Expert: Leo Lingham - 10/26/2008

Question
discuss the role and functions of a full service advertising agency vis-a-vis an advertising agency which is only booking classified advertisements.

Answer
BK AGARWALA,
HERE  IS  SOME  USEFUL MATERIAL.
REGARDS
LEO LINGHAM
================================================
The role and functions of a full service advertising agency.vis-a-vis an advertising agency which is only booking classified advertisements.

Advertising Agency Functions
Professionals at advertising agencies and other advertising organizations offer a number of functions including:
Account Management – Within an advertising agency the account manager or account executive is tasked with handling all major decisions related to a specific client. These responsibilities include locating and negotiating to acquire clients. Once the client has agreed to work with the agency, the account manager works closely with the client to develop an advertising strategy. For very large clients, such as large consumer products companies, an advertising agency may assign an account manager to work full-time with only one client and, possibly, with only one of the client’s product lines. For smaller accounts an account manager may simultaneously manage several different, though non-competing, accounts.

Account Service
The other major department in ad agencies is account services or account management. Account Services or account management is somewhat the sales arm of the advertising agency. An account executive (one who works within the account services department) meets with the client to determine sales goals and creative strategy. They are then responsible for coordinating the creative, media, and production staff behind the campaign. Throughout the creative process, they keep in touch with the client to update them on the ad's progress and gain feedback. Upon completion of the creative work, it is their job to ensure the ad's production and placement.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Team –The principle role of account managers is to manage the overall advertising campaign for a client, which often includes delegating selective tasks to specialists. For large accounts one task account managers routinely delegate involves generating ideas, designing concepts and creating the final advertisement, which generally becomes the responsibility of the agency’s creative team. An agency’s creative team consists of specialists in
**GRAPHIC DESIGN SECTION
**COPY WRITING SECTION
**FILM PRODUCTION
**AUDIO PRODUCTION
**COMPUTER PROGRAMMING
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 (the advertisement or campaign's key message). 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Researchers – Full-service advertising agencies employ market researchers who assess a client’s market situation, including understanding customers and competitors, and also are used to test creative ideas. For instance, in the early stages of an advertising campaign researchers may run focus group sessions with selected members of the client’s target market in order to get their reaction to several advertising concepts. Researchers are also used following the completion of an advertising campaign to measure whether the campaign reached its objectives.
**CONSUMER RESEARCH
**RETAIL AUDIT
**MARKET SURVEYS
**MARKET POTENTIAL STUDY
ETC ETC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Planners – Once an advertisement is created, it must be placed through an appropriate advertising media. Each advertising media, of which there are thousands, has its own unique methods for accepting advertisements, such as different advertising cost structures (i.e., what it costs marketers to place an ad), different requirements for accepting ad designs (e.g., size of ad), different ways placements can be purchased (e.g., direct contact with media or through third-party seller), and different time schedules (i.e., when ad will be run). Understanding the nuances of different media is the role of a media planner, who looks for the best media match for a client and also negotiates the best deals.
**MEDIA SURVEY
*TARGET AUDIENCE STUDY
**MEDIA PLANNING
*MEDIA BUYING
-------------------------------------------------------------------
TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT
The traffic department regulates the flow of work in the agency. It is typically headed by a traffic manager (or system administrator). 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. In small agencies without a dedicated traffic manager, one employee may be responsible for managing workflow, gathering cost estimates and answering the phone, for example. Large agencies may have a traffic department of ten or more employees
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTHER SERVICES OFFERED BY AD. AGENCIES.

# SALES PROMOTIONS
-agency also provides help to the clients in SALES PROMOTION ACTIVITIES.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
# RETAIL CONSUMER PROMOTIONS
-agency also provides help to the clients in RETAIL CONSUMER PROMOTION ACTIVITIES.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# BELOW THE LINE ADVERTISING
-agency also provides help to the clients in BELOW THE LINE ADVERTISING,
like merchandising/ displays/ etc etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# DIRECT MARKETING
-agency also provides help to the clients in DIRECT MARKETING ACTIVITIES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# ONLINE MARKETING
-agency also provides help to the clients in ONLINE MARKETING ACTIVITIES.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#PUBLIC RELATIONS
-agency also provides help to the clients in PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creative Services 'Production' department
The creative services department may not be so well known, but its 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 (broadcast media, outdoor, and the press), 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
###############################################################