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Advertising

Nature of the Industry  |  Working Conditions  |  Employment  |  Occupations in the Industry
Training and Advancement  |  Job Outlook  |  Earnings

Significant Points

• Employment is concentrated in large cities, especially New York.
• Competition for many jobs will be keen because the glamour of the industry traditionally attracts many more jobseekers than there are job openings.
• Layoffs are common when accounts are lost, major clients cut advertising budgets, or agencies merge.

Nature of the Industry

Firms in the advertising industry prepare advertisements for other companies and organizations and might also arrange to place them in print, broadcast, interactive, and other media. This industry also includes firms that sell advertising space for publications, radio, television, and the Internet. Divisions of companies that produce and place their own advertising are not considered part of this industry. 

Companies often look to advertising as a way of boosting sales by increasing the public’s exposure to a product. Most companies do not have the staff with the necessary skills or experience to create effective advertisements; furthermore, many advertising campaigns are temporary, so employers would have difficulty maintaining their own advertising staff. Instead, companies commonly solicit bids from ad agencies to develop advertising for them. Next, ad agencies offering their services to the company often make presentations. The real work for ad agencies begins when they win an account. Various departments within an agency—such as creative, production, media, and research—work together to meet the client’s goal of increasing sales. 

There are more than 21,000 advertising establishments in the United States. About 6 out of 10 write copy and prepare artwork, graphics, and other creative work, and then place the resulting ads on television, radio, or the Internet or in periodicals, newspapers, or other advertising media. Within the industry, only these full-service establishments are known as advertising agencies. Many of the largest agencies are international, with a substantial proportion of their revenue coming from abroad. 

About 3 out of 10 advertising firms specialize in a particular market niche. Some companies produce and solicit outdoor advertising, such as billboards and electric displays. Others place ads in buses, subways, taxis, airports, and bus terminals. A small number of firms produce aerial advertising, while others distribute circulars, handbills, and free samples. 

Groups within agencies have been created to serve their clients’ electronic advertising needs on the Internet. Online advertisements link users from one website to a company’s or product’s website, where information such as new product announcements, contests, and product catalogs appears, and where purchases may be made. 

Some firms are not involved in the creation of ads at all; instead, they sell advertising time or space on radio and television stations or in publications. Because these firms do not produce advertising, their staffs are mostly sales workers. 

In an effort to attract and maintain clients, advertising agencies are diversifying their services, offering advertising as well as sales, marketing, public relations, and interactive media services. Advertising firms have found that highly creative work is particularly suitable for their services, resulting in a better product and increasing their clients' profitability. 

Working Conditions

Most advertising employees work in comfortable offices; however, long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common. There are fewer opportunities for part-time work than in many other industries; in 2000, 11.4 percent of advertising employees worked part time, compared with 15.3 percent of all workers. 

Advertising work is fast-paced and exciting, but it can also be stressful. Being creative on a tight schedule can be emotionally draining. In addition, frequent meetings with clients and media representatives may involve substantial travel. Among all full-time advertising workers, one-sixth work 50 or more hours per week. 

Employment

The advertising industry employed 302,000 workers in 2000. Although advertising firms are located throughout the country, they are concentrated in the largest cities. New York has the most firms; other top cities include Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, and Dallas. Firms vary in size, ranging from one-person shops to international agencies employing thousands of workers. About 4 of 5 advertising firms employ fewer than 10 employees, somewhat higher than the proportion for all industries combined (see chart). 

The small size of the average advertising firm demonstrates the opportunities for self-employment. It is relatively easy to open a small ad agency; in fact, many successful agencies began as one- or two-person operations. In 2000, more than 8 percent of all advertising workers were self-employed or unpaid family workers. 

The median age of advertising workers is 38, compared with nearly 40 for all workers. More than 59 percent of advertising employees are 25 to 44 years of age, compared with 50 percent of all workers in the economy. Very few advertising workers are below the age of 20, which reflects the need for postsecondary training or work experience. 

Occupations in the Industry

Management, business, and financial workers; professionals and related workers; sales and related workers; and office and administrative support workers account for more than 9 of every 10 jobs in the industry (table 1). Employees have varied responsibilities in agencies with only a few workers, and the specific job duties of each worker often are difficult to distinguish. Workers in relatively large firms specialize more, so the distinctions among occupations are more apparent. 

Advertising agencies have five categories of jobs—account management, creative, media, research, and support services and administration. The account management department links the agency and the client. It represents the agency to the client, as well as the client to the agency. Account management brings business to the agency and ultimately is responsible for the quality of the advertisement. Account management workers carefully monitor the activities of the other areas to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Account managers and their assistants analyze competitive activity and consumer trends, report client billing, forecast agency income, and combine the talents of the creative, media, and research areas. 

