This document provides an overview of the structure and key functions of advertising agencies. It discusses the typical departments found in most agencies, including account management, account planning, creative, finance & accounts, media buying, and production. Larger agencies may also have separate human resources, research, web development, traffic, and other departments. Each department's roles and responsibilities are described in 1-2 sentences. The document also briefly profiles three influential figures in the history of advertising - Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy, and William Bernbach - and their impact and style.

1. Symbiosis Institute of Media and
Communication, Pune
Advertising Industry & Practices
Prof. Nandita Khaire
Assignment
Submitted By:
Yasmin Hussain
144
MBA - Ad
2013

2. ADVERTISING AGENCY – STRUCTURE & KEY FUCTIONS
Advertising agencies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small
boutique shops that have just a few people. Others are giants that
employ thousands of people in offices all around the world.
But, however large or small the agency, there is a basic structure that
most advertising agencies stick to. In the smaller agencies, some
people will perform more than one role. One person my actually be
the entire department. But the fundamentals are the same.
There are 6 major departments in any advertising agency. These can
be split into other sub-departments, or given various creative names,
but the skeleton is the same.
These departments are:
• Account Management
• Account Planning
• Creative
• Finance & Accounts
• Media Buying
• Production
Larger agencies may also separate out the following departments:
• Human Resources & Facilities
• Research
• Web development
• Traffic
Account Management / Client Service
The account management department comprises of account executives,
account managers and account directors, and is responsible for
liaising with the agency's many clients. This department is the link
between the many departments within the agency, and the clients who
pay the bills. In the past they were referred to as "the suits," and
there have been many battles between the account services
department and the creative department. But as most creatives know,
a good account services team is essential to a good advertising

3. campaign. A solid creative brief is one of the main duties of account
services.
Account Planning
This department combines research with strategic thinking. Often a mix
of researchers and account managers, the account planning
department provides consumer insights, strategic direction, research,
focus groups and assists helps keep advertising campaigns on target
and on brand. It can be described as “the discipline that brings the
consumer into the process of developing advertising”. To be truly
effective, advertising must be both distinctive and relevant, and
planning helps on both counts.
Creative
This is the engine of any advertising agency. It's the lifeblood of the
business, because the creative department is responsible for the
product. And an ad agency is only as good as the ads the creative
department puts out. The roles within the creative department are
many and varied, and usually include:
• Copywriters
• Art Directors
• Designers
• Production Artists
• Web Designers
• Associate Creative Directors
• Creative Director(s)
In many agencies, copywriters and art directors are paired up, working
as teams. They will also bring in the talents of other designers and
production artists as and when the job requires it. Sometimes, traffic is
handled by a position within the creative department, although that is
usually part of the production department. Everyone within creative
services reports to the Creative Director. It is his or her role to steer
the creative product, making sure it is on brand, on brief and on time.
Finance & Accounts
Money. At the end of the day, that's what ad agencies want. And it's
what their clients want, too. At the center of all the money coming

4. into, and going out of, the agency is the finance and accounts
department. This department is responsible for handling payment of
salaries, benefits, vendor costs, travel, day-to-day business costs and
everything else you'd expect from doing business. It's been said that
approximately 70% of an ad agency's income pays salary and benefits
to employees. However, this figure varies depending on the size and
success of the agency in question.
Media Buying
It is the function of the media buying department to procure the
advertising time and/or space required for a successful advertising
campaign. This includes TV and radio time, outdoor (billboards,
posters, guerrilla), magazine and newspaper insertions, internet banners
and takeovers, and, well, anywhere else an ad can be placed for a
fee. This usually involves close collaboration with the creative
department who comes up with the initial ideas, as well as the client
and the kind of exposure they want. This department is usually steered
by a media director.
Production
Ideas are just ideas until they're made real. This is the job of the
production department. During the creative process, the production
department will be consulted to talk about the feasibility of executing
certain ideas. Once the ad is sold to the client, the creative and
account teams will collaborate with production to get the campaign
produced on budget. This can be anything from getting original
photography or illustration produced, working with printers, hiring
typographers and TV directors, and a myriad of other disciplines
needed to get an ad campaign published. Production also works
closely with the media department, who will supply the specs and
deadlines for the jobs.
In small to mid-sized agencies, traffic is also a part of the production
department. It is the job of traffic to get each and every job through
the various stages of account management, creative development,
media buying and production in a set timeframe. Traffic will also
ensure that work flows through the agency smoothly, preventing jams
that may overwhelm creative teams and lead to very long hours,

