A - There are several groups. First there is the production department, which is essentially our purchasing activity. They buy all the printing, and they work with the printer. This is a very complicated and specialized business. It involves typesetting; composition of key line; inspection of color plates, negatives, and proofs; and essentially getting a printing job at a reasonable cost for our client.
I also deal with our public relations and editorial writers, whose b is to interview either client experts in certain areas or their customers and come up with editorial articles to place in magazines. I also interact with the creative area. I find out what the client needs; add my own output to it; and usually write a long memo, which I send to the creative department along with a job jacket asking for either an advertisement, a direct mail piece, or whatever is required of that particular assignment, id they come up with the ideas. They have a blank check so to speak.
Working with the other departments is the political part. I get long great with all of our people, because we have really good staffing 1 both my accounts. I actually go to the departments, because as soon 3 they see me they know what I want. I chitchat a little, but I really don't do it because of brownie points. I do it because I really like these people. I give them some background first. I don't just ask that they do something. I give them some background, tell them why I need it, set a deadline, and then tell them that if there's any problem please to let me now. I just don't go around saying, "Do this! Do that!" I'm not saying lat there aren't people like that, because I know that there are. That's why a lot of people in agencies don't like account managers. There are a lot of people who come across as too authoritative and bossy. They don't really know what they're talking about. You know, the "empty suits."
I work with all the departments, because that is the responsibility of an account representative-to coordinate the activities between the various departments and to be sure the promised end product (whether t be an advertising campaign, media plan, or research report) is delivered to the client on time.
I cannot say that I work with one department more than mother-it changes from week to week depending on the project. Sometimes I work with all departments in one day; sometimes I devote most of my week to the creative department.
Q - Where do individuals start their career paths?
There is really no typical career path in advertising. The way I viewed it was, if you wanted to go into advertising seriously, there were only two markets you would go to, and those were in Chicago and New York, just from the standpoint that that's where most of the major agencies are. The way I went about it was that in my resume and cover letter I said I would do anything to break into the business. I said I'd go into media, I'd be a research person, or I'd be an account person. However, I wanted the path to eventually lead to an account role.
A lot people today are in the same position-they have to take any job they can get just to break in. Before I interviewed in New York and Chicago, sent out over 100 resumes and letters. Most were followed by a telephone call. I had several interviews in New York and several in Chicago. It came down to two agencies in New York (both very well-know agencies) and one in Chicago. One New York shop wanted to pay m $9,200 and the other wanted to pay me $9,500. In New York that would pay rent for half a year.
The agency offered me a position in their newly instituted training program. I entered as a media coordinator. I actually had a golden opportunity. I was in the right place at the right time. I think that is a key phrase you're going to hear when you talk to people about advertising. "You've got to be in the right place at the right time." They were read to set up a training program of sorts, and I was going to be the guinea pig to test it. What I was going to do was work as a media coordinate which is something of a nebulous title because it encompasses everything in media.
Actually after three months a job opened up, which they didn't think was going to happen quite so quickly. An account person left, and I was moved up. It was the opportunity I was dreaming about before left college.
The progression in most agencies is assistant account executive, account executive, and account supervisor. Some agencies have the title "account group supervisor," while others use "management super visor." I started as an assistant account executive, which is an entry level position for a college graduate. Someone straight out of school probably wouldn't move up as quickly as someone with experience, but that is basically the entry-level title. I was promoted to account executive in about six months, and then a year after that I was recruited by the agency I now work for.
We are probably one of the premier agencies, not only for our advertising successes and our roster of blue chip clients, but because we probably have the most well-developed training program in the United States. Every year we recruit from forty to sixty people from about thirty colleges and universities to enter a special program track that is designed to lead to client service work.
The program starts in any of three different departments. You either enter in our media department, the research department, or a very special and limited new program in client service. (In this last department, you're kind of an assistant to an assistant, but that's very new, and I don't know if it will expand in the future.) I suspect that about 80 percent of the trainees go into media, 15 percent into research, and 5 percent into the experimental program.
