Ways to Handle Advertising
Different companies organize in different ways to handle advertising. In small companies, advertising might be handled by someone in the sales department. Large companies set up advertising departments whose job it is to set the advertising budget, work with the ad agency, and handle other advertising not done by the agency. Most large companies use outside advertising agencies because they offer several types of advantages.
How does an advertising agency work? Advertising agencies were begun in the mid-to-late 1800s by brokers and salespeople who worked for the media and retain a commission for selling advertising space to companies. As time passed, the salespeople started to help customers prepare their ads. Eventually, they created agencies and grew closer to the advertisers than to the media. Today's agencies employ specialists who can frequently perform advertising tasks better than the company's own staff. Agencies bring an outside point of view also to overcoming the company's problems, along lots of experience from working with different type of situations and clients. Therefore, today, even companies with strong advertising departments of their own utilized advertising agencies.
Most of the large advertising agencies have the resources and staff to handle all phases of an advertising campaign for their clients, from making marketing plan to developing ad campaigns and placing, preparing and evaluating ads. Usually Agencies have four departments: creative, which develops and generate ads; media, which decide media and places ads; research, which studies about audience characteristics and wants; and business, which manage the agency's business activities. Each of the account is supervised by an account executive, and usually people in each of the department are assigned to work on one or more accounts.
Though, advertisers and agencies both have become unhappy by the commission system. Big advertisers complain that they pay more for the similar services received by smaller ones easily because they place more advertising. Advertisers also consider that the commission system drives agencies away from short advertising campaigns and low-cost media. Another factor is huge changes in how ad agencies attain consumers that go way beyond network TV or magazine advertising. Another trend is influencing the advertising agency business: Various agencies have sought growth by diversifying into associated marketing services. These new diversified agencies propose a complete list of promotion services and integrated marketing under one roof, by including advertising, marketing research, sales promotion, public relations, and online and direct marketing. Some have even added television production, marketing consulting, and sales training units in an attempt to become full "marketing partners" to their clients.
Though, agencies are searching that most advertisers don't desire much more from them than traditional media advertising services as well as sales promotion, direct marketing, and occasionally public relations. Therefore, many agencies have recently restricted their diversification efforts to focus more on traditional services. Some have even begun their own "creative boutiques," smaller and freer agencies that may develop creative campaigns for clients free of large-agency bureaucracy.