5. missed deadlines and problematic client relationships. Traffic keeps the
agency's heart beating.
EVOLUTION OF MODERN ADVERTISING IN USA
In United States history, advertising has responded to changing
business demands, media technologies, and cultural contexts, and it is
here, not in a fruitless search for the very first advertisement, that we
should begin.
In the eighteenth century, many American colonists enjoyed imported
British consumer products such as porcelain, furniture, and musical
instruments, but also worried about dependence on imported
manufactured goods. Advertisements in colonial America were most
frequently announcements of goods on hand, but even in this early
period, persuasive appeals accompanied dry descriptions. Benjamin
Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette reached out to readers with new
devices like headlines, illustrations, and advertising placed next to
editorial material. Also, a particularly disturbing form of early American
advertisements were notices of slave sales or appeals for the capture
of escaped slaves.
Despite the ongoing “market revolution,” early and mid-
nineteenth-century advertisements rarely demonstrate striking
changes in advertising appeals. Newspapers almost never printed ads
wider than a single column and generally eschewed illustrations and
even special typefaces. Magazine ad styles were also restrained, with
most publications segregating advertisements on the back pages.
In the 1880s, industries ranging from soap to canned food to
cigarettes introduced new production techniques, created standardized
products in unheard-of quantities, and sought to find and persuade
buyers. National advertising of branded goods emerged in this
period in response to profound changes in the business environment.
Along with the manufacturers, other businesses also turned to
advertising. Large department stores in rapidly-growing cities, such as
Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia and New York, Macy’s in New York, and
Marshall Field’s in Chicago, also pioneered new advertising styles. By
one commonly used measure, total advertising volume in the United
States grew from about $200 million in 1880 to nearly $3 billion in
1920.

6. Advertising agencies, formerly in the business of peddling advertising
space in local newspapers and a limited range of magazines, became
servants of the new national advertisers, designing copy and artwork
and placing advertisements in the places most likely to attract buyer
attention.
While advertising generated modern anxieties about its social and
ethical implications, it nevertheless acquired a new centrality in the
1920s. Consumer spending–fueled in part by the increased availability
of consumer credit–on automobiles, radios, household appliances, and
leisure time activities like spectator sports and movie going paced a
generally prosperous 1920s. Advertising promoted these products and
services. The rise of mass circulation magazines, radio broadcasting
and to a lesser extent motion pictures provided new media for
advertisements to reach consumers.
Since the 1920s, American advertising has grown massively, and
current advertising expenditures are eighty times greater than in that
decade. New media–radio, television, and the Internet–deliver
commercial messages in ways almost unimaginable 80 years ago. The
triad of advertiser, agency, and medium remains the foundation of
the business relations of advertising. Perhaps the most striking
development in advertising styles has been the shift from attempting to
market mass-produced items to an undifferentiated consuming public
to ever more subtle efforts to segment and target particular groups
for specific products and brands. In the 1960s, what Madison Avenue
liked to call a “Creative Revolution” also represented a revolution in
audience segmentation. Advertisements threw a knowing wink to the
targeted customer group who could be expected to buy a Volkswagen
beetle or a loaf of Jewish rye instead of all-American white bread.
Creative Revolution
1960-1969
Cultural Forces
Countercultural movements
“Break the rules”
1950-1969
Business Forces
A New Breed of Agencies
A New communication style
Three Influential individuals: Bernbach, Leo Burnett, David Ogilvy

