What is advertising Agency?

an agency that designs advertisement to call public attention to its clients An advertising
agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling
advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. Marketing services
firm that assists companies in planning advertisements An organization acting as an agent
for a producer of goods or services (an advertiser) devoted to developing and placing
advertising in order to further the acceptance of a brand product, service, or idea. An
advertising agency is one that will represent your site and seek out advertisers to buy
targeted advertising. Targeted advertising brings in substantially more money than
untargeted advertising but it is harder to get. Here is also where demographics are the
most important. means any commercial concern engaged in providing any service
connected with the making, preparation, display or exhibition of advertisement and
includes an advertising consultant; Company that creates, prepares and places advertising
in various media, working as agent for its client (advertiser). an organization established
for the purpose of providing creative and marketing communications services for its
clients. The agency responsible for an advertiser's creative or account work.

Role of an Advertising Agency

Advertising is a large and highly competitive industry occupying a very important

position in most developing and developed economies. With a plethora of brands on
offer, the need to inform, persuade and convince the customer is becoming increasingly
important. And this is where the tools of Advertising and Advertising Agencies that use
this tool step in!

What is an Advertising Agency? An Advertising Agency or ad agency is a service

provider that works for clients to create an effective and goal oriented advertising
campaign aimed at representing the Company positively in the eyes of its target
customers.

Businesses hire advertising agencies to connect with their target customers. In the face of
stiff competition, every Co / brand wants to break through this clutter and create a
favorable space for itself. Ad agencies help clients to do just this by creating attention
grabbing, persuasive and unique ad campaigns that make the brand stand out in the
minds of customers.

Duty & Role of Advertising Agencies :

What does an Advertising Agency Do?

A plethora of Businesses, Corporations, Government Organizations and Non Profit set-

ups hire advertising agencies to advertise their products, brands and services to present
and prospective customers.
1 Understand the Product / Company: An advertising agency begins by getting well
acquainted with the client's goals, products & target audience. This knowledge proves
beneficial in planning and creating an effective advertising campaign.

2 Plan & Create an Advertising Campaign: Once an advertising agency understands its
clients' needs, the process of brainstorming and planning begins. Keeping in mind the
client's goals (which can range from

 pushing sales of its products and services

 introducing new products in the market

 reiterating its brand's benefits

Attracting new customers or keeping in touch with old ones

the advertising executives work towards creating an effective advertising campaign (a

single or a series of attention grabbing and unique ads) which is within the client's
marketing goals and budget. This includes creating interesting slogans, attractive jingles
and attention grabbing body copy for advertisements. The client has the final word and
may ask for rework.

3 Strategize: Some Companies like to outsource their overall marketing responsibilities

to advertising agencies. In such a case, the ad agency takes over the process of brand
building, strategizing and pushing sales through other promotion techniques like sales
promotions etc.

Advertising Agencies vary in size in India & abroad - from a couple of people handling
all responsibilities to a medium or large sized agency that hires specialized professionals
to function each department. It has been generally seen that Full Service Ad Agencies
are well equipped to plan and create advertising campaigns for a range of media
including TV commercials, Radio jingles, print advertisements etc. Depending on the
budget, client's select their agency.

Role of Advertising Agencies In The 21st Century

In the beginning of the 21st century Advertising Agencies are playing a very important
role in the business of advertising. A lot of water has flown past the Ganges during the
last 5 decade since the foundation of the first professional agency in India in 1950's
by JW Thompson & DJ Keeymer.
Gone are those days when advertising agencies were only playing a vital role in Planning
the campaign for their clients, preparing the campaign and placing it in suitable media on
behalf of their clients. In today's competitive situation it is evident that reputed ad
agencies are not restricting themselves to the above services but are also willing to offer
something extra to their clients in the areas of marketing research, Sales promotion &
Merchandising activities and Public Relation oriented services.

National and reputed Advertising Agencies are increasingly going for 360 degree
approach in their communications and are prepared to walk the extra yard to understand
their client's business in a better manner in order to communicate with the target audience
effectively and efficiently.

Reputed agencies like O and M, Mudra Communications, JWT and others preferred to
be treated as 'PARTNERS' in their client's business and are always trying to suggest the
best and cost effective communication strategy to reach the target audience

With the passage of time along with the concept of 'FULL SERVICE AGENCY',
specialized MEDIA AGENCIES like, Madison; Carat etc. have come up to take care of
the client's special media requirements. We also see CREATIVE BOUTIQUES like
Aloke Nanda Communications, Vyas G Creative etc. just offering creative service to their
clients.

