Unit 6–Part 2-Careers in Advertising
How To Get A Job In Advertising
Matryoshka Dolls with Olga & Dema
“When you are appointed to head an office in the Ogilvy & Mather chain, I send you one of these Russian dolls. Inside the smallest you will find this message: ‘If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs, but if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, Ogilvy & Mather will become a company of giants.’:
~David Ogilvy, Ogilvy On Advertising, page 46.
A conversation about advertising, with David Ogilvy
David Ogilvy interviewed by John Crichton in 1977. Realized by the American Association of Advertising Agencies AAAA. David is seen as the “pope of advertising”. This is the complete interview version.
While in the past I have never considered a career in advertising, I recently read the late David Ogilvy’s books, Confessions of An Advertising Man and Ogilvy On Advertising to learn more about career opportunities in advertising and advertising agencies.
I highly recommend reading both books for any one interested in a career in advertising or mass communications and for business owners and executives interested in growing their businesses.
David Ogilvy started his own advertising agency in 1948.
Today Ogilvy & Mather is one of the top ten marketing communication firms worldwide and employs over 15,000 people in 450 offices around the world with a tradition for training and developing their talent. Ogilvy & Mather is part of the WPP family of companies.
Ogilvy & Mather
http://www.ogilvy.com/Careers.aspx
According to Ogilvy advertising offers four different career paths:
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You can join a television network, a radio station, a magazine or a newspaper and sell time or space to advertisers and their agencies.
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You can join a retailer like Sears Roebeck, and work as a copywriter, art director or advertising manager.
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You can join a manufacturing company like Procter & Gamble, and work as a brand manager.
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You can join an advertising agency.
Source: Ogilvy On Advertising, page 31.
I would most likely pursue the career path of working for a leading advertising agency such as the following:
All of the above advertising agencies are owned by British marketing giant WPP http://www.wpp.com/wpp/companies/
Since I live in Dallas, Texas I would also be interested in working for a local Dallas advertising agency such as the Richards Group http://www.richards.com/index.html# or the local Dallas office of ReachLocal http://reachlocal33-px.rtrk.com/ .
There are several jobs in advertising agencies including the following:
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Account executive
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Art director
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Copywriter
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Creative director
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Media director
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Researcher/Analyst
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Program Director
Actual job or position descriptions from the Ogilvy & Mather web site are provided at the end of this essay.
With over twenty years of experience in the financial services industry, sales, and running my own firm, the positions that most interested me are account executive, copywriter, researcher/analyst and program director.
An account executive or in earlier times the contact man is responsible for representing the agency to the client and getting the best possible work from the various agency departments for the client.
A copywriter is responsible for writing interesting prose for print media and dialogue for broadcast media ( television and radio).
Media director is responsible for all aspects of client’s media services.
A researcher/analyst conducts surveys, writes reports and provides answer to questions.
Market research is information on the market, competition, prospects, distribution and pricing.
Advertising research is information directly related to an advertising campaign including the development, pretesting, and evaluation of the actual advertising campaign or materials.
A program director is responsible for assembling and managing teams to deliver work.
Since I do not know anybody that works in an advertising agency to interview, I decided to first interview Marshall Siegel, the Advertising Advisor for Richland College, School of Human & Academic Development, who has over thirty-seven experience in advertising with a trade magazine publisher where he had numerous positions in all departments except media.
Marshall Siegel is a graduate of the University of Missouri, School of Journalism. After college, his first job was with the Chicago Tribune, formerly self-styled as the “World’s Greatest Newspaper” (for which WGN radio and television is named). When the Korean War broke out, he was called up by the U.S. Army and served in Korea as a private first class. Siegel subsequently joined the Army Reserves and retired years latter as a Major.
After completing his active duty military service, he returned to the Chicago Tribune. At the time he was paid only $35 per week and decided for financial reasons to take a higher paying position selling advertising space for a firm that publishes trade magazines.
After thirty-seven years with the trade magazine publishing company, the company was sold to a British firm for forty million dollars in cash.
Siegal retired soon thereafter when the British firm wanted one of their executives to manage the company.
Siegel now assists students at Richland College as an advertising and writing coach and as Advertising Advisor to Richland College. When advertisers want to post their ads on the Richland College campus, he is the person you go to get your ad approved and stamped. Place you ads only on cement walls and be sure to take them down after two weeks!
He loves owning and driving Porsches and carries photos of his “babies” in his wallet.
Siegel recommended that with my financial services and sales background I approach an advertising agency about selling advertising of financial publications to prospects and clients of the advertising agency.
He suggested I go to the main library in Plano or Dallas and look up the names of the agencies that I was interested in working for in the Advertising Red Books to determine who the advertising agency’s clients were.
