Everyone says that advertising is a very stressful job, and I ink that at times it can be just that, but I also think the stress can often i avoided.
Q - What are some important skills to have?
A Being organized is absolutely critical. I have never seen a successful account person who is disorganized. Every once in a while a creative person who is brilliant can be disorganized, but even in that it seems it's hard to be successful in business. It's something that can be armed, but it's definitely a key element.
Beyond a good creative eye and marketing skills, you have to be able to understand people. You've got to get out and know what makes people work. Let me illustrate. When I first interviewed with my company, this very senior person who interviewed me looked way down the bottom of my resume and saw "cannery worker" briefly listed as art-time work. He said, "Cannery worker, that's interesting. Tell me about it." He was interested in the fact that I had some blue-collar experience and that I had worked in an area that my somewhat upper middle-class background would not have suggested. We like people who have some experience behind a sales counter, who slopped hash, or who id this or that. "Real people" experience, as it were.
A There's a whole list of things that are extremely important- interpersonal skills (being able to get along with people at the agency, as well as clients) and verbal skills (being able to communicate successfully). In other words, being able to talk to people and to make presentations is important, because if you can't express yourself verbally, you're sally going to be in trouble trying to get your ideas across. You also have to write well. Analytical skills are most important.
Q - What courses would you recommend?
A I think a case course can provide a very good environment, because it makes you think, take part in a situation, find out what the problem is, find out how to approach the problem, solve it, and then complement the solution. I think it's very, very important that you know how to do that, extremely important. I also emphasize that if you're a marketing person who is interested in advertising, you need some financial background. Possibly a minor in finance; it's becoming that important.
Obviously, marketing courses are necessary for understanding all facets of the marketing mix. Advertising courses are only beneficial i giving you a general overview of the business. However, the only plan you can actually "learn" advertising is on the job. There is just no substitute for actual hands-on experience.
A In my particular company, we have a host of people from a kinds of backgrounds. We have a lot of M.B.A.'s certainly, but the people who have those M.B.A.'s originally studied many other things: language history, English, art, journalism. Anybody can be hired, but you've got strong advantage with an M.B.A.
Q - What changes do you see happening in the advertising field?
A - I would say that years ago advertising was image-oriented. was important to be cute and memorable in terms of product identifier junction. This trend eventually matured into a phase where people got more marketing wise and learned that they also had to position the product in the consumer's mind relative either to the competition or to a specific set of needs.
Now we're entering into a phase where the total scope of marketing is becoming increasingly important. It's not enough for a successful advertising agency to just make good commercials. They also have t totally understand the clients' business. They have to be able to advise them when necessary, to provide a second voice, a sounding board.
This is one of the major reasons why my agency was successful this past year in making the biggest advertising coup of some time, picking up one of the largest accounts in the world. You see, as far as the client was concerned (and the advertising community as well), there was m question that the previous shop was producing absolutely wonderful creatives. But the client still came to us because of our marketing depth. The; wanted not just a full-service agency, but someone who can actually be J full-time marketing partner. Hence, the big agencies are increasingly hiring people with considerable advertising and marketing experience.
Don't be disappointed if you can't get in right off the bat. Very few people happen to walk into an entry-level job with an advertising agency. Most of them have to settle for something less than that to begin with, and then they have to be persistent over a period of a couple of years to get in. That is a key thing to keep in mind.