Advertising Agencies being prime facilitator in the business of advertising have rightly
understood the need of the hour and are playing a key role in the business of Advertising.
 Ad Agencies Have Skilled Specialists

Artists
Artists Writers
Writers Researchers
Researchers

Photographers
Photographers Media
MediaAnalysts
Analysts Other
OtherSkills
Skills
 Services Provided by Agencies

Agency
Agency Services
Services

Account
Account Marketing
Marketing Creative
Creative
Service
Service Services
Services Services
Services

The
Thelink
linkbetween
between Research
Research Creation
Creationandand
agency
agencyand
andclient
client department
departmentmay
may execution
executionof ofads
ads
Managed
Managed bythe
by the design and execute
design and execute Copywriters,
Copywriters,
Account Executive
Account Executive research
researchprograms
programs artists,
artists,other
other
Media
Mediadepartment
department specialists
specialists
may
mayanalyze,
analyze,select
select
and
and contractmedia
contract media
resources
resources

List of Advertising Agencies, India

Advertising agencies are those independent entities that streamline the Advertising
Industry. As a service provider, an Advertising Agency takes up the important task of
representing its clients to their target audience in an innovative and effective manner. This
can range from creating a single ad or a series of ads, spread across different media
vehicles in the form of advertising campaigns that meet the client's budget, requirements
and short / long term objectives.

There are plenty of choices for businesses / Corporations who are looking to outsource
their advertising needs to Ad Agencies. Here is a list of large, medium and small
Advertising Agencies in India -

List of Advertising Agencies with Branches in India & International

Akshara Advertising - New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Nagpur, Jaipur

Leo Burnett India Pvt Ltd - 96 offices in over 84 countries - Offices in India - Mumbai,
Delhi, Bangalore
www.leoburnett.com
Contract Advertising (India) Ltd - iContract Dr. A B Road, Mumbai, Nehru Place,
Delhi, Lavelle Road, Bangalore www.contractadvertising.com

Crayons Advertising and Marketing Pvt Ltd - New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Trivandrum, Kathmandu & Dubai
http://www.crayonad.com

Creative Advertising - Mumbai http://www.creativeunit.com/

Enterprise Nexus Communications Pvt. Ltd - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore# Euro

RSCG Advertising Pvt Ltd - offers Advertising, Marketing Services, Public Relations,
Media Planning Services. Offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, India & New
York, Paris, Singapore, Buenos Aires http://www.eurorscgindia.com/
http://www.eurorscg.com/

FCB-Ulka Advertising Ltd - Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Kochi,

Chennai
http://fcbulka.com/

Fountainhead Communications Pvt Ltd- Offers Servicing, Planning, Creative &

Media Services with offices in Chennai & Bangalore, India
http://www.fountainheadindia.com/

Graphisads Pvt Ltd - Services include Advertising - Outrdoor, Radio & TV, Print &
Production, PR, Event Management with office in New Delhi, India
http://www.graphisads.com/home.asp

Hindustan Thompson Associates - Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, India

and worldwide in Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific etc
http://jwt.com/

IB&W Communications Pvt Ltd - Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh

Interface Communications Limited - Full services agency with offices in Mumbai,

Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata India as well as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
China and Singapore.
http://interfacecom.com

Interact Vision Advertising & Marketing Pvt Ltd - New Delhi

Imageads - Imageads and Communications Pvt Ltd -a full service JV agency offering
services to financial, IT, education, insurance, hospitality and other sectors. Offices in
Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, India
www.imageadsgroup.com
JWT - J Walter Thompson India - Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, India,
Mumbai, India
www.jwt.com

Lintas India Ltd - Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata

McCann-Erickson India Ltd - Broadcast, Print & Interactive Services. Offices in New
Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad
www.mccann.com

Types of Ad Agency

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning

and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. An ad
agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort
of selling the client's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing
and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients.

Typical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations

and government agencies. Agencies may be hired to produce an advertising campaign.

History

George Reynell, an officer at the London Gazette, set up what is believed to be the first
advertising agency in London, United Kingdom, in 1812. This remained a family
business until 1993, as 'Reynell & Son', and is now part of the TMP Worldwide agency
(UK and Ireland) under the brand TMP Reynell. Another early advertising agent in
London was Charles Barker, and the firm he established traded as 'Barkers' until 2009
when it went into Administration.

Volney B. Palmer opened the first American advertising agency, in Philadelphia in 1850.
This agency placed ads produced by its clients in various newspapers

produce "photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. His ads were the first whose
typeface and fonts were distinct from the text of the publication and from that of other
advertisements. At that time all newspaper ads were set in agate and only agate. His use
of larger distinctive fonts caused a sensation. Later that same year Robert Bonner ran the
first full-page ad in a newspaper.

In 1864, William James Carlton began selling advertising space in religious magazines.
James Walter Thompson joined this firm in 1868. Thompson rapidly became their best
salesman, purchasing the company in 1877 and renaming it the James Walter Thompson
Company, which today is the oldest American advertising agency. Realizing that he could
sell more space if the company provided the service of developing content for advertisers,
Thompson hired writers and artists to form the first known Creative Department in an
advertising agency. He is credited as the "father of modern magazine advertising" in the
US.

Types of advertising agencies

Ad agencies come in all sizes and include everything from one or two-person shops
(which rely mostly on freelance talent to perform most functions), small to medium sized
agencies, large independents such as SMART and TAXI, and multi-national, multi-
agency conglomerates such as Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Publicis, Interpublic Group
of Companies and Havas.

Full service ad agency

An agency that handles all aspects of the advertising process, including planning, design,
production, and placement. Today, full-service generally suggests that the agency also
handles other aspects of marketing communication, such as public relations, sales
promotion, Internet and direct marketing.

