**An advertising agency
or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and
sometimes other forms of promotion) 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 an advertising campaign.
**How ad agency work
The workflow in an agency is not as linear as one may initially expect. Projects ly
do not start in one department, then get handed off to the next, and so forth.
The process is much more collaborative with multiple agency departments
involved at key points along the way. This may seem a bit chaotic at times, but the
process encourages input from diverse points of view, stimulates healthy debate
and allows strong ideas to emerge regardless of the source. Ideally, the process
leads to the best possible creative.
While no two advertising projects run exactly the same, what follows is a rough
chronology of how most advertising is generally created.
Project assignment: The client’s Marketing Management team details their
business objectives to the agency Account Service team, and together they define
the role that advertising is expected to play. Often advertising is just one
component in a marketing plan that also includes many communications efforts –
public relations, promotions, direct mail, etc.
The Account Service team collects as much information as possible and briefs the
key agency departments – strategic planning, creative, and media.
Strategic Development: As a group, the agency team analyses the assignment –
what type of people would use this product? Why would they use it? What would
compel someone to purchase it? Research is vital at this stage, and can be
conducted among consumers, industry experts or published reference materials.
The goal of strategic development is to find a compelling story about the product
(referred to as the positioning) and a unique message for the advertising creative
(the creative brief).
The client will normally have developed a profile of the consumer and his/her
expected use of their product/service. Commonly the agency will work with the
client to explore additional opportunities for consumption of the product/service.
For example, are there other times of the year when the product could be
promoted, could certain aspects of the product appeal to different types of
consumers, could the product be used in conjunction with another to extend its
consumer base, etc.
The Media Department uses the client profile to develop a media strategy and
produce a media schedule to reach these consumers based on their media
consumption habits. The plan is presented to the client and (when approved) is
purchased by the media buyers.
Creative Development: the creative team develops rough versions of ads. After
input by the creative director, the account manager and strategic planner are
consulted for further fine-tuning.
Creative work is then presented to the client and, when approved, is often tested
among consumers. The advertising will be judged a success if it grabs consumer
attention and motivates him to try the product – changes may be made if
necessary at this point.
Once finalized, TV spots are shot, radio spots recorded, and the print ads
produced.
Campaign Debut: The Traffic Manager sends the advertising where it is needed
and ensures it debuts in accordance with the media plan. This can get quite
complicated, as each type of ad must be finished at varying times prior to debut -
magazine ads will need to arrive as much as a month prior to publication, while
TV and Radio spots may be needed by stations just a few days before air.
Tracking of an advertising campaign is essential, allowing client and agency to
gauge the impact of their efforts and signal changes that might need to be made.
Tracking can be done in a variety of ways, depending on the client’s business
goals. Product sales are evaluated. Changes in consumer opinion may be
measured. Media purchases will checked to ensure they ran as purchased.
