Agency Structure of Advertising Agency

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Agency Structure of Advertising Agency

Broadly there are 6 departments in any advertising agency

Account Servicing

Account Planning Media

Creative

Production

Finance and Accounting

Account service department

The account service, or the account management department, is the link between the ad agency and its clients.

Depending upon the size of the account and its advertising budget one or two account executives serve as

liason to the client. The account executives job requires high degree of diplomacy and tact as

misunderstanding may lead to loss of an account. The account executive is mainly responsible to gain

knowledge about the clients business, profit goals, marketing problems and advertising objectives.

The account executive is responsible for getting approved the media schedules, budgets and rough ads or

story boards from the client. The next task is to make sure that the agency personnel produce the advertising to

the clients satisfaction. The biggest role of the account executive is keeping the agency ahead of the client

through follow-up and communications.

Media department

The responsibility of the agencys media department is to develop a media plan to reach the target audience

effectively in a cost effective manner. The staff analyses, selects and contracts for media time or space that will

be used to deliver the ad message. This is one of the most important decisions since a significantly large part

of the clients money is spent on the media time and/or space. The media department has acquired increasingimportance in an agencys business as large advertisers seem to be more inclined to consolidate media buying

with one or few agencies thereby saving money and improving media efficiency.

Creative department

To a large extent, the success of an ad agency depends upon the creative department responsible for the

creation and execution of the advertisements. The creative specialists are known as copywriters. They are the

ones who conceive ideas for the ads and write the headlines, subheads and the body copy. They are also

involved in deciding the basic theme ofthe advertising campaign, and often they do prepare the rough layout of

the print ad or the commercial story board.

Creation of an ad is the responsibility of the copywriters and the art department decides how the ad shouldlook.

Production department

After the completion and approval of the copy and the illustrations the ad is sent to the production department.

Generally agencies do not actually produce the finished ads; instead they hire printers, photographers,

engravers, typographers and others to complete the finished ad. For the production of the approved TV

commercial, the production department may supervise the casting of actors to appear in the ad, the setting for
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scenes and selecting an independent production studio. The production department sometimes hires an

outside director to transform the creative concept to a commercial.

Finance and accounting department

An advertising agency is in the business of providing services and must be managed that way. Thus, it has to

perform various functions such as accounting, finance, human resources etc. it must also attempt to generatenew business. Also this department is important since bulk of the agencys income approx. 65% goes as salary

and benefits to the employees.

How Traditional Advertising is different from Internet

Advertising

The following table shows how Traditional Advertising is different from Internet Advertising

TRADITIONAL ADV. (TA) INTERNET ADV. (IA)TA is static. It is dynamic with multimedia-

supporting text and graphics video

sound all together.Space is not a restricting factor Space is a problem, as regards

size of the banners etc.The proportion of advertising to

editorial is high sometimes 50:50. A web page would be 91%editorial and 9% advertising.Does not evoke immediate action. Invokes immediate action as you

at-least need to click on the ad.Response to the action is notimmediate. First response is immediate aswhen the user clicks, the person is

directed to other web pagewithmore details.

dvertisements are passively

received. The user has high attention leveland concentration while using thenet, and hence they notice the ad.

(please refer the chapter)Advertising does not alwaystarget a very focused audience. This can be very focused.

Advertisements are ubiquitous. Advertisements catch users whenthey are on the lookout for some

thing. For example the search is

for travel on a search engine there

are ads of travel agents on the
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net.Difficult to track the

exact numberof people who saw

the advertisement.This is quite possible with Internet

advertisements.

Ads are graphic intensive and

avoid copy overload. Both copy and graphics arerestricted by the banner sizespecifications.

The costs would be prohibitive to

reach a global audience. There are no such constraints

Communication Objective in AdvertisingA mediocre advertising message properly directed stands more chance of success than the most professionally

developed ad campaign directed at the wrong audience or using unsuitable message appeals.

Advertising creates its most powerful impact when it is used to solve narrowly defined

communication objectives.

Advertising communication objectivescan be put in a pyramid form. The lower level objectivesare awareness,

knowledge or comprehension. These are accomplished first. Subsequentobjectives may focus on moving

prospects to higher levels in the pyramid to elicit desired behavioral responses such as associating feelings

with the brand, trial or regular use etc. It is easier to accomplish objectives located at the base of the

pyramid than the ones toward the top. The percentage of prospective customers will decline as they move

up the pyramid towards more action oriented objectives, such as regular brand use, etc.

Irrespective of the fact whether the brand is new or established, the pyramid can be used to determine

appropriate advertising objectives. What is required is to determine where the target audience lies

with respect to various levels in the pyramid. If the level of brand awareness or knowledge of its features or

benefits is low, the advertising communication should be to increase them. In case the brand liking and

preference is low, then the appropriate goal can be to change the target audiences image of the brand.