A full-service advertising agency engages in the planning and administration of

advertising campaigns, including setting advertising objectives, developing advertising
strategies, developing and producing the advertising messages, specializing in the
creation, design and media placement of advertisements, and in the planning and
execution of promotional campaigns
 Full-Services Agencies

Planning
Planning
advertising
advertising
Full
Full Range
Range of
of Performing
Performing
Marketing
Marketing research
research
Creating
Creating
advertising
Communication
Communication
advertising
and
and Promotion
Promotion Selecting
Producing Selectingmedia
media
Producing Services
Services
advertising
advertising

Strategic
Strategicmarket
market
planning
planning Package
Packagedesign
design
Sales
Salespromotion
promotion Non-Advertising
Non-Advertising
and training
and training Services
Services Public
Publicrelations
relations
Trade
Tradeshow
show and publicity
and publicity
materials
materials
 Typical Full-Service Agency Organization

Board of
Directors

President

VP Creative VP Account VP Marketing VP Management

Services Services Services and Finance

Writers TV Print Account Media Research Sales Office

Art Directors Produciton Production Supervision Promotion Management

Traffic Traffic Account Personnel Accounting Finance

Executive

Limited-Service Advertising Agencies

Some advertising agencies limit the amount and kind of service they offer. Such agencies
usually offer only one or two of the basic services. For example, although some agencies
that specialize in "creative" also offer strategic advertising planning service, their basic
interest is in the creation of advertising. Similarly, some "media-buying services" offer
media planning service but concentrate on media buying, placement, and billing.

When the advertiser chooses to use limited-service advertising agencies, it must assume
some of the advertising planning and coordination activities that are routinely handled by
the full-service advertising agency. Thus, the advertiser who uses limited-service
agencies usually takes greater responsibility for the strategic planning function, gives
greater strategic direction to specialist creative or media agencies, and exercises greater
control over the product of these specialized agencies, ensuring that their separate
activities are well-ordered and -coordinated.
Creative Boutique

Agency that specializes in the creative aspects of advertising. Creative boutiques

/Boutique agencies offer only those services that have to do with the creation of
advertisements. The staff is usually small and is composed entirely of copywriters
and artists. Generally, the talent is very high caliber, and the services are
purchased on a fee basis by the job. Often, a boutique agency will call in
independent or freelance writers and artists

The Role of Creative Boutiques

Creative
Creative Provide
ProvideOnly
OnlyCreative
CreativeServices
Services
Boutiques
Boutiques

Full-Service
Full-ServiceAgencies
AgenciesMay
May
Subcontract With Creative
Subcontract With Creative
Boutiques
Boutiques

Other
OtherFunctions
FunctionsProvided
Providedby
by
the Internal Client Departments
the Internal Client Departments

Media buying house

Media buying agencies purchase advertising time and space from media providers and
resell it to advertisers. They can also be involved in planning individual campaigns and
monitoring the results of advertising placements against agreed measures such as target
audience reach. Large advertisers may bypass this industry by using in-house media
buying teams and dealing directly with media representatives
Media Buyers are individuals responsible for purchasing time and advertising space for
the purpose of advertising here When planning what to buy, they must evaluate
factors based on but not limited to station formats, pricing rates, demographics,
geographic, and psychographics relating to the advertisers particular product or
service objectives. The Media Buyer needs to optimize what is bought and that is
dependent on budget, type of medium (radio, internet, TV, print), quality of the
medium (target audience, time of day for broadcast, etc.), and how much time and
space is wanted. Media Buyers can purchase spot, regionally, or nationally.
National Media Buyers might have to factor in determinates based on a state by
state basis. Rates, demand of leads, space, and time, and state licenses will vary
from state to state. National Media Buyers will need National Media Planning to
generate National Media Marketing strategies and National Media Advertising
that can be adaptable from area to area but also work on a national level

Media Buying Can Be Specialized

Media
Media Specialize
Specializein
inBuying
BuyingMedia,
Media,
Buying
Buying Especially
Especially BroadcastTime
Broadcast Time
Services
Services

Agencies
Agenciesand
andClients
ClientsDevelop
Develop
Media Strategy
Media Strategy

Media
MediaBuying
BuyingOrganizations
Organizations
Implement
Implement theStrategy
the Strategyand
and
Buy Time and Space
Buy Time and Space

Specialist Advertising Agencies

In addition to the full-service, general-line advertising agencies, there are also agencies
that specialize in particular kinds of advertising: recruitment, help-wanted, medical,
classified, industrial, financial, direct-response, retail, yellow pages,
theatrical/entertainment, investment, travel, and so on.
Specialization occurs in such fields for a variety of reasons. Often, as in recruitment
advertising, for example, specialized media or media uses are involved that require
knowledge and expertise not ordinarily found in a general-line agency. In other cases,
such as medical or industrial advertising, the subject is technical and requires that writers
and artists have training in order to write meaningful advertising messages about it.

Such specialist advertising agencies are also usually "full-service," in that they offer all
the basic advertising agency services in their area of specialization plus other, peripheral
advertising services related to their area of specialization.
In-House Advertising Agencies

Some advertisers believe that they can provide such advertising services to themselves at
a lower cost than would be charged by an outside agency.