7. Marketing Revolution
1970-1979
Tougher economic times
New, more “scientific” tools:
Brand Management
Market Research
Segmentation
“Positioning”
STALWARTS OF ADVERTISING INDUSTRY – STYLE AND
IMPACT
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett used dramatic realism in his advertising, the Soft
sell approach to build brand equity, Burnett believed that in finding
the inherent drama of products and presenting it in advertising
through warmth, shared emotions and experiences.
His advertising drew
from heartland-rooted values using simple, strong and instinctive
imagery that talked to people. He was also known for using cultural
archetypes in his copy, by creating mythical creatures that
represented American values.
His creative process could be summed up in three points:
1. 'There is an inherent drama in every product. Our No.1 job is to
dig for it and capitalize on it.'
2. 'When you reach for the stars, you may night quite get one, but
you won't come up with a handful of mud either.'
3. 'Steep to yourself in your subject, work like hell, and love, honor
and obey your hunches.
Burnett's approach to advertising set a distinct style, the so-called
"Chicago school", named after the city where the agency established
itself. Its key virtues were simplicity and drama. In many cases this
meant encouraging an emotional bond between consumers and his
clients' products, by creating a visual symbol that would leave
consumers with a "brand picture engraved on their consciousness".
Burnett did this most successfully with a series of friendly iconic
characters: the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Dough-boy, Tony the
Tiger or the Marlboro Man. But sometimes this visual symbolism was
embodied in other ways. In a 1945 press campaign for the American

8. Meat Institute for example, the agency broke the unwritten rule that
said that the depiction of uncooked meat in advertising was
distasteful. "We convinced ourselves that the image of meat should be
a virile one, best expressed in red meat." Instead Burnett's ads showed
thick slices of raw red meat set against a bright red background. "Red
against red was a trick," he explained, "but it was a natural thing to
do. It just intensified the red concept and the virility and everything
else we were trying to express. This was inherent drama in its purest
form."
He was obsessed with finding visual triggers that could effectively
circumvent consumers' critical thought. Though an advertising message
might be rejected consciously, he maintained that it was accepted
subliminally. Through the "thought force" of symbols, he said, "we
absorb it through our pores, without knowing we do so. By osmosis."
Although Burnett is best remembered for his visualising input into
advertising (and the effect of this on television advertising) he is also
remembered for taking on a more emotional / evocative approach
to advertising, overall, compared to many of his important competitors
at the time, who were often much more research-based and
marketing-focused.
David Ogilvy
He was 38 years old -- and unemployed.
He was a college dropout. He has been a cook, a door-to-door oven
salesman, a diplomatist and a farmer.
He knew nothing about marketing and had never written any copy. He
professes to be interested in advertising
Yet, he became one of the most revered marketing minds in the world.
He helped to establish modern advertising with his big ideas. He
produced many of the world's most famous and sophisticated ad
campaigns. His style, wit and convictions helped mold an industry.
But most importantly, he knew how to sell.
His copy followed the basic rules of advertising: research and position
the product, develop a brand image, build culture, and have a big
idea.
One of the first ads he wrote as the head of his own agency was
"Guinness Guide to Oysters".
Ogilvy always stressed that "every advertisement must contribute to
the complex symbol which is the Brand Image". Brand Image meant

