An advertising agency or ad agency or advert agency is a service based business dedicated
to creating, planning, and handling advertising for its clients.
An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the
effort of selling the client's products or services.
An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions
for its clients.
Typical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations
and government agencies.
Agencies may be hired to produce television commercials and radio commercials as part
of an advertising campaign.
History The first acknowledged advertising agency
was William Taylor in 1786.
Another early agency, started by James 'Jem' White in 1800 at Fleet Street, London, eventually
evolved into White Bull Holmes, a recruitment advertising agency, that went out of business
in the late 1980s.
In 1812 George Reynell, an officer at the London Gazette, set up another of the early
advertising agencies, also in London.
This remained a family business until 1993, as 'Reynell & Son,' and is now part of the
TMP Worldwide agency under the brand TMP Reynell.
Another early agency that traded until recently, was founded by Charles Barker, and the firm
he established traded as 'Barkers' until 2009 when it went into Administration.
Volney B. Palmer opened the first American advertising agency, in Philadelphia in 1850.
This agency placed ads produced by its clients in various newspapers.
In 1856 Mathew Brady created the first modern advertisement when he placed an ad in the
New York Herald paper offering to produce "photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes."
His ads were the first whose typeface and fonts were distinct from the text of the publication
and from that of other advertisements.
At that time all newspaper ads were set in agate and only agate.
His use of larger distinctive fonts caused a sensation.
Later that same year Robert Bonner ran the first full-page ad in a newspaper.
In 1864, William James Carlton began selling advertising space in religious magazines.
James Walter Thompson joined this firm in 1868.
Thompson rapidly became their best salesman, purchasing the company in 1877 and renaming
it the James Walter Thompson Company, which today is the oldest American advertising agency.
Realizing that he could sell more space if the company provided the service of developing
content for advertisers, Thompson hired writers and artists to form the first known Creative
Department in an advertising agency.
He is credited as the "father of modern magazine advertising" in the US.
Types of advertising agencies Ad agencies come in all sizes and include
everything from one or two-person shops, small to medium sized agencies such as Traction,
large independents such as SMART and multi-national, multi-agency conglomerates such as Omnicom
Group, WPP Group, Publicis, Interpublic Group of Companies and Havas.
Full service agencies These agencies are involved in planning, creating,
producing advertisements, performing research and selecting media.
Some full service agencies also provide non-advertising related services including strategic market
planning, direct market promotion programs, interactive marketing and web site design,
and public relations.
The importance of the various functions provided by a full service agency will depend upon
the client.
Some very large full service agencies run their own marketing research departments.
There are also many professional services with local and national networks which work
closely with the agencies, do commissioned research in specific geographic areas, income
levels, consumption patterns, product groups, etc.
A full service agency is one that provides a direct relation to the Copyright, Artwork,
Ad production, Media planning etc.
Creative agencies Creative agencies specialize in "creative"
or design-based business models and are also known as a "creative boutique".
Their basic interest is in the creation of the advertisement or branding.
Other agencies offer design in conjunction with media buying.
Media agencies concentrate on media buying.
The client who chooses to use a design only based advertising agency must assume some
of the advertising purchasing.
These are activities that are routinely handled by an agency with a media buying option.
Specialized agencies These agencies specialized in a particular
activity of the whole communication process.
They may specialize in certain functions, audiences or industries or in a marketing
communication area.
These type of agencies may serve one client only.
In-house advertising agencies An In-House agency is a team within a company
that focuses on selling the company's product; they will handle all aspects of the brand.
Digital agencies Interactive agencies may differentiate themselves
by offering a mix of web design / web development, search engine marketing, internet advertising/marketing,
or e-business/e-commerce consulting.
Interactive agencies rose to prominence before traditional advertising agencies fully embraced
the Internet.
Offering a wide range of services, some of the interactive agencies grew very rapidly,
although some have downsized just as rapidly due to changing market conditions.
Today, the most successful interactive agencies are defined as companies that provide specialized
advertising and marketing services for the digital space.
The digital space is defined as any multimedia-enabled electronic channel that an advertiser's message
can be seen, heard from and understood.
The "digital space" translates to the Internet, kiosks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and lifestyle devices.
Interactive agencies function similarly to advertising agencies, although they focus
solely on interactive advertising services.
They deliver services such as strategy, creative, design, video, development, programming, deployment,
management, and fulfillment reporting.
Often, interactive agencies provide: digital lead generation, digital brand development,
interactive marketing and communications strategy, rich media campaigns, interactive video brand
experiences, Web 2.0 website design and development, e-learning Tools, email marketing, SEO/SEM
services, PPC campaign management, content management services, web application development,
and overall data mining, and ROI assessment.
There are 4 elements for digital media - Digital media Planning, Social Media, Web design and
applications and Digital PR.
Search engine agencies Lately, pay per click and search engine optimization
firms have been classified by some as "agencies" because they create media and implement media
purchases of text-based ads.
This relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term "agency", however with the
creation of ads and media purchases, these search agencies are technically known as advertising
or media agencies.
However, SEO has traditionally sat separately, usually as a service offered by web development
companies.
With the increasing reliance of successful SEO on fresh and engaging website content,
there are fewer SEO specialist agencies around, this service is increasingly forming part
of full service, PR and social media agency offerings.
Social media agencies Social media agencies specialize in promotion
of brands in the various social media platforms like blogs, social networking sites, Q&A sites,
discussion forums, and microblogs.