Pros & Cons of In-House Agencies

+ Positive - Negative

Cost
Cost Less
Less
Savings
Savings Experience
Experience

The
The
More
More Less
Less
Control In-house
In-house Objectivity
Control Objectivity
Agency
Agency

Better
Better Less
Less
Coordination
Coordination Flexibility
Flexibility

Market Research Agency

Market research agency means any commercial concern engaged in conducting market
research in any manner, in relation to any product service or utility, including a;;
types of customized and syndicated research services
 Marketing Research Companies
Planning
Planningand
and
Implementing
Implementing
Research
Research

Information
Information
Application
Application

Analysis
Analysisand
and
Interpretation
Interpretation

Primary
PrimaryData
Data
Collection
Collection
Qualitative
Qualitative&&Quantitative
Quantitative

Secondary
SecondaryData
Data
Collection
Collection

Interactive agencies

Interactive agencies may differentiate themselves by offering a mix of web

design/development, search engine marketing, internet advertising/marketing, or e-
business/e-commerce consulting. Interactive agencies rose to prominence before the
traditional advertising agencies fully embraced the Internet. Offering a wide range of
services, some of the interactive agencies grew very rapidly, although some have
downsized just as rapidly due to changing market conditions. Today, the most successful
interactive agencies are defined as companies that provide specialized advertising and
marketing services for the digital space. The digital space is defined as any multimedia-
enabled electronic channel that an advertiser's message can be seen or heard from. The
'digital space' translates to the Internet, kiosks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and lifestyle devices
(iPod, PSP, and mobile). Interactive agencies function similarly to advertising agencies,
although they focus solely on interactive advertising services. They deliver services such
as strategy, creative, design, video, development, programming (Flash and otherwise),
deployment, management, and fulfillment reporting. Often, interactive agencies provide:
digital lead generation, digital brand development, interactive marketing and
communications strategy, rich media campaigns, interactive video brand experiences,
Web 2.0 website design and development, e-learning Tools, email marketing, SEO/SEM
services, PPC campaign management, content management services, web application
development, and overall data mining & ROI assessment.

The recent boost in the interactive agencies can also be attributed to the rising popularity
of web-based social networking and community sites. The creation of sites such as
MySpace, Facebook and YouTube have sparked market interest, as some interactive
agencies have started offering personal and corporate community site development as one
of their service offerings. It still may be too early to tell how agencies will use this type of
marketing to monetize client ROI, but all signs point to online networking as the future of
brand marketing and Interactive being the core of Brand's Communication and Marketing
Strategy.

Due to the social networking explosion, new types of companies are doing reputation
management. This type of agency is especially important if a company needs online
damage control. If a customer becomes disgruntled, it is very easy to damage a
company's reputation via social networking sites. Because of how rapidly the information
spreads, it becomes absolutely necessary to address any rumors, gossip or other negative
online press immediately.

Functions performed by Interactive

Agencies
Web
Web Web
WebSites
Sites
Banner
BannerAds
Ads
Interactive
Interactive
Media
MediaCreation
Creation

CD-ROMs
CD-ROMs Kiosks
Kiosks

Audio
Audio Video
Video

Digital
Digital
Content
Content

Animation
Animation Special
SpecialEffects
Effects
Search engine agencies

Lately, pay per click (PPC) and (SEO) search engine optimization firms have been
classified by some as 'agencies' because they create media and implement media
purchases of text based (or image based, in some instances of search marketing) ads. This
relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term 'agency', however with the
creation of ads (either text or image) and media purchases, they do technically qualify as
'advertising agencies'.

Social media agencies

Social media agencies specialize in promotion of brands in the various social media
platforms like blogs, social networking sites, Q&A sites, discussion forums, microblogs
etc. The two key services of social media agencies are:

 social media marketing

 online reputation management

Healthcare communications agencies

Healthcare communications agencies specialize in strategic communications and

marketing services for the Healthcare and Life Science industries. These agencies
distinguish themselves through an understanding of the strict labeling and marketing
guidelines mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and industry
group guidelines, most notably ADVAMED and PHARMA.

Notable examples include: Dudnyk

Medical education agencies

Medical education agencies specialize in creating educational content for the Healthcare
and Life Science industries. These agencies typically specialize in one of two areas:

 Promotional education - education and training materials tied to the promotion of

a given product or therapy
 Continuing medical education - accredited education and training materials
created for continuing physician and medical professional education.
Other agencies

While not advertising agencies, enterprise technology agencies often work in tandem
with advertising agencies to provide a specialized subset of services offered by some
interactive agencies: Web 2.0 website design and development, Content management
systems, web application development, and other intuitive technology solutions for the
web, mobile devices and emerging digital platforms.

The student-run advertising agency model, which mainly operates out of university
classrooms or as a student groups, provides free advertising services to clients in
exchange for the educational opportunity.

Structure of an ad agency & Functions of agency.

