What do advertising people really do?

Many different roles come together in an advertising or marketing business and different companies will have varying approaches that work for their business. I've worked at a company where the main focus was developing a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program for their top client, which encompasses a ton of programming and development work and all the regular dev lifecycle roles are involved. There are also loyalty programs like AIR MILES where the goal is to change consumer behavior though rewards programs.

Social networks are huge, I recommend starting a page and playing around with ads manager on Facebook - there you can make your own ads and get a sense of how targeting works, which insights matter, and different approaches that can increase your fan base, their engagement with your content and much more depending on your marketing objectives.

Depending on what you choose to do in uni/college, mathematics will get you into analytics very easily, marketing and business is your best bet to understand the industry and gear more towards a strategic sales role, tech is very important, and if you're talented in visual art, design is an awesome role as well. In bigger companies, finance and law become a huge importance too.

You have some great, really thorough answers already posted here, so I hope I can add a little bit of value here. I was an Advertising major in undergrad and did a ton of internships in this world, so let me see if I can simplify how you think through your options in this field.

As was said above, first think through whether you want to work in house for a company (typically in a corporate Marketing department) or in an outside agency environment.
A) If you are really passionate about a particular product or company (i.e. you love sports and want to work for NIKE), going in house is a great option.
B) If you'd like variety and a fast pace, the agency world may be a better place to start so you have lots of exposure.

A) If you go the agency route, you would choose an area of focus such as
- creative: copy writing, designing (such as graphic design) or art direction, etc.
- account service: here you manage relationships with clients and ensure they are getting what they need and continuing to do business with your agency. You liaise with Creative and may have a sales component to your role.
- media planning/buying: many full service agencies include this in house- where you figure out where and how each client should spend their money: print media, digital, broadcast, etc. Media buyers negotiate with these vendors. Media Planners are great with budgets, spreadsheets, and analysis- including thinking through ratings, costs, etc.
- research/account planning: think focus groups and lots of reading. This is similar to "market research."
- "other"- all kinds of other important roles too, but my answer is getting too long and I've hit the biggies in a traditional agency environment
Get an internship is my biggest piece of advice so you have exposure to all of this.

B) If you want to go in house and do Marketing, consider studying Marketing, Business, or Communications as your major and look for entry level roles like "Marketing Coordinator"

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Hi Clarita,
I think it's great that you're interested in advertising!

I'm a TV Producer. I've worked at many of the big "Mad Men" type Advertising Agencies. Ad Agencies are vibrant, whacky, fun places to work (and sometimes maddening and torturous, depending on the day!). There really is never a dull moment in this business. It can be a little bit hard to completely understand the various departments, but here's a quick guide on the main job descriptions, and then I'll give you some tips on how to get into the business:

Account Management Team - The Account Team are the link between the client and the entire agency team. They partner with the client to decide how their products should be marketed, and they are responsible for communicating between the client and all the agency departments to keep the advertising process running smoothly. They usually have marketing degrees or business degrees and are sharp business people.

Creative Team - Writers and Art Directors (or designers). These teams get briefed on the strategy, and then their job is to write/create the ads. These can be print ads or TV commercials, and sometimes digital projects, which can even include video games, apps, Virtual Reality, etc. Creative Teams are hired based on their portfolio (examples of work), so a college that can help you build a portfolio is recommended if you want to get into this field.

Production Department - Producers make the ads come to life. They do the budgets & schedules for the ad, and they help the creative team pick the best photographers & directors for the project. They attend (and help run) the shoot, and they help to manage the edit & music production. They also work closely with the creative teams and the client to make sure everyone understands the process and everything stays on schedule and on budget. Producers should be buttoned up, and should also have an "eye" for good creative work.

Media - This team decides where the finished ads will run and buys the media time. They have to know a lot about the demographics of who watches which TV shows or who clicks on certain websites. This is very important, because it doesn't make sense to create an ad if nobody sees it!

So if you have an intersest in this crazy business, here's my advice on how to get into an Ad Agency:

Tip #1 - Get good grades and get a college degree. An English degree or a Marketing or Business degree are a good place to start.

(Note - Personally, I was an "average" student, and I did not go to a top university or have an outstanding GPA. But, I did have an English degree, and that made it possible for me to secure an entry-level job as a secretary in a top Ad Agency when I graduated. That's how I got my foot in the door.)

Tip #2 - Get your foot in the door. How do you do that? Get an internship. Ask for advice from anybody who can possibly help you, and apply to 100 places if you need to. Do the same when you graduate and begin looking for your first job. You may have to apply to a zillion places - that's fine. Do it and don't stop until somebody sees your potential and gives you an opportunity in an entry-level position.

Tip #3 - And here's the big secret. Are you ready?...... Once you get in the door (and I know you can do it!), knock their socks off with your EXCITEMENT and ENTHUSIASM! There is absolutely no better way to get noticed and be recognized in the advertising world. Even if your internship or entry-level job is not exactly in the department you wanted, show up every single day with a big smile. Find the people that are doing something cool in the agency and ask them to explain what they're doing. Volunteer to stay late to help on a project when everyone else is packing up at 5:00. Figure out who's interesting in another department, and tell them you'll go on a coffee run if they'll let you attend their edit session or shadow them at a presentation. Tell them that you think their job is COOL. Everyone wants to hear that! Join the team for drinks after work. Make sure they know your name!

In nutshell - - the only way to really understand an Ad Agency is to immerse yourself in the crazy culture. The best way to do that is just to apply for as many jobs as you need to to get your foot in the door, and then work hard and BE ENTHUSIASTIC!. Be curious about what other people are doing, and don't be afraid to ask interesting people for advice and for help. Intesting people love that! Show that you are excited, and the odds are that somebody will notice you and give you a shot.