9. the personality of the product -- a combination of its name,
packaging, price, its advertising style, the nature of the product, etc.
An ad campaign, Ogilvy said, must always revolve around a sharply
defined personality -- a coherent image that you must stick to year
after year. “You now have to decide what ‘image’ you want for your
brand. Image means personality. Products, like people, have
personalities, and they can make or break them in the market place”,
Ogilvy said.
In 1951, a small shirtmaker, C. F. Hathaway, came asking for help. This
led Ogilvy to create the image of a man with the black eye patch,
and "The Man in The Hathaway Shirt" campaign was born. This
narrative, creative campaign ran for 25 years.
For Schweppes, Ogilvy persuaded the client, Commander Whitehead, to
appear in his own advertisements. The campaign featuring the
distinguished looking, bearded Brit in various ads and commercials ran
for eighteen years.
For Rolls-Royce, he used the headline, "At 60 Miles An Hour The
Loudest Noise In This New Rolls-Royce Comes From The Electric
Clock". This remains the most famous automobile advertisement of all
time.
The basic format Ogilvy developed was his advertising road to glory:
a beautiful picture would take up about 60% or more of the ad space.
Beneath it would be a short headline, something, that would catch
your eye, something easy to read, that would make you want to read
on. Beneath the headline would be three neatly lined-up copy blocks.
Ogilvy was responsible for coining the infamous phrase ‘the big idea’.
‘The big idea’ involved creating something big about the brand that
would appeal to a mass audience. Things have, perhaps, developed
since then (due to the emergence of new media, as well as important
changes in consumer behaviour and attitudes towards advertising,
general). Nevertheless, ‘the big idea’ had a radical impact on the world
of advertising in the 1960′s and 1970′s, and it is still important today,
in varying degrees of importance.
William Bernbach
Was it only yesterday that a "new" Volkswagen Beetle campaign
appeared, one that proudly recalls its Bernbach lineage? Talked to
advertising's creative stars lately? Or their mentors? It is still,
"Bernbach, Bernbach, Bernbach." His influence is alive and well and
ready to help lead the industry through the 21st century.

10. "Rules are what the artist breaks; the memorable never emerged from
a formula." -- Bill Bernbach
As the single most influential creative force in advertising's history,
Bernbach served as an inspiring father figure to some of advertising's
most brilliant talents. His copywriters and art directors lived for his
approval, competed to make his blue eyes sparkle, to produce work
that would earn a Bernbachian smile.
Bernbach, a conservative in his dress and manner would focus instead
on richly empathic adult, fresh and relevant ideas. Unpretentious ideas.
And the craftmanship would always be beautiful, as close to perfect as
humanly possible. While examining an already short block of copy,
Bernbach might say, "Make it a half-line shorter." He would toss off a
headline and ask one of his creative stars to write "all the little
words." It was UBA: the University of Bernbach Advertising.
"Advertising doesn't create a product advantage. It can only convey
it." -- Bill Bernbach
When DDB came along, the TV commercial landscape was filled with
devices and lively gimmicks. Enter DDB and an era of creative energy
unknown since Ray Rubicam's Young & Rubicam explosive work of the
1920s. Bernbach insisted on first learning how his client's products
related to their users, what human qualities and emotions came into
play. Then the challenge turned to deciding how best to communicate
those elements, in TV and print, and capture the consumer's
understanding and support.
"Logic and over-analysis can immobilize and sterilize an idea. It's like
love -- the more you analyze it, the faster it disappears." -- Bill
Bernbach
Bernbach's leadership maintained a consistent tonal quality. In print,
VW's "Think Small" ad challenged our acquisitive tendencies even as
the "ugly" Beetle became the first successful import car and the ad
campaign altered advertising for all time.
"Research can trap you into the past." -- Bill Bernbach
Bernbach's advocacy of advertising as art was grounded in the radical
notion that the public had to be respected. Underlying respect would
encourage favorable reactions to intelligent and imaginative advertising.
Bernbach was at the heart of the advertising ’Creative Revolution’ (of
the 1950′s and 1960′s). The ‘Creative Revolution’ was about creating a
more informal and egalitarian atmosphere / work model in the ad
agency so as to encourage creativity. And his approach to creative
output was just as dramatic, adding, in particular, personality, humour
and an overall creative touch that was quite different to what was,

