Roles of an advertising agency

Account Handlers (Executives)

They will provide day-to-day liaison with the client company and will be responsible for ensuring that the essential work required by the client is fulfilled both on time and within budget. Most importantly they represent the channel trough which the dialogue between the client and the agency is conducted.

They have the responsibility for presenting the resultant work of the agency back to the members of the client team. They are also responsible for communications such as attending meetings, writing reports and generally liaising between the client and the agency.

Planning Department

The role of planning is a comparatively new function within the advertising agency, but one which has evolved dramatically to change the nature and function of the agency response to its clients’ communications needs. Account planners have an important strategic responsibility with in the agency. They are required to provide a far deeper understanding of both the consumers and the brands which they purchase.

Five key functions to define Planning Department

Discovering and defining the advertising task.

An account planner has full responsibility to organize information regarding the consumer and the market place.

An account planner uses variety of inputs, which includes both existing clint and agency data, as well as desk research.

Preparing the creative Brief

The account planner is the person within the agency who prepares the creative brief which will both inform and inspire the creative process.

Creative development

An account planner takes part in all stages of creative department from the initial thoughts up to the final work.

In many instances, account planners may well go back to the consumer at a number of intermediate stages to ensure that their reaction to the advertising proposition is an appropriate one.

Presenting the advertising to the client

It is the planner’s function in this area to identify how the advertising campaign will work in the marketplace and to point out the broader implications of the advertising approach in terms of the objectives. Their role is to provide an objective evaluation of the consumer response to the agency proposals.

Tracking the advertising’s performance

After the implementation of the advertising campaign, the planner continues to monitor consumer reaction to it. This process will provide important feedback to the agency and client terms, not only about the impact of the campaign, but also information which will guide the sub sequence development of the campaign.

Creative Department

The creative department represent the public face of the agency. It is their responsibility to create the advertising messages which are ultimately seen by the target public or publics. A creative directive is not only responsible for the final evaluation of the work produced by the members of the department but also responsible for the smooth running of the creative function within the agency. Their role is to interpret the creative brief and translate it into an effective advertising message.

Media Department

Their role is to ensure that the messages created by the agency are communicated in the appropriate media at the right time and at a realistic cost.

Media plan and buy the space where the advertisements are eventually placed. (radio, television, magazine.)

Production Department

This department is responsible for making advertisements. Often there is an element of sub contracting as studios, camera crew and actors may be required.

Responsibility to the core agency team

Progress Traffic Control – has the responsibility for ensuring that the various stages of the creative department are completed at an appropriate time to ensure that the advertising appears in the correct media on the due date.

Television Production – has the responsibility to subcontracting with an agency, so that to compile a ’30 seconds’ video as product’s advertising.

Print Production – to ensure that creative ideas are correctly translated into the final form appropriated to their appearance in the designated media.

(Services to the Core Agency Team)

Other services to the Agency Team

The Information department – an internal function would be a library or Information Management Service.

Personnel – an advertising agency should be capable of dealing with a wide variety of personnel issues – to recruit

-to remunerate

-to dismiss, if necessary

Finance – the agency must be capable of managing its cash flows, ensuring the prompt payment of its invoices and discharging of its debts to other organizations which it uses from time to time.