Good luck, Clarita! I'm rooting for you!
Barb

Great question. There are lots of differnt avenues you can take depending on your interests and talent. Things have changed a bit since Mad Men though, and it's not just the absence of three-martini lunches. Clients are much more keen on results, as in sales, and they demand measured results that justify the investment.

I have a friend who is a talented illustrator who draws storyboards for video commercials. He works free-lance from home for several ad agencies and large companies. I'm interested in Internet marketing so I help companies spend their online advertisng money wisely through ads on Search, or banners on on-line publications, where you can track the results of every click. If you're good at math, you can collect and report on those oh-so-important statistics, or if you're an excellent writer, you can create copy that sells. If you're well-organized, you might become a project manager, making sure everything stays on track and that the work is delivered on time, with great quality.

I started out doing marketing within companies before switching to the agency side of the business, where I'm now serving many companies. I think you'll learn more in an agency because you're forced to deal with all sorts of situations, and you're surrounded by people with experience that you can learn from.

So you see, depending on your interests and skills, working in advertising can take many different paths. Good luck!

hi all

The primary function of advertising is to persuade people to buy something. Consequently, understanding how advertising influences people is an exercise in understanding how persuasion techniques are used in advertising to trigger buying decisions. Persuasion techniques can be either rational, irrational or a combination of both

Informational Advertising
Rational techniques are used in so-called called informational advertising because information is used to help people make informed buying decisions. A defining characteristic of informational advertising is that it is "product" centered as opposed "user" centered advertising. Informational advertising provides factual and relevant information about a product or service. This information is provided under the presumption of knowing what is important to prospective buyers who can accept the information as verifiable. Informational advertising might focus on product features and benefits, product performance, comparisons with competitive products or other fact-based arguments that lead consumers to logical and informed decisions.

Transformational Advertising
Irrational techniques are used in so-called transformational or experiential advertising. Unlike informational advertising that is product-centered advertising, transformational advertising is user-centered advertising. This form of advertising is based on the promise of a singularly unique user experience that the product or service delivers to users, which cannot be replicated by competing brands. Transformational advertising promises user experiences that generally improve one's quality of life, such as more fun, more glamorous, more exciting, warmer, richer and more satisfying. Transformational advertising attempts to link the experience communicated in the advertising with the experience of brand usage such that the experience and the brand are interconnected.

Related Reading: How Does the Mass Media Influence People?

Irrational Techniques
Irrational techniques in advertising appeal to people's emotions. Emotional appeals attempt to substitute intuitive judgment for logic in the purchase decision-making process. This intuitive approach to decision-making is dependent on how people "feel" about the brand and the company behind the brand. This is a matter of trust. People who hold advertisers in high regard in terms of trust are more inclined to make decisions based on judgment rather than logic. Emotional appeals obviously won't work when people don't trust or don't know the advertiser. Therefore, before you can hope to have success with emotional appeals, you must earn the trust of your target audience. You have a brand when you have the trust of your audience. Moreover, your brand can command premium prices, because people readily pay higher prices for brands they trust.

Implications for Small-Business Owners
If you want to grow the profitability of your business by commanding higher prices for what you sell, use transformational advertising to build your brand. Fortunately, you no longer have to use costly mass-media advertising to build a brand. The Internet and digital marketing techniques now make it possible to gain trust and build a brand by targeting smaller audiences that could be ideal for your business. You can find these audiences in online social media communities, such as Facebook and Twitter, just to name two. Many small-business owners also are having great success with content marketing. Content marketing is using self-generated information content of interest and use to target audiences that positions you as the trusted authority in your business specialty.

Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to promote or sell something, usually a business's product or service. Advertising by a government in favor of its own policies is often called propaganda.

In Latin, ad vertere means "to turn toward".[1] The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various old media; including mass media such as newspapers, magazines, Television, Radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as blogs, websites or text messages.

Commercial ads seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through "branding," which associates a product name or image with certain qualities in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Non-profit organizations may use free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.

Modern advertising was created with the techniques introduced with tobacco advertising in the 1920s, most significantly with the campaigns of Edward Bernays, considered the founder of modern, "Madison Avenue" advertising.

In 2015, the world spent an estimate of US$592.43 billion on advertising.Internationally, the largest ("big four") advertising conglomerates are Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP.

Advertising can be broken into several groups. You have Art Directors who help come up with concepts (or the "ideas" behind ads, commercials and other things) and Copy-writers who create and come up with all the headlines and text in ads. You usually work together on projects in a team of 2 or more.

There are also Designers or Visual Designers who create the visuals and take the ideas and bring them to life typically in a printed pieces like a brochure, poster, logo or a website. Deciding on what you want to do is simple, all you have to do is ask what you are interested more in. If you like words and word play, its copy-writing, many designers become art directors and many art directors are good at design so those are blurred a little.

If you like crating things from your imagination and are more leaning towards opening Photoshop and creating visuals, then you will more want to pursue graphic design. The step after high school is going to an Ad College or Art school where you can refine your skills and better understand what areas you are best at. Don't worry if you don't know the programs before you go, although it helps before, because you will learn all of that and all the skills you need while in college.

Thats a very simple explanation and there is more depth than that to each position as in Design or Branding Studio vs. and Ad agency but that is a good base of understanding.

You've got some great answers here. I'll echo that following your passions is important as there are lots of different ways to get involved in advertising. For me, I was in account management and account strategy. I worked with the clients to understand what they wanted. I always joked I was the least creative person at a very creative agency - but it didn't matter because what I did was set the strategy for the campaigns. That suited me.

Mad Men days are (mostly) gone. But some of the processes you saw are still there on both sides.