11. typically, going on in the ad industry in general at the time. Bernbach
was, also, noted for trying to make creative work, and in particular
copywriting, as simple as possible. He, also, played an important role
in the development of creative visual work (focusing on the way
images can be powerful communication tools) which had an important
impact on the burgeoning (in the 1950′s at least) advertising channel
of television.
Rosser Reeves
Reeves believed the purpose of advertising is to sell. He insisted that
an advertisement or commercial should show off the value of a
product, not the cleverness of a copywriter. His most typical ad is
probably that for Anacin, a headache medicine. The ad was considered
grating and annoying by almost all viewers but it was remarkably
successful, tripling the product's sales.
His ads were focused around what he called the unique selling
proposition, the one reason the product needed to be bought or was
better than its competitors. These often took the form of slogans —
Reeves oversaw the introduction of dozens, some that still exist to this
day, such as M&M’s "melt in your mouth, not in your hand." He
argued that advertising campaigns should be unchanging with a single
slogan for each product. His commercials for Bic pens, Minute
Maid orange juice, M&M candies, Colgate toothpaste and other
products used similar methods, often making dramatic demonstrations.
Reeves pointed out that to work, advertising had to be honest. He
insisted the product being sold actually be superior, and argued that
no amount of advertising could move inferior goods. He also
disagreed that advertising was able to create demand where it did not
exist. Successful advertising for a flawed product would only increase
the number of people who tried the product and became dissatisfied
with it. If advertising is effective enough and a product flawed enough,
the advertising will accelerate the destruction of the brand. Similarly,
Reeves believed it was a waste of money to claim uniqueness that
doesn't exist, because consumers will soon find out, and they won't
come back to the brand.
Reeves advised clients to be wary of brand image advertising, which
is less likely to be successful than his claim-based strategy. This is
because when communication relies on an image, the claim is
unarticulated. An image can almost always be interpreted different
ways, many if not most of which won't do a product any good. The

12. message that a viewer takes away from an image is often very
different than what the advertiser had intended.
Paul Rand
Paul Rand was a well-known American graphic designer, best known
for his corporate logo designs.
Before this design revolution came many great art movements:
Cubism, Constructivism, De Stijl, Expressionism, Bauhaus and Rand
used these movements as inspiration for his own style. He came to
appreciate a relationship between geometric form and color
Paul Rand believed in the importance of transforming the familiar,
often mundane, visual world with aesthetically pleasing, yet simple
design that could appeal to a mass cultural base. He believed “Design
is the method of putting form & content together. Design, just as art,
has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art.
Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so
complicated.” Rand looked for what he considered a proper balance of
visual content (the image) and technical content (type). He strived for
a “functional-aesthetic perfection” of modern art. Rand also
incorporated symbolism into his work, part of what he referred to as
“New Advertising”, the idea that design should create a relationship
between the designer and the viewer through the interpretation of
these simple symbols.
In the 1940s, Paul Rand strayed from conventional standards of
typography and layout, and started incorporating Swiss style of design
into his creations. He merged American visual culture into modern
design, incorporating Cubism, Constructivism, the Bauhaus and De Stijl
into his work. Rand was best known for his corporate logo designs.
He revolutionized how businesses identify themselves through simple
yet functional logos and packaging, further bringing design as an art
form into the mainstream. His most famous logo design was for
International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.
Claude Hopkins
Claude Hopkins was one of the great advertising pioneers. He believed
advertising existed only to sell something and should be measurable
and justify the results that it produced.
Claude Hopkins was one of the first to experiment with changing copy
based on results. If copy with headline A resulted in more sales than

13. the same copy with headline B, headline A was proven scientifically to
be superior.
Hopkins cut a pretty wide swathe with those techniques, and deserves
to be read by a modern audience. Scientific Advertising was
introduced by him.
Three Hopkinsian concepts:
• Tell the truth. Always.
• Research your product completely. Provide reason-why copy.
• Psychology is key, especially when it comes to marketing.
John Caples
John Caples is also known as the “Father of Direct response”.
Caples’ Three-Step Approach to Creativity:
1. Capture the prospect’s attention. Nothing happens unless
something in your ad, your mailing, or your commercial makes
the prospect stop long enough to pay attention to what you say
next.
2. Maintain the prospect’s interest. Keep the ad, mailing, or
commercial focused on the prospect, on what he or she will get
out of using your product or service.
3. Move the prospect to favorable action. Unless enough
“prospects” are transformed into “customers”, your ad has
failed, no matter how creative. That’s why you don’t stop with
A/I/A (Attention, Interest/Action), but continue right on with
testing.