“…The Advertising Redbooks Standard Directory of Advertising Agencies January Edition (S11) 2010
Each Volume 1 Advertisers $ 1495.00 AS LISTED TO BE ORDERED FROM THIS SECTION
Each Volume II AGENCIES $1495.00
CD-ROM; CONTAINS Both These Volumes is $1995.00
PLEASE CALL AT 905 946 9588 OR EMAIL US at sales@ippbooks.com
The Advertising Redbooks’ defines useful agency-to-advertiser relationships for prospecting and competitive intelligence research. …”
http://www.ippbooks.com/store/advertising-red-book-advertising-agencies-of-the-usa.html
Siegel also recommended that I obtain for selected financial publications their advertising rates from the SDRS directory at the library:
“…”For 90 years, SRDS has built and maintained the largest and most comprehensive database of media rates and data in the world, including:
-Magazines
-Newspapers
-Television & Radio Stations
-Online Sites
-Out-of-Home Venues
-Direct Marketing Lists …”
http://www.wpp.com/wpp/companies/companydetail.htm?id=532
WPP acquired SDRS in 2009.
SRDS Portal
http://www.srds.com/portal/servlet/LoginServlet
Siegel also recommended that I send a letter or e-mail to the founder or head of the advertising agency expressing by interest in working for his agency.
I indicated that I was more interested in a creative position in advertising such as copywriter for I write every day on a blog and have published over sixty videos on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/raymondpronk and designed and developed a number of web sites on famous artists
The one agency in Dallas that most impresses me is the Richards Group founded by Stan Richards.
2010 JA Dallas Business Hall of Fame Laureate – Stan Richards
I still remember participating in a focus group one evening for The Richards Group.
A group of individuals in the financial services were there to review the advertising and marketing materials for a financial services client of The Richards Group.
I will be reading his book next:
Another firm that interests me is ReachLocal that is relatively new and has just opened an office in Dallas.
ReachLocal has a unique system that gets prospects for advertisers.
ReachLocal Vision
ReachLocal Promo – What We Do
ReachLocal Promo – How It Works
How It Works: The ReachLocal Platform
Job Descriptions
From Actual Job Open Positions At Ogilvy & Mather
Account Executive
“…Responsibilities:
- Responsible for the smooth week-by week running of the account and the effective management of all Client projects
- Develops positive, proactive relationships with Client and Agency team creating a stimulating environment within which the best work can develop
- Begins to develop people management skills by coaching and developing their reports and by demonstrating an ability to effectively delegate both up and down.
- As the Account Executive moves towards promotion to Account Supervisor he/she will begin to show leadership and drive in thinking of innovative solutions to business/strategic problems and in merchandising the Agency’s services
- Understands challenges facing Client’s business in the short-term
- Makes it their business to know all aspects of competitive activity
- Develops an understanding of the motivations/behaviour patterns of consumers in the marketplace by attending focus groups/ quantitative debriefs, store visits etc.
- Goes to lengths to gain a thorough understanding of all aspects of the brand – from reading reports, visiting factories/stores and talking to sales force to using/experiencing the product/service
- Supports planners in developing ideas and stimulus for research
- Actively contributes to discussions on strategy and advertising development
- Works with Account Director and Planner to develop inspirational briefings for Creatives
- Keeps in regular contact with Creatives during development of ideas, keeping them supplied with any useful stimulus and helping to ensure they remain motivated and enthusiastic
- Keeps Client involved in the development process to build their confidence and enable them to buy braver ideas.