Working with the marketing idea that account management obtains from the client, the creative department brings the idea to life. Staff work together to transform a blank piece of paper into an advertisement. As the idea takes shape, copywriters and their assistants write the words of ads—both the written part of print ads as well as the scripts of radio and television spots. Art directors and their assistants develop the visual concepts and designs of advertisements. They prepare paste-ups and layouts for print ads and television storyboards, cartoon style summaries of how an advertisement will appear. They also oversee the filming of television commercials and photo sessions. Once completed, the ad is shown to the client. At this point, the job of the creative department could be over; however, based on the client’s response, it is likely that the creative department staff will have to modify their ideas or develop an entirely different approach. 

The media department is responsible for placing advertisements in the right place at the right time, so that the ads will reach the desired audience for the least amount of money. Media planners gather information on the public’s viewing and reading habits, and evaluate editorial content and programming to determine the potential use of media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, or the Internet. The media staff calculate the numbers and types of people reached by different media, and how often they are reached. Media buyers track the media space and times available for purchase, negotiate and purchase time and space for ads, and make sure ads appear exactly as scheduled. Additionally, they calculate rates, usage, and budgets. 

Advertising sales agents sell air time on radio and television, and page space in print media. They work in firms representing radio stations, television stations, and publications. 

Support services and administration includes jobs ranging from janitors to administrative assistants to accountants, and the occupational composition of this group varies widely among agencies.

Training & Advancement

Most entry-level professional and managerial positions in the advertising industry require a bachelor’s degree, preferably with broad liberal arts exposure. Beginners usually enter the industry in the account management or media department. Occasionally, entry-level positions are available in the market research or creative departments of an agency, but these positions usually require some experience. 

Completing an advertising-related internship while in school provides an advantage when applying for an entry-level position; in fact, internships are becoming a necessary step to obtaining permanent employment. In addition to an internship, courses in marketing, psychology, accounting, statistics, and creative design can help prepare potential entrants for careers in this field. 

Assistant account executive, the entry-level account management position in most firms, requires a bachelor’s degree in marketing or advertising. At some agencies, a master’s degree in business administration may be required. 

Bachelor’s degrees are not required for entry-level positions in the creative department. Assistant art directors usually need at least a 2-year degree from an art or design school. Although assistant copywriters do not need a degree, obtaining one helps to develop the superior communication skills and abilities required for this job. 

Assistant media planner or assistant media buyer also are good entry-level positions, but almost always require a bachelor’s degree, preferably with a major in marketing or advertising. Experienced applicants who possess at least a master’s degree usually fill research positions. Often, they have a background in marketing or statistics and years of experience. Requirements for support services and administrative positions depend on the job and vary from firm to firm. 

Employees in the advertising industry should have good people skills, common sense, creativity, communication skills, and problem-solving ability. Foreign language skills have always been important for those wanting to work abroad for domestic firms or to represent foreign firms domestically. However, these skills are increasingly vital to reach linguistic minorities in U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, and Phoenix. New media, such as the Internet, are creating opportunities to market products, but also increasing the need for additional training for those already employed. Keeping pace with technology is fundamental to success in the industry. Besides staying abreast of new technology, advertisers must keep in tune with the changing values, cultures, and fashions of the Nation. 

Success in progressively responsible staff assignments usually leads to advancement to supervisory positions. As workers climb the organizational ladder, broad vision and planning skills become extremely important. Another way to get to the top in this industry is to open one’s own firm. In spite of the difficulty and high failure rate, many find starting their own business to be personally and financially rewarding. Among the self-employed, advancement takes the form of increasing the size and strength of the company. 

Job Outlook

Competition for many jobs will be keen because the glamour of the advertising industry traditionally attracts many more jobseekers than there are job openings. Employment in the advertising industry is projected to grow 32 percent over the 2000-10 period, compared with 15 percent for all industries combined. New jobs will be created as an expanding economy generates more products and services to advertise. Increased demand for advertising services also will stem from growth in the number and types of media outlets used to reach consumers, creating opportunities for people skilled in preparing material for presentation on the Internet. 

On the other hand, employment growth may be tempered by the increased use of more efficient technologies that could replace some workers. Employment also may be adversely affected if legislation further restricts advertising for specific products such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco or via specific media such as billboards. In addition to those generated by job growth, openings also will arise as workers transfer to other jobs or stop working.  

Earnings

Source: Career Guide to Industries, Bureau of Labor Statistics

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