INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING AGENCY
DEFINITION OF AN ADVERTISING AGENCY
It is the core of advertising profession and industry. An advertising agency is:
a) An independent business organization
b) Composed of creative and business people
c) Who develop, prepare and place advertising on advertising media
d) For sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services
-American Advertising Agency Association (AAA) There are an estimated 200 advertising agencies in India accredited to INS
(Indian Newspaper Society- to be eligible for 15 percent commission) and 8000 odd agencies which are unregistered. Together they serve 6000 clients in India.
Four Key Functions of an Ad agency
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
Account Management is the pivot on which the entire agency’s work revolves. Also called as Client Servicing or suits, it is the agency’s big window to the outside world. The ‘suits’ are the agency’s face to the client. They interact with the clients, take briefs and understand the marketing issues involved.
Internally, they brief the creative and media on the jobs and co-ordinate the entire ‘work processes ‘inside the agency. They evaluate the ad campaign and media plan internally and often present these to the clients.
ACCOUNT PLANNING
It is the second core function in the agency. It is also referred to as ‘strategic planning’. However, all agencies do not necessarily have a separate unit for planning. In some agencies account management takes care of the strategic planning involved in their respective brands. Whether as a separate unit or not, planning is the research face of the agency. However they rarely conduct research themselves, though sometimes they may co-ordinate it through research agencies if required.
CREATIVES
Creative form the third core function of the agency. They are also at the core of the production process of the agency as they are the ones who create ads. Generally, the copywriters write the headline and copy and the art directors do the visualizations and layouts. But often they ideate and work together. A headline may come from the art person and visualizations from the writer. Creatives are the agencies lifeline the one who can make or break the agency.
Media forms the fourth and the last core function of an agency. With increased media fragmentations, media planning and media buying have emerged as two specialized functions within media. Sometimes the planners may also extend expertise to the both.
Media planning involves a lot of number crunching and good
‘quantitative’ abilities are a critical requirement. Media Buyers not only look other media relations and negotiate rates but also supervise the media operational word like sending release order and ad material to the respective media. They also monitor releases.
THE WORLD’S TOP TEN ADVERTISING AGENCIES
WPP GROUP, LONDON (18485.3 BILLION)
INTERPUBLIC GROUP, NEW YORK ( US $ 13,967 BILLION)
OMNICOM GROUP, NEW YORK (US $ 13,839 BILLION) DENTSU, TOKYO (US $10846.3 BILLION)
SAATCHI & SAATCHI COMPETITORS , LONDON(US $ 10809
BILLION)
YOUNG & RUBICAM, NEW YORK( US $ 7559 BILLION) EURO RSCG, FRANCE (US $ 6508 BILLION)
GREY ADVERTISING , NEW YORK( US $ 5171 BILLION) HAKUHODO, TOKYO (US $ 4938 BILLION)
FOOTE, CONE AND BELDING (FCB),CHICAGO ( US $5336 BILLION) SOURCE: THE ASIAN AGE
INDIA’S TOP 5 ADVERTISING AGENCIES
O & M, BANGLORE (RS.2500 CRORE) JWT, MUMBAI (RS 1800 CRORE)
LOWE LINTAS & PARTNERS, MUMBAI( RS 1500 CRORE)
MUDRA, DDB NEEDHAM, AHMEDABAD (RS1200 CRORE)
FCB ULKA, NEW DELHI (RS.800 CRORE)
SOURCE: BRAND EQUITY, ECONOMICS TIMES
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