A career in advertising

If you are fascinated by consumer insights, interested in brand strategy and passionate about creative ideas, take a serious look at the advertising industry. But before you focus on an advertising career, understand where advertising fits into the bigger picture of marketing.

The marketing communications industry engages the consumer through:

• Advertising
• Direct Marketing
• Sales Promotion
• Public Relations
• Events
• Sponsorships

Advertising and publicity are the means of informing as well as influencing the general public to buy products or services through visual messages. A product or service is advertised to create awareness in the minds of potential buyers.

Some of the commonly used media for advertising and publicity are TV, radio, websites, newspapers, magazines, bill-boards, hoardings etc. As a result of economic liberalisation and the changing social trends advertising and publicity industry has shown rapid growth in the last decade.

Advertising and publicity is one of the aspects of mass communication. Advertising and publicity is actually brand-building exercises through effective communication and is essentially a service industry. It helps to create demand, promote marketing system and boost economic growth. Thus advertising and publicity forms the basis of marketing.

Advertising and publicity plays a significant role in today’s highly competitive world. A career in advertisement/publicity is quite glamorous and at the same time challenging with more and more agencies opening up every day.

Whether its brands, companies, personalities or even voluntary organisations, all of them use some form of advertising or publicity in order to be able to communicate with the target audience. The salary structure in advertising and publicity sector is quite high and if you have the knack for it one can reach the top.

It is an ideal profession for a creative individual who can handle work-pressure. Most advertising and publicity agencies recruit candidates with a formal management or advertising/mass communication qualification.

Preference is given for MBA’s for posts in the market research, client servicing and media planning departments. In the creative department, on the other hand, a graduate with a command of the language of communication plus knowledge of designing packages like photoshop, coral draw or fine arts is the requirement.

There are also specialised courses in advertising/mass communication at diploma and post-graduation level for which the basic qualification is graduation. However, advertising is also offered as a subject for the graduate degree course in mass communication studies at certain institutions for which minimum qualification is 10+2. In addition there are also certificate courses for which 10+2 is enough.

Basic qualities like creativity and flair for writing or ability to translate ideas into a visual format are required for making a successful career in this field. The aspirant should have an insight into the interests of people from all walks of life, ability to work as part of team, toughness to be able to withstand high pressure and criticism, must be sociable and have calm temperament.

Market and media researchers should have an analytical and logical brain. Those in creative field should possess artistic abilities to make the advertisements appealing to the masses. Many advertising agencies hire people with formal qualification in management and mass communication/ advertising.

There are various institutes/ colleges offering courses related to advertising. Here are some of the top colleges for advertising in India:

Xavier Institute of Communication: XIC is a self-governing certified media centre which offers a variety of courses in training and production. Website: www.xaviercomm.org/

International School of Business and Media (ISB&M): ISB& M was founded with a mission to build an outstanding learning environment that allows students to build up their abilities, ethics and encourage a well-built sense of responsibility. Website: www.isbm.ac.in/

Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication: This is leading institute for Media & Communication in the country. It provides post graduate programmes in Mass communication, Media management and Brand communication. Website:simc.edu/

Asian College of Journalism: This College of Journalism is designed to provide postgraduate courses to students with superlative journalism education modified according to the specific requirements of India and other developing countries. Website: www.asianmedia.org/

Mudra Institute of Communications: MICA is one the renowned and top rated institutes in India that provides specialized courses in Advertising Management, Brand Management, Digital Communication Management, Marketing Research and Media Management. Website: www.mica.ac.in/

Film and Television Institute of India: FTII is an independent body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and have a rich legacy in quality of Indian cinema. Website:www.ftiindia.com/

AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre: AJK MCRC is one of the finest institutions in the field of mass communication. It provides quality education and training in advertising and other aspects of mass communication in India. Website: ajkmcrc.org/

Manorama School of Communication: MASCOM has quickly renowned as one of the leading institutes for education and training in the field of journalism in India. Website: www.manoramajschool.com/

Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media: IIJNM was started in 2001 in Bangalore and is one of leading post-graduate institutes for journalism and media in South Asia. Website: www.iijnm.org/
Job prospects & career options

Career opportunities in advertising include openings in advertising and publicity agencies; advertising department in private or public sector companies; in advertising sections of newspapers, journals, magazines; commercial section of radio and television; market research organisations etc. One can also do freelancing.

Advertising field offers a range of lucrative, interesting careers. The job in this field is categorised into two broad areas, executive and creative. Executive side includes Client Servicing, Market Research and Media Research. Creative side consists of copywriters, scriptwriters, visualizers, photographers and typographers.

The executive department understands client needs, finds new business and retains existing business, selects the appropriate media, analyses timing and placement of advertisements and negotiate the financial aspects of the deal. Creative department creates the advertisement copy. They verbalise and visualize the specific need of the client.

Client servicing: The client servicing department is the link between the client and the agency. It is an important part of any advertising firm like what the heart is to the body. This department is responsible for meeting prospective clients and getting business for the company.

It involves a study of the client, the product and the market; an analysis of consumer behaviour and marketing; knowledge of all available media and their cost effectiveness, and a strategic plan to be presented to the client.

Those in client servicing must therefore interact with clients, gather information, oversee research where necessary, gauge consumer attitudes and on the basis of all this information work with the various departments of the advertising agency to formulate the most appropriate and effective advertising strategy within the specified budget.

To be an effective client-servicing person, the candidate has to have a thorough knowledge of the client’s business and also know his weak points so that, through advertising and communications, the gaps could be minimised.

An accounts executive who works in the client servicing department takes care of all the monitory dealings. He/she should know the most effective way to advertise client’s product or service i.e. the media and their cost effectiveness. Account executives should also have an idea about market research and target audiences.

Market research: Every good advertising plan, start with research. This is the department which surveys the market, analyses consumer behaviour about a product or service. The research people in an advertising agency are involved with collection of data- information about the consumer, the market, and existing competition and so on.

The research studies provide basic information to the manufacturer, for planning a new product. If you are a graduate in business management or hold a degree in statistics/operations research, you can go for market researching jobs in advertising and publicity industry.

Media planning & buying
Responsibility of media planning department in an advertising and publicity agency starts at the point when the advertisement is complete. Media department is responsible for the planning, scheduling, booking and purchase of space and time (in newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, and outdoor hoardings).

The media department must therefore devise the most effective use for an advertising budget to effectively and economically transmit a campaign message to the target audience. This department consists of the following:

i.Media planners: The people who decide the different media where the advertisements would be featured in order to get maximum viewership.

ii.Media buyer: The people who have to negotiate to buy space in the press, or time on electronic media at the best rates for which he/she has to understand the buying as well as the latest selling trends.

The creative department designs and conceptualizes the advertisement. This consists of copywriting department and art department. Copywriting department works on text for the ad and themes for campaign. Art department visualizes the campaign.

Source: employmentnews.gov.in