Introduction

Keeping in mind the broad objectives of an advertising agency, following are the
important administrative and executive functionaries structured in accordance to the
available resources.
 CEO/
Head

Account Client Creative Media Production Billing/

Planning Servicing Finance

Print TV
Art Copy

Planning Buying

a) Account Planning:
b) Client Servicing:
c) Creative- (a) Art (b) Copy:
d) Media Planning and Buying:
e) Production:
f) Billing and Finance:

Job Responsibilities:

A). Account Planner/Manager:

-Responsible for conducting research to generate consumer insights and
market trends/ developments.
-Should understand the needs of the organization.

B) Client Servicing:
- Responsible for taking client briefs and convey this to the other
departments of the agency.
- Also would study the client, the product and the market.
- Should have knowledge of all available media.

C) Creative Department:
Art:
- Responsible for creating and visualizing the layout of the ad.

Copy:
- Create ideas for advertising and promotion.
 - Would do copywriting for all sorts of advertising and promotional
material.
D) Media Department
- Would responsible for the planning, scheduling, booking and the purchase of
space and time in various media.

E) Production
- Would responsible for producing print ads and television commercial.

F) Billing/ Finance:
- Would look after the financial requirement of the agency.
- Also facilitate creative and production department by providing production
material.

The Agency structure varies from Agency to Agency according to the size.

Advertising Department under Centralized System

President
President

Research
Research
and
and Human
Human
Production
Production Finance
Finance Marketing
Marketing Develop-
Develop- Resources
Resources
ment
ment

Marketing
Marketing Product
Product
Advertising
Advertising Sales
Sales
Research
Research Planning
Planning
Pros & Cons of Centralization

Pros & Cons of Centralization

+ Positive - Negative

Better
Better Less
LessGoal
Goal
Communications
Communications Involvement
Involvement

The
The
Fewer
Fewer Longer
Longer
Personnel Centralized
Centralized Response
Personnel ResponseTime
Time
System
System

Can’t
Can’tDoDo
Continuity
Continuity Multiple
MultipleProduct
Product
Of
OfStaff
Staff Lines
Lines
 Decentralized Brand Management System
Corporate

Production Finance Marketing Research Human

and Resources
Development

Sales Product Marketing

Management Services

Brand Brand
Advertising Marketing
Manager Manager
Department Research
Ad agency Ad agency

Sales Package
Promotion Design

Merchandising
 Pros & Cons of Decentralization

+ Positive - Negative

Lack
Lackof
of
Concentrated
Concentrated Experience
Experience
Attention
Attention in
inIMC
IMC

Rapid The
The
RapidProblem
Problem Decentralized
Competition
Competitionfor
for
Response
Response Decentralized Resources
Resources
System
System

Increased
Increased Lack
Lackof
of
Flexibility
Flexibility Authority
Authority

Advertising Agency Functions

To advertise their products, brands and services to present and prospective customers. For
planning and creating an effective advertising campaign. To take over the process of
brand building, strategizing and pushing sales through other promotion techniques like
sales promotions etc.

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.

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, film and audio production, copywriting,
computer programming, and much more.

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.

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.
Primary services of Advertising Agency:

Total Advertising Services :Strategic planning, creative development and media services
for advertising, particularly in television, newspapers, magazines and radio; providing the
best creative designed to capture the imagination of consumers Marketing Services:
Provision of a number of advertising related services, including sales promotion, market
research, PR and event marketing. E-Solution Services : e-solution services, including
system integration services, e-business consulting and customer relationship management
(CRM), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and e-
promotions using the Internet and mobile.

Content Business: Sales of sponsorship, broadcasting and other rights, and the
production and marketing of such media / content as sporting events, films, TV programs,
animated content, music and other forms of entertainment. Integrated Media Services :
Bringing value to both clients and media-related companies by offering a wide range of
media solution services Sales Promotion : Providing comprehensive sales promotion
planning designed to complement mass media and other activities Event Marketing :
Assisting clients by providing dynamic vehicles for their messages in the form of on-the-
spot interactive communications Integrated Branding Services : Assuring clients the
highest quality of branding services for their communication needs

Functions of ad agency

It doesn't matter how important your product is. It doesn't matter how useful your
services are. What matters is how you are promoting your product and services. If you
have chosen the right tools and techniques, if your advertising is in the right direction, if
you have chosen the right channel and if you have targeted the right audience then it can
be said that you are doing the right kind of advertising. In fact the endeavour must bring
results otherwise everything is useless. If you have a product and if you want to do
excellent promotion then you can take the help of certain agencies like an advertising
agency.

These agencies make sure that your products reach to your target audience in the right
time. These days an online advertising agency is serving this purpose and many
business ventures are getting immense help due to them. They can let you know about
different online ad techniques which are the most modern tools of advertising. You can
opt for search engine marketing, B2B lead generation, banner advertising, Email
marketing and other tools. These are highly efficient tools which are cost-effective
also. The growth of Internet might be clear to you and this growth has increased the
population of online prospects who are doing online shopping.

