynical buggers, this lot, but where would we be without them?
Account Planners: are too boring for words. The research-crunchers, they wade through reams of impenetrable paper and come up with phrases like "the campaign is a tree, really... do you see?". Useful in meetings if you want the client to just shut up, as they can talk for hours without apparent need for oxygen or, indeed, an audience. Rarely wear suits, frequently eccentric.
Media Planners and Buyers: this lot come last because they often don't work for the ad agency, but rather a specialist media agency. After all, once an ad is made it has to have airtime / adspace to run on, right? If you're only interested in joining the industry for the freebies and partying then this is the job to go for: they get more than ANYONE else. Lots of barrow-boys seem to do this for a living. It's rather like adland's version of the City.
So there it is. Finance, HR and all those other nuts-and-bolts jobs have been omitted because, let's face it, they all do the same thing no matter what company you work for.
Seen by many as a rather work-lite, faintly mysterious, rather glamorous and essentially hedonistic job, working in advertising can be an immensely demanding job. The various types of job are:
Account Manager: the hub, the facilitator, and the one person in the agency that just about everyone hates. The account manager (the title differs from agency to agency: account handler in some, account supervisor (la-di-da) in others) represents the agency to the client and the client to the agency. They receive the brief from the client and translate that into a brief for the agency. They then sell the work, at its various stages of development, back to the client. Reviled by the rest of the agency for not "pushing" the creative product hard enough, and harangued by the client for not taking its input on board, the account manager is always going to have a stressful time of it. Which is why they get paid more than just about everyone else.
Creative: the standard creative team consists of an art director and a copywriter. Pics and words... simple eh? So what about radio ads, I hear you cry. Do they require an art director? Shush, I reply. Creatives are notorious for having hissy fits at the slightest provocation (and occasionally without any provocation at all), wandering around in jeans and trainers and generally looking scabby (there are exceptions, but not many) and drinking more than the rest of the agency combined. The most important thing to remember is never to try and get any creative work done on Friday afternoon. They'll be in the boozer. The creative director, the agency's head creative honcho, is almost certain to be a complete and utter tool, as well as (or because of) being the highest-paid guy in the building.
Production: the unsung heroes of advertising, production (or traffic) managers cover up the account handlers' mistakes. They're responsible for the physical production of the work, be it a proof for a newspaper ad, some retouching on a photograph, or whatever. They deal directly with the press to ensure that they get what's required, and look on in derision when account handling collapses in a sobbing heap after realising that there's no way they're going to make a copy deadline. Cynical buggers, this lot, but where would we be without them?
Account Planners: are too boring for words. The research-crunchers, they wade through reams of impenetrable paper and come up with phrases like "the campaign is a tree, really... do you see?". Useful in meetings if you want the client to just shut up, as they can talk for hours without apparent need for oxygen or, indeed, an audience. Rarely wear suits, frequently eccentric.
Media Planners and Buyers: this lot come last because they often don't work for the ad agency, but rather a specialist media agency. After all, once an ad is made it has to have airtime / adspace to run on, right? If you're only interested in joining the industry for the freebies and partying then this is the job to go for: they get more than ANYONE else. Lots of barrow-boys seem to do this for a living. It's rather like adland's version of the City.
So there it is. Finance, HR and all those other nuts-and-bolts jobs have been omitted because, let's face it, they all do the same thing no matter what company you work for.
