Industry Cluster: Advertising, PR & Events

• AdWeek
• PRWeek
• Mashable
• Ad Age
• Digiday
• iMedia Connection
• MediaPost
• Marketing Brew
• American Advertising Federation
• Public Relations Society of America
• American Marketing Association
• American Association of Advertising Agencies

• WashU Marketing Association (WUMA): WashU Marketing Association’s mission is to help students obtain resources and develop skills related to marketing that will prepare members to become leaders in their future careers. WUMA’s three main pillars are providing members with education, networking, and hands-on experience.

ACCOUNT SERVICE

Overview

Account Service is a great job for people with good business sense and a love of creative problem-solving. It requires both the confidence to lead and the empathy and understanding to bring out the best in everyone else. It requires collaborating with clients and coworkers without abdicating responsibility.

On a day-to-day basis you represent the agency’s point of view to the client, leading the agency team in addressing that client’s individual needs. You must understand the client’s category, business and culture to ensure that each functional group within the agency (Account Planning, Creative, Direct Marketing, Interactive, Media and Production) has a total understanding of what the client needs, and the best way to deliver it to them

Education/Training

Account Service people can excel with Marketing, Advertising, Communication, Psychology and/or MBA degrees. Sales experience is also a big plus. Important characteristics include: a passion for advertising and marketing, optimism, charisma, resiliency, empathy, dedication, a strong work ethic, organization, attention to detail and strong communication skills.

ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

Overview

You will work closely with copywriters and other creatives to produce original ideas based on a creative strategy brief. Conceive and visually develop ideas into executions that motivate a customer or prospect to take action. Be able to adapt the look and tone of the brand into all mediums, and talk to the target in a voice representative of the brand while staying within timing and budget parameters. Specifically, Art Directors direct the visual aspect of communications and solve problems visually. This job is full of variety and quick turnaround times, but it provides an exciting learning experience and a continuous stream of new challenges.

Education/Training

As an Art Director it is important to develop an eye for aesthetics through a formal education (Bachelor of Fine Arts). Be aware of trends, cultural influences and current events. Also beneficial is an interest in other fields of creative expression – music, fashion, fine art, drama, etc. It is imperative that an Art Director be able to adapt his or her skills to an array of projects and creative challenges. Gain as much experience as you can  in all varieties of advertising and design, i.e., logo design, collateral, Illustrator and InDesign. The more well-rounded you are as a creative thinker, the more you can contribute to the success of the agency and its creative product. Aside from the visual aptitude needed to produce creative solutions that are appealing and appropriate, most importantly, you must be able to solve problems on a conceptual level that engages the viewer and causes them to react. At the end of the day the single most important vehicle you employ to get hired is your portfolio. Plan and proceed accordingly.

DIGITAL SPECIALIST

Overview

While every position in an agency must be constantly thinking of the digital space, digital specialists roles will continue to evolve. Digital specialists should be skilled in architecture, creation and development of digital, social and mobile content and experiences. You will need to be specialized in evolving technologies, understand good content writing – what it means to write short form, long form and how a headline is different than a blog.

Your title may be Digital Producer, Community Manager, Creative Technologist, Search Specialist or Data Analyst. You will scrutinize the data and build insights from that data. You will work with the client and with other departments on solving the client’s problem and understand which digital mechanism is best for the challenge you are trying to solve.

Education/Training

A degree in integrated marketing is a good place to start for the digital specialist. If you’re a Digital Designer, you want to take every opportunity you can to learn about responsive web layout. If you’re a Developer, you still want to be creative. Experiment with different technologies versus only perfecting code in one language. Be curious about the digital space and never let your thirst for knowledge go away.

PRODUCER

Overview

Production plays a key role in bringing ideas to life. You’ll work closely with the creative department to ensure the actual finished pieces are produced how the creative team intended them. You are in charge of hiring the right photographer, director and printer for the job. You work closely with the account team to make sure we can produce the materials within the clients’ budgets and keep all costs within the approved estimate.