Due to these online shoppers Internet advertising is successful if you do it in the

right way. That is why it is suggested that you use an online advertising agency. Also, the
prerequisites of a good promotion are that it must attract the target audience, it must
communicate the proper message and it must bring good results. It must be generating
revenue and the faster the result the better is the ad tool. An advertising agency can help
you in preparing attractive and cost-effective banners. These are highly result-oriented
and so are very successful.So opting for an advertising agency is never a bad idea. You
can see your product to reach your customers in short time and you can expect good
return on investment (ROI). Speculations are that till 2011 Internet will be the biggest
advertising media. Now you can understand the role of an advertising agency.

People working in an agency:

Accounts Executive: It is a key career option in advertising agency. He is called an

Account Director when he is a member of the Board. He is a link between a client and his
staff. Copywriters: They are the wordsmiths who do the wording of an advertisement.
They are bright and talented. They have a flair for language. They contribute to the theme
of an advertisement. Creation of successful copies for different clients establishes them in
this field.

Visualisers: These are artists who put on paper what has been thought out by the
copywriter. They in fact design the ad.

Creative Director: He co-ordinates the copywriting and designing. He is a senior

professional who is seasoned in an existing advertising agency set-up to take on this
mantle. Production Department: Persons of diverse talents like printing technology, DTP,
photography, typography etc. are involved here.

Media Planner: He has to allocate the advertising budget amongst media. He has to
select the appropriate media. He decides about the frequency, size and position of an
advertisement. He decides about its publication date. He receives the tear-off copies from
the media when the ad is published. He is guided by the media research, which he
undertakes, or by research undertaken by an outside agency.

Marketing Researchers: Modern agencies are integrated set-ups. They provide a range
of marketing services. Research data become very useful as input to the creative process.
Ancillary Services : These are needed to produce/create advertisement. A whole range of
services like studio service, photographic service, printing service, gift item producers
etc. fall into this category.

Freelancers : These are professionals who work independently and have a successful
track record. They are copywriters, jingle singers, radio announcers, artists, visualizers,
technical writers etc.
The Client Agency Relationship.

An advertising agency handles part or all marketing communications activities on behalf

of a client organization. The agencies themselves tend to vary in size from small, perhaps
a handful of people, to vast - where many thousands of employees make up the company.
A commission is generally taken by the agency which tends to be taken from the media
purchases of the client organization.

This is done rather like a theatrical agent would take a percentage of the income of an
actor for whom employment had been found. The agency may also take payment from
the media owners (i.e. sometimes take a discount and do not pass it on to the client).
More transparent means of payment are becoming more popular, with some agencies
being paid-by-results.

There are many types of agency, but it is generally accepted that the main ones are
include full-service agency, a la carte agency, or specialist agency. A full-service agency
will take on the whole project or campaign. An a la carte agency will offer some aspects
of a campaign such as media buying, rather like buying items from a menu. A specialist
agency tends to be small and more focused on a specific aspect of marketing
communications and/or a specific market such as Internet Marketing.

As we know that Full-Service Agency will offer:

  Account management.
 Creative.
 Media.
 Traffic and production.
 Account planning.
 Account management.

Account managers work for an agency with the client (an agency's customers are called
'clients'). Very often they will spend a lot of time with the client working as part of their
marketing team. This is one way in which an agency works closely with its client and
why the 'chemistry' between a client and its agency needs to be right. The account
manager makes sure that the correct information is passed from the client to the other
members of the agency. He or she is a co-ordinator and time manager. The account
planner will work on a brief that is fed back to the agency team.

Creative Team work

The first internal agency team members to see the brief tend to be the creatives and the
media planners. The brief contains a 'proposition' that the client wishes to communicate
to the target audience. The creative team will transform the proposition into something
exciting and attractive to the target audience. The creative team decides upon the 'creative
concept.' This will be a motivational idea. The words used to express the creative concept
are called 'copy.' The images, pictures and diagrams are created i.e. the 'design' or 'layout.'
This is done by 'designers' and 'copywriters.' Beware some creatives! Creatives tend to be
artistic and innovative. Hence their advice should be highly regarded and any criticism
should be constructive.

Traffic and Production Team work

The traffic and media team are in charge of the production of the physical and artistic
output, i.e. the marketing communication. In the case of a TV advert, they would
commission scripts, recruit a ctors (mainly via agents), film crews and supporting
activities (such as costumes and catering). All ads are different and so the specifics will
vary. In the case of print advertising, the traffic and production team would commission
and sign-off all printed advertising material such as direct marketing materials, magazine
ads or posters.

Account Planning Team work

The account planning team work on the 'customer's' perspective, and take an outward
look at the world. They support the creative teams by supplying data and opinion on what
I actually occurring in the marketing in which advertising is to be placed. They tend to
use secondary data to support decisions, and would rarely commission original research.
However, with material supplied my organisations such as Mori, Datamonitor, ACORN,
and other - the account planning team can build an image of segments to help the
creatives.

Media Team work

The media team will organise the timing and scheduling of the marketing
communications campaign. They will look at the range of media to be exploited, and then
look at the best slots in which to run advertising. They will help a client to decide upon
the duration of and individual slot, and how many of them to run. Here the expense and
return to the client are key factors that influence decision-making. The two main skills of
the media team are media planning and media buying. Today there is a wealth of data on
which media buying can be based. There is software for planning and simulation.

