Media and Related Careers: Media Jobs
ADV 4300, Kent Lancaster
Here is a typical breakdown of the media positions within an advertising or media agency. These titles may change from agency to agency, but their description and progression are fairly constant.
These are all entry-level positions. Life is tough in the beginning: long hours, lots of stress and not a whole lot of cash to show for it. But good assistants rapidly advance up the ladder. It is not unheard of to be a VP in seven to ten years, something that takes considerably longer in other fields. Most new graduates will end up in the media department of an advertising agency - often, the opportunity to enter another department doesn't exist. As a result, the pressure in media departments has gone up. More and more, companies are relying on media departments to help them make the best media choices.
In these positions, you can expect to have several projects going at once and to switch directions often. The media planners and/or buyers that supervise your work will likely keep your desk and schedule full of projects.
An assistant media planner may be asked to run reach and frequency analyses for current advertising campaigns, obtain advertising costs from the various media, present information at client meetings, create advertising budgets and meet with media buyers to preview schedules. An assistant media buyer may be charged with calling for rates, assisting with media buys and presenting information to clients.
On average, you'll spend around one year "in the trenches" before being promoted to media planner or media buyer.
The media planner’s job is to translate the client’s marketing objectives into a media plan. Using the client's budget as the primary guide, the media planner develops a schedule or plan to bring to the media buyer. Excellent communication skills are necessary, as you must deal with colleagues working on the campaign and make effective presentations to clients. The ability to get along with people, to demonstrate a capacity for innovative thought and a genuine enthusiasm for the media also are important qualities. Media planners generally have longer-term involvement with a brand than media buyers, and therefore work closely with brand managers, becoming familiar with the product’s personality and distinctive qualities.
In this role, media planners will identify the best media vehicles and mix of media vehicles to deliver an advertiser's message to their target audience. In today's advertising clutter, precise targeting is necessary to reach the appropriate audience: maximum exposure with minimum waste is your credo.
A media planner is charged with the task of translating the client's objectives into a plan of action by placing advertisements where the target audience will see them. You will work with the account team to gain an appreciation for what the advertiser wants to accomplish and how they have done so in the past; confer with the agency team, the client and possibly consumers to develop a media strategy; prepare and present a media and cost schedule; research and analyze data to turn a qualitative goal into a quantitative task; recommend which types of media to use and when.
You can expect to be a media planner for about two to five years before being promoted to media supervisor or assistant media director.
The media buyer purchases advertising space. They may purchase all media, or may specialize in a particular area, say television. The buyer negotiates air time and print placement, and seeks to secure the best rate and placement for an advertisement. As a media buyer, you would spend much of your day on the phone in an atmosphere that has been compared to a stock trading floor - heated and intense!
Television buying is the most intense, as the price for airtime fluctuates constantly based on the number of people expected to watch and the number of advertisers who want to buy time. You would be making snap decisions under considerable pressure, so common sense and a good relationship with both client and media outlet are necessary. An aptitude for figures and calculations is also a plus.
A media buyer seeks to obtain the best price and placement for a client's advertising. Some media buyers also do their own media planning (just as some media planners do their own buying.) The buyer negotiates with media sales representatives, assesses the options available and makes the best choice for the client. They must stay up-to-date with the market (e.g. TV schedules) and maintain relationships with media sales staff. There also is some responsibility to report to the client during and after the campaign.
As a media buyer, you will need to stay on your toes to find the best media windows in which to place your client's advertisements and to best express their strategy. Negotiating skills are especially important to land the right times and rates for the clients advertising plan. Basically, you’ll have to know the media as well as, or better than, the media owners themselves. You’ll also need to maintain good relations with the media owners because you’ll need their support over and over again. Media buying is a rapidly expanding part of the advertising industry. Clients want more value for their advertising budget, and with the increasing media diversity, media specialists are in greater demand than ever before.
You can expect to spend about two to five years in this position before you are considered for a promotion to media supervisor or assistant media director
The media supervisor is responsible for assembling all the pieces into a concise plan. In this position, you would likely be responsible for both writing the media plan and also presenting it to the clients. On average, you'll be here for two years or so before your next big promotion.
Getting here varies from agency to agency. Some will have you spend time as an associate media director or agency vice president for several years, while others will promote you from supervisor to director. The media director oversees the entire media department and is responsible for things like setting the department's budget. They also sit on the agency board of directors. This is the top media spot, and there aren't many of them around!
This position makes you the middleman (or woman) between advertising media buyers and sellers. For the most part, you would deal directly with advertising agencies, but some reps do work directly with the client. An individual salesperson usually handles one medium, like television or web/online advertising. Media planners often count on reps for detailed media information, so the media rep position generally is not an entry-level one.
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Revised: August 23, 1999.