- Has mastered a range of presentation techniques and works with the Account Director to identify the most appropriate and inspiring way to present and sell each piece of creative work
- Be a sound judge of creative work, able to coherently argue the case for or against creative work based on the brief and factual accuracy, both internally and with the Client …”
Art Director
“…Responsibilities:
- Generate original concepts in partnership with copywriter
- Manage multiple deadlines/projects
- Present creative to senior management, account teams and clients
- Be a brand expert and steward for clients and Ogilvy
- Cast (or assist with casting) talent for TV/radio/photo shoots and attend production/editing
- Liaise with production companies, photographers, typographers, designers and printers
Copywriter
“…Responsibilities:
- Generate original concepts in partnership with art director
- Write strategically sound headlines and body copy for digital, print and broadcast deliverables
- Manage multiple deadlines/projects
- Present creative to clients
- Keep breast of cultural and industry trends
- Become a brand expert and steward for both clients and Ogilvy
- Cast (or assist with casting) actors for TV/radio/photo shoots and attend production/editing
- Liaise with production companies, photographers, typographers, designers and printers
http://careers.ogilvy.com/private/myjobs/openjob_outside.jsp?a=3jdo4jjibi1r49wrf9pgq9n9b2pvqyz45f4wjbysqnrh3rk24g6avteuh5ueleox0&from=COMP&id=2325396&SearchString=Copywriter&StatesString=
Media Director
“…Responsibilities:
- Oversight on all aspects of client’s media services
- Responsible for overall media objectives and strategies that fulfill client business objectives
- Lead creation of all important plans and presentations
- Demonstrate thought leadership and innovation for enhanced media plans and results
- Foster cross-agency relationships with account, production, and outside partners
- Train, motivate & develop Media Supervisors, Media Planners, Assistant Media Planners
http://careers.ogilvy.com/private/myjobs/openjob_outside.jsp?a=3jdo4jjibi1r49wrf9pgq9n9b2pvqyz45f4wjbysqnrh3rk24g6avteuh5ueleox0&from=COMP&id=2280700&SearchString=Media+Director&StatesString=
Researcher/Analyst
“…Responsibilities
•Assist senior analytic staff with various analytic projects for experiential , shopper, and promotional campaigns
•Retrieve raw data gathered from field or market activities and synthesize it into usable forms for account team usage
•Join multiple sources of data into one, normalized dataset
•Provide analysis beyond reporting basic facts, such as regression, cluster and factor analysis, and simple tests for statistical significance
•Maintain library of analytics case studies used to develop industry benchmarks
•Produce analytics reports from both custom and template designs
•Manage time spent against multiple projects, ensuring deadlines are maintained and met
•Assist in writing of reports
•Some client-facing responsibilities …:
Program Director
“…Responsibilities:
- Will work primarily on the digital side of the business, including such projects as:
- Tutorials
- New product launches
- Various TWC.com site initiatives
- TWC online Applications
- Scoping new projects and recognizing changes to current scope
- Should be familiar with key disciplines and their processes for delivering work (IA, Creative, Content Strategy, Project Management, Strategy, Engineering, Usability, etc.)
- Working with other disciplines (especially digital project management) to assemble and manage teams to deliver work
- Project plan development and risk planning
- Reviewing actuals to track profitability of projects and course correct if necessary
- Day-to-day client contact and advisement
- Presentation writing and presenting skills, meeting facilitation skills …”
“The biggest problem which besets almost every agency is the problem of producing good campaigns. Copywriters, art directors, and television producers are easily come by, but the number of men who can preside over an agency’s entire creative output – perhaps a hundred new campaigns every year – can be numbered on the fingers of one hand. These rare trumpeter swans must be capable of inspiring a motley crew of writers and artists; they must be sure-footed judges of campaigns for a wide range of different products; they must be good presenters; and they must have a colossal appetite for midnight oil.”
- ~David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man, 1971, New York:
David Ogilvy made it very clear what he wanted when he advertised for a Creative Director for Ogilvy & Mather International:
Trumpeter Swans
In my experience, there are five kinds of Creative Director:
1. Sound on strategy, dull on execution.
2.Good managers who don’t make waves…and don’t produce brilliant campaigns either.
3. Duds.
4. The genius who is a lousy leader.
5. TRUMPETER SWANS
who combine personal genius with inspiring leadership.
We have an opening for one of these rare birds in one of our offices overseas.
Write in inviolable secrecy to me,
David Ogilvy, Touffou, 86300 Bonnes, France.
Signed David Ogilvy
~Source: Ogilvy On Advertising, page 48
Ultimate Animal Dads: Trumpeter Swans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnqkfglZI2Q&feature=related
The Trumpeter Swan
A Trumpeter Swan looking for a new career opportunity with an advertising agency.
Background Information
The Pope of Modern Advertising – David Ogilvy
http://www.hulu.com/watch/46488/the-david-susskind-show-the-pope-of-modern-advertising—david-ogilvy
David Ogilvy: We Sell or Else
David MacKenzie Ogilvy
“…David MacKenzie Ogilvy, CBE, (June 23, 1911–July 21, 1999), was a notable advertising executive. He has often been called “The Father of Advertising.” In 1962, Time called him “the most sought-after wizard in today’s advertising industry.” [1] He was known for a career of expanding the bounds of both creativity and morality in advertising. …”
“…The Ogilvy & Mather years (1949–1973)
After working as a chef, researcher, and farmer, Ogilvy started his agency with the backing of Mather and Crowther, the London agency being run by his elder brother, Francis, which later acquired another London agency, S. H. Benson. The new agency in New York was called Ogilvy, Benson, and Mather. David Ogilvy had just $6,000 in his account when he started the agency. He writes in Confessions of an Advertising Man that initially, he struggled to get clients. Ogilvy also admitted (referring to the pioneer of British advertising Bobby Bevan, the chairman of Benson) “I was in awe of him but Bevan never took notice of me!” They would meet later, however.[3]
Ogilvy & Mather was built on David Ogilvy’s principles, in particular, that the function of advertising is to sell and that successful advertising for any product is based on information about its consumer.
