Advertising Roles

Advertising roles
In this essay we will talk about four roles that define the Advertising world both on the client side and the agency side. We will look at their various tasks and how they interact to add value to an advertising campaign. The four roles we will talk about are commonly met in advertising agencies however there is no clear naming or role and skill distribution, every agency can handle their job roles as they wish.
There are two types of agencies: the independent agencies and the in-house agencies. The main difference between them is that the in-house agencies have only the sole purpose to work for their own company. Advertising agencies are creating, managing and planning all aspects of their client`s advertising. (Duncan, Advertising agency - The Advertising Definition for Advertising Agency)
The first role we are talking about is the Account Executive (AE). The key role of an Advertising agency Account Executive is to maintain the good relationship between the client and the agency. He is responsible for the communication between the creative team and the client and is the person who pitches the work to the client. An Account Executive usually handles four client accounts at a time. Account Executives have to have a special set of skills: he has to be well-organised, to have professional appearance; he must handle pressure well and be willing to travel to the client. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Account Executive Career Profile)
A typical day of an Account Executive starts whit contacting the creative department and checking the status of the client`s jobs and if they will be finished in time. He has to contact all his clients at least once a day to check on updates and on upcoming projects. He then has to review and present concepts and layouts to the client for approval and finally communicate the feedback from the client back to the creative department and discus the next steps in the campaign. A common misconception about Account Executives is that they are part of the creative department however an Account Executive is not creating or designing any material, his role is to manage the clients’ accounts and being the contact between agency and client. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Account Executive Career Profile)
The next role we will talk about is the Creative Director (CD) in an advertising agency. A Creative Director is the overseer of the creative team and helps to develop the creative products for the clients. His team usually includes copywriters and designers; he also works with the Account Executives to ensure that creative goals are on track and the client`s needs are meet. A Creative Director has to create every aspect of the campaign based on the client`s marketing plan, he has to create concepts for the client and verify that the deadlines for the clients are met. The glory is assigned to the Creative Director if the campaign is a success but he also has to take the blame if the campaign fails. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Creative Director Career Profile)
The special skills which a Creative director needs include having experience in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Flash. He needs to have solid background in copywriting and design and have the ability to lead a team. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Creative Director Career Profile)
A typical day of a Creative Director starts with attending strategy meetings for new business then he meets with the creative team and checks the status of current project and assigns new tasks and projects to the team. His task is to lead brainstorming sessions with the creative team to create campaigns based on the client`s needs. He creates the advertising proposal for the client`s and pitches the concepts to them. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Creative Director Career Profile)
Creative Directors are confused by many people with Art Director when in fact the Creative Director oversees the entire department which includes Art Directors, designers and copywriters. (Duncan, Advertising Agency Creative Director Career Profile)
The third role we will talk about is the Art Director (AD) in an Advertising agency. The role of an Art Director is to create and designing ads, websites, brochures and outdoor media on behalf of the client for the advertising agency. The Art Director is creating and maintaining the visual look for all the accounts he is working on. He has to make sure that his designs are visually engaging and have a clear selling message. Often an advertising agency will group an Art Director with a copywriter to create basic advertising ideas, campaign concepts and websites. After the agency has selected the direction in which the campaign goes, the responsibility to design the finished works is handed to the Art Director. (Sharavsky)
An Art Director should be able to manage a project, in multiple media, from concept trough production. He needs the ability to translate the marketing strategy into layouts, logos and packaging and need a strong background in design. As with the advancement of theology Art Directors need to know HTML and PHP. (Sharavsky)
The typical day of an Art Director is to design ads, websites and brochures on a computer, to attend brainstorming sessions with the other members of the creative team to create new concepts for business presentations. He usually meets with copywriters to create new concepts for advertising campaigns. (Sharavsky)
The last role in an advertising agency we will look at the Media Director. The Media Director is the overseer of the media department and has the responsibility to manage the need of the client’s media buying and planning. He is responsible for placing ads in magazines and newspapers as well as TV and radio. The placement of the advertising is calculated trough research and analytical models to determine the best placement depending on the client`s goals and budget. (Duncan, Media Director Career Profile)
A Media Director needs to have the skills to work with a wide range of people including clients and his own staff. He also needs to be able to analyse research data to determine the best placement for the client need and have excellent communication skills; also a professional appearance is strongly needed for the Position of a Media Director. (Duncan, Media Director Career Profile)
The typical day of a Media Director includes meeting with the media sales representatives then attending strategy meeting for new business. He is pitching to potential clients and contacts current clients to discuss their current project. The Media Director contacts the media department to check the status of current client accounts and to plan future media buys. The role of a Media Director is often associated with the one of a Media Planner or Media Buyer but in fact the Media Director is managing the media department and is standing above the Media Buyer and Media Planer. Media Planners and buyers usually handle few accounts where the Media Director is handling all accounts and is responsible for them. (Duncan, Media Director Career Profile)
We now have talked about four major roles in an advertising agency however there is no clear rule how the roles and names in an agency are defined, so the agency roles are very volatile and can differ from agency to agency or from country to country. It is only the structure of the agency that defines each role however a clear and standardised typology and role definition should be used so no confusions are created.
We see that every role from the Account Executive to the Media Director has a high impact on the final campaign. Where the Account Executive is working on the front side of the agency, the Creative Director and the Art Director are working on the actual campaign and the Media Director is working on the placement of the campaign created by his colleges. All roles have to understand the responsibilities and the skills of each other in order to create a valuable campaign.

Reference
Bibliography
Duncan, A. (n.d.). Advertising agency - The Advertising Definition for Advertising Agency. Retrieved 04 17, 2012, from about.com Advertising: http://advertising.about.com/od/advertisingglossarya/g/advertisingagen.htm
Duncan, A. (n.d.). Advertising Agency Account Executive Career Profile. Retrieved 04 17, 2012, from about.com Advertising: http://advertising.about.com/od/profiles/p/acctexecutive.htm
Duncan, A. (n.d.). Advertising Agency Creative Director Career Profile. Retrieved 04 18, 2012, from about.com Advertising: http://advertising.about.com/od/profiles/p/creativedirect.htm
Duncan, A. (n.d.). Media Director Career Profile. Retrieved 04 2012, 2012, from about.com Advertising: http://advertising.about.com/od/profiles/p/mediabuyer.htm
Sharavsky, A. (n.d.). Advertising Agency Art Director Career Profile. Retrieved 04 18, 2012, from about.com Advertising: http://advertising.about.com/od/careerprofiles/a/AdvertisingAgencyArtDirector.htm