The three key services of social media agencies are:
Social media marketing Online reputation management
(increasingly) SEO Healthcare communications agencies
Healthcare communications agencies specialize in strategic communications and marketing
services for the Healthcare and Life Science industries.
These agencies distinguish themselves through an understanding of the strict labeling and
marketing guidelines mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and industry
group guidelines, notably ADVAMED and PHARMA.
Medical education agencies Medical education agencies specialize in creating
educational content for the healthcare and life science industries.
These agencies typically specialize in one of two areas:
Promotional education – education and training materials tied to the promotion of a given
product or therapy Continuing medical education – accredited
education and training materials created for continuing physician and medical professional
education Other agencies
While not advertising agencies, enterprise technology agencies often work in tandem with
advertising agencies to provide a specialized subset of services offered by some interactive
agencies: Web 2.0 website design and development, Content management systems, web application
development, and other intuitive technology solutions for the web, mobile devices and
emerging digital platforms.
The student-run advertising agency model, which mainly operates out of university classrooms
or as a student groups, provides free advertising services to clients in exchange for the educational
opportunity.
Agency departments Creative department
The people who create the actual ads form the core of an advertising agency.
Modern advertising agencies usually form their copywriters and art directors into creative
teams.
Creative teams may be permanent partnerships or formed on a project-by-project basis.
The art director and copywriter report to a creative director, usually a creative employee
with several years of experience.
Although copywriters have the word "write" in their job title, and art directors have
the word "art", one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures;
they both generate creative ideas to represent the proposition.
Once they receive the creative brief from their account team, the creative team will
conceptualise ideas to take to their creative director for feedback.
This can often be a back and forth process, occurring several times before several ads
are set to present to the client.
Creative departments frequently work with outside design or production studios to develop
and implement their ideas.
Creative departments may employ production artists as entry-level positions, as well
as for operations and maintenance.
Account services Agencies appoint account executives to liaise
with the clients.
The account executives need to be sufficiently aware of the client's needs and desires that
can be instructed to the agency's personnel and should get approval from the clients on
the agency's recommendations to the clients.
Creativity and marketing acumen are the needed area of the client service people.
They work closely with the specialists in each field.
The account manager will develop a creative brief, usually about a page that gives direction
to the creative team.
The creative brief often includes information about the target audience and their attitudes
and behaviors.
The creative team will take the brief and, aware of their parameters, develop original
copy and graphics depending on media strategy.
Media buying The media services department's employees
are the people who have contacts with the suppliers of various creative media.
For example, they will be able to advise upon and negotiate with printers if an agency is
producing flyers for a client.
However, when dealing with the major media, this work is usually outsourced to a media
agency which can advise on media planning and is normally large enough to negotiate
prices down further than a single agency or client can.
They can often be restrained by the client's budget, in which, the media strategy will
inform the creative team what media platform they'll be developing the ad for.
Modern agencies might also have a media planning department integrated, which does all the
spot's planning and placements.
Production Without the production department, the ads
created by the copywriter and art director would be nothing more than words and pictures
on paper.
The production department, in essence, ensures the TV commercial or print ad, etc., gets
produced.
They are responsible for contracting external vendors.
Producers are involved in every aspect of a project, from the initial creative briefing
through execution and delivery.
In some agencies, senior producers are known as "executive producers" or "content architects".
Other departments and personnel In small agencies, employees may do both creative
and account service work.
Larger agencies attract people who specialize in one or the other, and indeed include a
number of people in specialized positions: production work, Internet advertising, planning,
or research, for example.
An often forgotten, but integral, department within an advertising agency is traffic.
The traffic department regulates the flow of work in the agency.
It is typically headed by a traffic manager.
Traffic increases an agency's efficiency and profitability through the reduction of false
job starts, inappropriate job initiation, incomplete information sharing, over- and
under-cost estimation and the need for media extensions.
For example, In small agencies without a dedicated traffic manager, one employee may be responsible
for managing workflow, gathering cost estimates and answering the phone.
Large agencies may have a traffic department of five or more employees.
Large advertising agencies may also have other departments common to large companies and
professional services firms, such as in-house legal, business development, accounting and
human resources departments.
Interns in advertising Advertising interns are typically university
juniors and seniors who are interested in and may have an aptitude for advertising.
Internships at advertising agencies most commonly fall into one of five areas of expertise:
account services, interactive, media, public relations and traffic.
Art students working on the creative side can find internships as an assistant art director
or assistant copywriter.
An internship program in account services usually involves fundamental work within account
management as well as offering exposure to other facets of the agency.
The primary responsibility of this position is to assist account managers.
Functions of the account management intern may include:
Research and analysis: Gathering information regarding industry, competition, customer
product or service; as well as presenting findings in verbal/written form with recommendations
Involvement in internal meetings and, when appropriate, client meetings
Assisting account services in the management of creative projects
Interns often take part in the internal creative process, where they may be charged with creating
and managing a website as well as developing an advertising campaign.
Hands on projects such as these help interns learn how strategy and well-developed marketing
are essential to a sound advertising and communications plan.
During their internship, the intern will experience the development of an ad, brochure and broadcast
or communications project from beginning to end.
During the internship, the intern should be exposed to as much as possible within the
agency and advertising process.
See also List of advertising agencies
References
External links 4A's - American Association of Advertising
Agencies