His entry into the company of giants started with several iconic advertising campaigns:
“The man in the Hathaway shirt” with his aristocratic eye patch which used Baron George Wrangell as model; “The man from Schweppes is here” introduced Commander Edward Whitehead, the elegant bearded Brit, bringing Schweppes (and “Schweppervesence”) to the U.S.; a famous headline in the automobile business, “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”; “Pablo Casals is coming home – to Puerto Rico”, a campaign which Ogilvy said helped change the image of a country, and was his proudest achievement.
One of his greatest successes was “Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream”. This campaign helped Dove become the top selling soap in the U.S.
Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do notable work for his existing clients. Success in his early campaigns helped Ogilvy get big clients such as Rolls-Royce and Shell. New clients followed and Ogilvy’s company grew quickly.
In 1973 Ogilvy retired as Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather and moved to Touffou, his estate in France. While no longer involved in the agency’s day-to-day operations, he stayed in touch with the company. His correspondence so dramatically increased the volume of mail handled in the nearby town of Bonnes that the post office was reclassified at a higher status and the postmaster’s salary raised.
Ogilvy & Mather linked with H.H.D Europe in 1972. …”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy_(businessman)
Russia-Matryoshka doll class
SRDS sale gives WPP an unfair advantage
“…This affects the direct marketing industry because SRDS provides a research system that is used for making mailing list purchasing decisions and formulating media plans. List managers use SRDS to promote their lists. List brokers and mailers use SRDS to make list selections.
WPP Group is a huge advertising agency holding company with an estimated 100,000 employees and £6.18 billion revenue in 2007. A big part of WPP’s revenue is commissions from media purchases done by their stable of advertising agencies. It’s a good strategy for WPP to buy SRDS because it will give them better insight into media purchases that happen outside of WPP. They can use SRDS’ database to better calculate their market share and to develop laser-focused strategies to acquire the share they don’t already own.
If I were a list broker, I’d be really nervous about this.
After all, list brokers compete with WPP agencies for their commissions (i.e. their livelihood). If WPP owns their list research system, it would provide WPP with powerful insights that enable them to steal the business away from list brokers and move those commissions to WPP agencies.
Imagine if your competitor could see all your research and proposals before you publish them. They would eat your lunch! …”
http://blog.nextmark.com/2008/11/srds-sale-gives-wpp-an-unfair-advantage.html
The Richards Group
“…The Richards Group is an American advertising agency. It is the largest independently owned agency in the country.[citation needed]
Based in Dallas, Texas, The Richards Group reports annual billings approaching $1.25 billion. Memorable work includes the iconic Chick-fil-A Cows (“Eat Mor Chikin”)[1], the Motel 6 campaign featuring Tom Bodett, and the dialogue-free Corona Beer TV commercials set on tropical beaches.
Major clients include Baby Magic[2], Fruit of the Loom, Home Depot, Sub-Zero/Wolf, and Zales. The agency handles advertising, public relations, and promotions for dozens of clients nationwide, in addition to sports/entertainment marketing for colleges and universities.
In the 3rd quarter of 2009, PODS signed The Richards Group as their creative agency.[3]
The Richards Group is associated by common ownership with Houston advertising agency Richards/Carlberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Richards_Group
Trumpet of the swan – Ogilvy & Mather Chairman and CEO Rochelle Lazarus
“…In 1994, IBM stunned the marketing world by consolidating its $500 million advertising account, parceled among 40 agencies, into just one. It was the largest account switch ever and at its center was Shelley Lazarus, then the president and COO of WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
Named chief executive last fall, on April 30 Lazarus inherited the chairman’s baton from Charlotte Beers, the 61-year-old dynamic Texan who became the first female chief executive in O&M’s history in 1992. Heading the $7.6 billion agency that legendary adman David Ogilvy founded in 1948, whose clients include Duracell, Ford, Kimberly Clark, Shell Oil, Jaguar, Sears Roebuck, Eastman Kodak, and American Express, makes Lazarus the most powerful woman in advertising – not bad for someone who couldn’t find work 25 years ago.
“Other agencies wouldn’t hire me, claiming they didn’t want to alienate the wives of account executives with whom I’d have to work late,” Lazarus recalls. But O&M took her on in 1971 as an assistant and a few years later – when she was six months pregnant – named her its first female account executive. With the exception of a hiatus in 1974 to follow her husband on a two-year posting at a Dayton, OH, Air Force base and care for their newborn, she has spent virtually her entire career at O&M. On returning to New York, she rejoined the firm and was soon running O&M Direct, the unit responsible for “junk mail.” Considered “off-the-path” at the time, Lazarus found direct marketing “a specialty with enormous profit potential,” and parlayed the job into a launch pad for posts as president of the New York office and president of Ogilvy North America. …”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4070/is_n124/ai_19694503/
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