You are the air traffic controllers of the agency managing timeframes, budgets and overall quality of the finished product. You build strong relationships with vendors so when the time comes and you need that last-minute flamethrower, you’ve got them.

Education/Characteristics

As a production professional, that degree is nice, but the most important qualities you’ll need to succeed are organization and resourcefulness. When a creative comes up with an idea to print on a sponge or to make bus shelter from mirror material, it’s your job to figure out a way to make it happen. You are the extension to the creative department and “it can’t be done” just isn’t part of your vocabulary. You mission is the exchange the creative idea and push it wherever you can. The right person for this job is friendly, yet tenacious. Organized, yet able to improvise on the fly. Ever curious about the latest techniques and technology. Willing to pick up and go on location at a moment’s notice.

ACCOUNT PLANNER (STRATEGY)

Overview

Account Planning exists for the sole purpose of creating advertising that truly connects with consumers. In this role, you identify and understand the target consumer and represent that person in the creative development process. You seek to uncover new consumer insights that inform and inspire by continually originating, accumulating, synthesizing, interpreting and integrating consumer data into the final product. It involves digging into analysis. Research and consumer insights are the foundation of advertising. Strategy = voice of the consumer.

You try, as often as possible, to engage with consumers at their point of brand choice and consumption. You lead the agency team in development and delivery of the creative brief (the strategic roadmap that guides advertising development) and you’re involved in proving the effectiveness of the agency’s advertising in achieving its stated goals. You must also forge proactive partnerships with the Creative department so that you can keep the creative work on strategy and relevant.

The job = lifestyle. You need to jump in and try every new technology that is trending among the age groups in your target demo to understand them. If people are on Snapchat, why are they? Need to be able to explain it to the client.

Education/Characteristics

A great account planning team includes a diverse set of skills and experience including Marketing, Advertising, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Culture and Communications, strong written and oral communications skills and an aptitude for analyzing data and turning it into an interesting story. Planners are notoriously gifted storytellers – able to take something complex and turn it into something simple and compelling.

The best planners have a genuine interest in and passion for human behavior – Why do people do the things they do? How can we affect what they do? How can we learn from the way they learn individually or as a group? Planners love understanding consumers and their relationships with brands and advertising – and their passion in this regard ensures the creation of more effective advertising. With the landscape evolving around us, planners are constantly trying to stay three paces ahead of market and consumer trends, always searching for the answer to “What’s next?”

COPYWRITER

Overview

Copywriters work closely with Art Directors in crafting creative solutions in an ever-changing landscape of mediums. Together, the creative team works together to concept, sell, execute and implement ideas that connect with their clients’ prospective customers.

The ideal copywriter asks questions. Lots of questions. And finds interesting answers that lead to more questions that eventually lead to insightful, funny and/or cool original ideas. Obviously, strong oral communication and writing skills come in handy, too. The ability to tell a compelling story or raise emotion in the reader is critical.

Education/Training

Congratulations on your stellar GPA and graduating summa cum laude. Where’s your portfolio?

That’s what creative directors are interested in. They want to be blown away by great ideas in your “book”. Usually, a book has 12 to 18 of your best speculative, or “spec”, ads. Real ads you’ve produced are fair game as well. But only show the work you’d display on your refrigerator.

As for coursework, Journalism, Communications and the like are common but not necessarily required. Philosophy, History, Psychology and Undecided are all acceptable majors. It’s your book that matters most. In fact, there are advertising schools dedicated solely to developing your book.

Whatever your major, staying up on culture and learning about the business through industry books and periodicals is a must. And as with an Art Director candidate, the most important thing at the end of your journey is your portfolio. It matters more than 75% of all the factors used to evaluate candidates for an agency creative position.

Creative Ham: The Forever Incomplete List of Agencies (search by US city/state/region)

Agency List: Advertising and Digital Marketing Insights (top ad agencies in all 50 states)

O’Dwyer’s: Inside News of Public Relations & Marketing Communications (top PR firms)