Negative inpact of advertising

Advertising denotes communication information to the public about the product or

services with a view to creating a demand and ultimate sale. But in the present day
context where production is on a large scale and competitive, advertising is considered to
be great social waste and economical waste. The following are the objection:-

1. Economic Objection:-
a. Unproductive:- It is agreed that advertising involves huge expenditure of
money without any tangible returns. However, this is not valid because in
the long-run advertising helps to increase sales and profit.

b. Increase In Price:-It is agreed that manufacturers shift the cost of

advertising to consumers by increasing prices of the products and services.
This argument is invalid because advertising ultimately lead to increase in
sales and profit and thus, decrease in cost and price.

c. Effect Of Advertising On Values, Materialism And Life Style:-If there

was no advertisements, we would be less aware of material things and
therefore, more contact. Everyday new products are being produced and
offered for sales, old products are discarded even if they are not used.But
this argument is invalid, if occasional discontent were not there, nothing
exciting would be happened. New and innovative product would never
discovered.
 d. Advertising Confuse Rather Than Helping:- Critics argue that consumer
get confused and find it difficult to take a decision.However this argument
is not valid because by applying one’s mind human being are perfectly
capable of making a choice.

Social Objections:-

a. Misleads Consumers:- Advertisements often make claims about the quality of

advertised product. Quite often these claims are fable and mislead consumers.
Advertisement claiming to cure baldness, dark skin and other ailment are quoted
as examples of false advertising. However ,advertising cannot mislead people
forever.
b. Advertising Encourage Sales Of Inferior Products:- Ads of the products such
as cigarette , liquor etc are socially undesirable as it detrimental to health and
family welfare. However, advertising alone is not responsible for social evils.
Government and social origination should aware the people about the
disadvantage of consuming this product.

c. Some Ads Are In Bad Taste:-There are certainly some ads which are not
prepared with care and concern for other people like ads showing women dancing
and running after man wearing a particular suiting or using a particular perfume
are certainly not good taste. Some ads distract relationships like employee-
employer or mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Individuals are differ in their perception of good or bad taste. It is a matter of personal
opinion standard of taste change overtime, what was acceptable. Yesterday may not be
relevant in today’s context.

Advertising using powerful media to control peoples' choices.

Advertising characters play an important role in current marketplace. They create

identification, personality and promotional continuity to a brand. They not only provide
cultural meaning, but also appeal emotionally to the consumer, and function as
advertising tools, by promoting the product, the product line and the brand continuity
over time. Consequently, in fulfilling advertising functions, advertising characters are
accepted as a mean of communication between marketers and consumers, ensuring that
these icons continue as part of American popular culture. Thus it is of no doubt the
importance of the role advertising characters play in marketing and advertising strategies

Another suggestion for future research concerns the investigations on interactive

advertising characters. It is clear that advertising characters contribute to the liking of an
ad, and, in the last instance, to the positive attitude toward the underlying brand. But
there is still lack of studies exploring the relationship between interactive advertising
characters and attitude towards the ad. This is a challenging task, considering the
difficulties in defining and analyzing the effects of advertising characters in traditional
media and extending these issues to the Internet. It is essential, however, that researchers
conduct their investigations evolving concomitantly with the technological developments
and their reflection in contemporary society.

A final consideration relates to the study of the relationship between advertising spokes-
characters and brand building. The purpose of this paper was to explore only the
dimensions related to the likeability measures of advertising characters. It would be
interesting to verify whether other measures of advertising effectiveness can be applied to
the relationship between advertising icons and brand building.
 Participants in the IMC Process

Advertiser
Advertiser(Client)
(Client)
Advertising
AdvertisingAgency
Agency
Media
Media Organizations
Organizations Direct
Direct Sales
Sales
Response
Response Promotion
Promotion
Marketing
Marketing Agencies
Agencies Agencies
Agencies
Communications
Communications
Specialist
Specialist
Organization Public
Public
Organization Interactive
Interactive
Relations
Relations Agencies
Agencies
Collateral
Collateral Services
Services Firms
Firms

How Agency earn Revenue?

Agency agencies may be compensated in diverse ways including:

A. Commissions from Media—the agency is compensated based on the time or space it

purchases for its client. The commission is typically 15% (16 2/3% for outdoor), and
sometimes have been negotiate downward. The commission system has be the target of
criticism for a number of years as critics argue that it ties agency compensation to
medium costs and encourages agencies to rely too much on expensive, commissionable
medium such as network box and avoid noncommissionable media. Many advertisers
enjoy moved to a negotiated commission system that take the form of reduced percentage
rates, variable commission rates and minimum and maximum compensation rates. A
recent survey by the Association of National Advertisers found that smaller amount than
10 percent of clients pay their agencies a 15% commission. However, most clients do use
the 15% commission as a benchmark to evaluate their current agency compensation
agreement.

B. Fee, Cost and Incentive-based Systems—in situations where on earth billings are
low, and/or the client does not wish to recompense a direct commission, an agreement
may be reached within which the agency is compensated in the opening of a fee, cost-
plus or incentive-based compensation system.
1. Fee arrangements are of two types: a fixed-fee method where on earth the agency
charges a basic monthly allowance for all of its services and credits to the client any
medium commissions earned. Under a fee-commission combination the medium
commissions received by the agency are credited against the fee. If commissions are
smaller number than the agreed-on fee, client must label up the difference.