Developing an Integrated marketing Communication Plan -

IMC

The process of developing an integrated marketing communications plan

REVIEW OF THE MARKETING PLAN

Examine the overall marketing plan and objectives

Role of Advertising and Promotions

Competitive analysis

Assess environmental influences
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ANALYSIS OF PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM SITUATION

Internal analysis

Promotional department organization

Firms ability to implement a promotional program

Agency evaluation and selection Review of previous program results

External analysis

Consumer behavior analysis

Market segmentation and target marketing

Market positioning

ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

1.BUDGET DETERMINATION

Set tentative marketing communication budgets.

Allocate tentative budget

2.DEVELOP IMC PROGRAM

1.Advertising

Set advertising objectives

Determine advertising budget

Develop advertising message

Develop advertising media strategy

2. Direct marketing

Set direct marketing objectives

Determine direct marketing budget

Develop direct marketing message

Develop direct marketing strategy

3. Interactive/Internet marketing

Set Interactive/Internet marketing objectives

Determine Interactive/Internet marketing budget Develop Interactive/Internet marketing message

Develop Interactive/Internet marketing media strategy

4.Sales Promotion

Set Sales Promotion objectives

Determine Sales Promotion budget

Develop Sales Promotion message
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Develop Sales Promotion media strategy

5. Public Relations/Publicity

Set Public Relations/Publicity objectives

Determine Public Relations/Publicity budget

Develop Public Relations/Publicity message

Develop Public Relations/Publicity media strategy

6. Personal Selling/Sales

Set Personal Selling/Sales objectives

Determine Personal Selling/Sales budget

Develop Sales message

Develop selling roles and responsibilities

Four Types of Advertising AgenciesHere are basically four types of ad agencies. They are:

In-house agencies

Creative boutiques

Media buying agencies

Full service agencies

In- house agencies

Some companies, in an effort to reduce costs and maintain greater control over agency activities, have set up

their own advertising agencies internally. An in-house agency is an ad agency set up, owned and operated by

the advertiser. Many companies use in-house agencies exclusively; others combine in-house efforts with those

of outside agencies.

A major reason for using in-house agency is to reduce advertising and promotional costs. Companies with very

large advertising budgets pay a substantial amount to outside agencies in the form of media commissions. With

an internal structure, these commissions go to the in-house ad agency. An in-house ad agency can also

provide related work such as sales presentations and sales force material, package design, and public relations

at a lower cost than the outside agencies.

Saving money is not the only reason companies use in-house ad agencies. Time savings, bad experience with

outside agencies, and the increased knowledge and understanding of the market that come from working

advertising and promotion for the product or service day by day are also reasons. Companies can also

maintain a tighter control over the process and more easily coordinate promotions with the firms overall

marketing programmes.

Opponents of the in-house agencies say that they can give the advertiser neither the experience nor the

objectivity of the outside agency and nor the range of services. They argue that the outside agencies have a
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more specialized staff and attract the best creative staff. Also flexibility is higher since if the company is not

satisfied with the agency it can be dismissed, whereas changes in an in-house agency could be slower and

more disruptive.

Thus we can summarize by saying that

Ad agency Advantages Disadvantages

In house

agency

Cost savingMore control

Increased coordination

Less experienceLess objectivity

Less flexibility

In-house agencies in India are:

Levers - Lintas (previously)

Videocon Confidence

Reliance Mudra (when Mudra started out)

Creative boutiquesCreative boutique is an agency that provides only creative services. These specialized companies have

developed in response to some clients desires to use only the creative talent of an outside provider whilemaintaining the other functions internally.

The client may seek outside creative talent for two reasons:

Because he wants an extra creative effort

May be because its own employees of the in-house agency or the agency that he has appointed do

not have sufficient skills in this regard.

The full-service agencies also sub-contract work creative boutiques when they are very busy or want to avoid

adding full time employees to their pay roll. Creative boutiques are usually found by members of

the creative departments of full service agencies who leave the firm and take with them clients who want to

retain their creative talents. These boutiques generally performcreative function on a fee basis.

Few creative boutiques in India:

RMG David


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Vyas Gianetti Creatives

Chlorophyll

Media buying agenciesMedia buying agencies are independent companies that specialize in the buying of media, particularly radio

and television. The task of purchasing advertising media has grown more complex as specialized media

proliferate, so media buying services have found a niche by specializing in the analysis and purchase of the

advertising time and space. Agencies and clients generally develop their own media plans and then hire the

buying services to execute them.

Some media buying agencies do help advertisers plan their media strategies. Because media buying

agencies purchase such large amounts of time and space, they receive large discounts and can save the small

agenysor clients money on media buying. Media buying agencies are paid a fee or commission for their work.

