Overview

It is safe to say that all businesses need some form of advertising; the public needs to know the business has a product to sell! That’s where you come in. As an advertising professional, your job is to get the word out to people about the business and its products. You provide the expertise to discern the target market and create the campaigns that will help the company sell its products or services. It’s a dynamic and exciting career choice.

Advertising careers can take many forms and functions. You could work for an independent advertising agency, or perhaps in the advertising department of a larger corporation. You might be an account manager, acting as a liason between your agency and the client. You might be part of the creative team, developing fresh ideas for the next marketing campaign. Your job might focus on one or more particular types of advertising, such as interactive marketing, social networking, print, television, radio, or any combination of these. The possibilities in advertising are limited only by your interests, passions and expertise. If you are a creative, sales-oriented person who enjoys a challenging work environment, advertising might be just the field for you.

Advertising copywriters generally work at advertising agencies or publishing houses, or in the advertising or marketing departments of companies. In advertising agencies, they usually work with art directors to come up with the ideas for the advertising or promotional material. They would then write the headlines and copy. If they work for “in-house” advertising departments, their duties may also include writing copy for the packages, material for salesmen to use on their sales calls, and other miscellaneous corporate signs, letters, websites, and other material. Copywriters may help come up with names for products, too. Read More...

An art director’s job is basically to formulate design concepts and presentation approaches, and direct teammates who are doing layout design, and copy writing for visual communications media. This might include magazines, books, newspapers, packaging and the Internet. Many are self-employed, though art directors also work at advertising agencies or at publishing houses. Art directors in advertising agencies are responsible for the “look” of an ad. They are part of the creative team responsible for developing the ad concepts.

An art director typically works with a copywriter in developing the ideas for an ad campaign. They then must develop the specifics for layout, design or production, as well as oversee illustrators, artists and photographers who are used for production. Read More...