2. Cost-plus agreement—under this compensation method the client agrees to pay the
agency a
payment based on costs of its work plus some agreed-on profit side-line. This system
requires the agency to keep detailed store of costs incurred in working on a client’s tale.

3. Incentive-based compensation—while there are heaps variations on this system, the

simple idea is that the agency’s compensation rank will depend upon how well it meet
predetermined performance goal for its clients such as sales or souk share. Incentive-
based compensation. Incentive based compensation systems are becoming more prevalent
as marketers are wish to make their agencies more in charge and reduce costs.

C. Percentage Charges—when agencies purchase services from other outside agencies

they typically supply a percentage in the form of a markup charge as their compensation.
These markups usually list from 17.65 to 20 percent.

Acceptable Agency Compensation Options

Most agencies are happy to discuss their fees and compensation methods and to negotiate
a method that will work for the client. While some agencies have specific methods their
experience has taught them work best, most clients skip this section and reserve judgment
until after their initial contact.

Annual fee w/ media commissions credited

Contingent or Performance-based
Cost-based fees
Commission
Equity/stock position against costs incurred plus negotiated payment
Flat negotiated fee\(s\)
Monthly retainer
Project billing
Variable hourly rates for employee category

The amount of commission varies from company to company and product to

productThiscompensation is determined by the company contract.
Advertising agency compensation may change dramatically in coming years as
advertisers put pressure on agencies to reduce commissions and tie compensation to
performance resulting from advertising campaigns. Drawing on agency theory from the
economics discipline, the authors develop and test
Several hypotheses to address the advertising agency compensation decision. Their study
provides the first comprehensive look at the prevalence of outcome-based compensation
tied to performance and other compensation systems currently used among U.S.
advertisers.
Much has been written about advertising agency compensation and the changes currently
occurring in the advertising industry. One industry observer comments: "The way
agencies are compensated for their purchases of advertising promises to change
dramatically” Calls have been made for agencies to "work harder to customize their
compensation structures and find new ways of redefining their role in brand building" As
a result, advertising agencies have witnessed a steady erosion of client budgets, indicative
of client opinion that full-service agencies are too costly for the impact they deliver In
effect, though studies by the Association of National Advertisers (Gleason 1996) show
that a majority of advertisers (59% in 1995 vs. 61% in 1992) have been paying their
agencies in commissions, more than three quarters of the agencies were paid reduced-rate
commissions in 1995 compared with less than half in 1992. Further, in addition to lower
agency compensa tion advertisers are demanding greater agency accountability.
The pressure on advertising agencies to enhance their performance and deliver value is
the result of several events: the Total Quality Management revolution of the 1980s to
improve quality, now extended to include supplier performance; the increased pressure on
marketing budgets resulting in calls to justify expenditures; and a competitive
environment wherein market prices are stable or declining, forcing profit growth to come
from other sources such as volume generated by advertising. For the advertiser, the
message is clear. Advertising, like any other activity, must be managed better to obtain
superior results at a lower cost. Agency compensation is critical to that objective, but
what guidance can theory offer to the advertising manager?
Methods of Agency Compensation

Commissions
Commissions
Method
Method

Cost-Plus
Cost-Plus
Agreements
Agreements

Compensation
Compensation Percentage
Percentage
Methods Charges
Charges
Methods

Fee
Fee
Arrangements
Arrangements

Incentive-Based
Incentive-Based
Payment
Payment
 Why Agencies Lose Clients

Personnel
Personnel
changes
changes Changes
Changes
Poor
Poor in strategy
in strategy
performance
performance
Poor Declining
Declining
communications salessales
Unrealistic
Unrealistic
demands
demands
Changes
Changes
in size
in size Payment
Payment
conflicts
conflicts
Personality
Personality
conflicts
conflicts Policy
Conflict
Conflict
of of
interests
interests changes
 How Agencies Gain Clients

Referrals
Referrals Presentations
Presentations

Solicitations
Solicitations

Public
PublicRelations
Relations Image,
Image,Reputation
Reputation
 Direct Response Agency Activities

Data
Data Base
Base Media
Media Services
Services
Management
Management

Direct Direct
Direct
Direct Response Creative
Mail Response Creative
Mail Agencies
Agencies

Research
Research Production
Production
Activities performed by Sales
Promotion Agencies

Promotion
Promotion Planning
Planning

Creative
Creative Work
Work

Research
Research
Research
Research
Coordination
Coordination With
With
Advertising
Advertising
Premium
Premium Design
Design
Contest/Sweepstakes
Contest/Sweepstakes
Development
Development
Data
Data Base
Base Marketing
Marketing
 Functions performed by Public Relations Firms

Damage
Damage
Control
Control Generating
Generating
Strategy
Strategy Publicity
Publicity
Development
Development

Program
Planning
Image
Image
Portrayal
Portrayal
Lobbying
Lobbying
PublicPublic
Affairs
Affairs