Mindshare

Initiative Media (LOWE)

Zenith Media (Bates, Saatchi & Saatchi) Optimedia (Publicis)

Starcom (Leo Burnett)

Fulcrum (HTA) Normal 0 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Full service agencyThe function of an advertising agency is to see to it that its clients advertising leads to greater profits in the

long run than could be achieved without the ad agency. Most such agencies are large in size and offer their

clients a full range of services in the area of marketing, communications and promotions. These include

planning, creating and producing the advertisement, media selection and research. Other services offered

include strategicmarketing planning, sales training, package design, sales promotion, event management, trade

shows, publicity and public relations.

The full service agency is composed of various departments; each is responsible to provide required inputs to

perform various functions to serve the client.


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What are Advertising Agencies?

Advertising agencies are outside companies that provide for the marketing and advertising

needs of other businesses and organizations. Advertising agencies offer a full range

ofadvertising servicesand advice based on market studies, popular culture and advanced sales

techniques. Because they are independent from the client company, they can be objectiveabout a client's promotional needs.

Advertising agencies produce logos, creating effective and attractive color schemes to draw the

consumer's attention to their clients' ads. They also prepare slogans and brochures, and write

descriptive copy for sales materials. They may produce public service announcements for

charitable organizations and social programs as well, and issuepress releasesfor new

programs, events, and products. Advertising agencies use assorted forms of media to promote

their clients' businesses or organizations, including magazine advertisements, newspaper ads,

radio and TV commercials, websites, and even infomercials. Some also plan events, provide

booths at conventions, and give away promotional items.

The way advertising agencies work is by getting to know their clients' product or service well

and determining whichdemographicprovides the best audience forpromotion. If a company

sells designer handbags, an ad agency would likely try to position the company's TV

commercials during women's programming or on a channel geared toward women. The look

and tone of an ad campaign is also dependent upondemographics. If the company'starget

audienceis mature adults, design elements should be more traditional than if the target were a

younger generation.

How does an advertising agency work?

Advertising is the most effective way to reach consumers and create awareness about your

products and services. With thousands of companies coming up every day to offer their

products and services, advertising becomes a highly integral tool to reach your products

effectively to the consumer. An advertising agency has an upheaval task of informing,

persuading and building a relationship of trust and faith between the company and his

consumers. Thus advertising agency is an instrument where advertisements are conceived,

strategized, planned to reach maximum people. Webwindows, a UK based leading media

agency has been rendering advisory and creative services to online companies to assist them in

their needs for planning, composing advertisements and placing them in the right newspaper for

the last ten years. In fact, Webwindows has a dedicated page, the Webwindows page thatappears in the seven leading papers in the UK. The Webwindows page is completely dedicated

to small and mid-sized companies to promote their online offerings. Research has proved what

Webwindows has believed all along that when it comes to advertising print prevails over the

Internet and all other forms of media. By advertising Webwindows, you not only gain

advertising space at cost-effective rates but also the fruits of the ten years of experience

Webwindows has in guiding its client to advertise in the right newspaper based on

demographics, customer reach, target audience etc.
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The crux of the adverting job is to help you reach your services / products to the public in the

best possible way. Advertising agencies have to build strategies that build a stand-out image of

your company among your consumers. They need to build a relationship of trust and faith

between your products / services and the prospective consumers. Following the same

fundamental to reach your product to the consumers in a positive light, Webwindows assist

online companies in 360 degree aspects of advertising. Right from ad content composition todesign to placement, they formulate the best media strategies to help you reach a wide

consumer base.

Here are a few tips from Webwindows on choosing the right advertising agency.

Understand your product and business goals: The first task of any advertising agency is to

well-develop a thorough understanding of your product, its prospective position in the market

place and its target audience. This helps advertisers to produce effective advertising campaigns

to best publicize your product. Webwindows carefully studies your products and then guides you

about the marketing strategy, which paper the ad should be placed, how many times it should

run etc.

Create Advertising campaigns: Keeping the clients goals in mind, the advertising agency

should be able to build advertising campaigns, like slogans, jingles, et al. The campaign is built

with the aim to push the sales of the companys products, attract new consumer belt while

retaining the old ones, re-affirm the brand image, market the product and generate brand

awareness if the brand has been just forayed into the market.

Advertise the product: After the campaign is ready, the advertiser looks for media vehicles to

popularize / publicize the product. The campaign may be advertised in a range of media

agencies like, television, radio, print, depending on the clients budget. For your advertising

needs, Webwindows chooses newspaper as the premium mode of advertisement. Through its

dedicated page, The Webwindows page, which appears as a colored supplement in seven

leading newspapers and magazines in UK, it reaches its clients services to a large readership

of around 5 million viewers. Webwindows also assists you in choosing the right newspaper to

help you market your product so that it reaches maximum viewers in the most effective way.

The primary aim of any advertising agency is to analyze your goals and help you aspire formore results. Through their well-planned and result-oriented advertising strategies,

Webwindows helps you reach the right audience at the right time highlighting the right message.


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Agency Structure of Advertising Agency