Career in Advertising

Ever want to improve the commercials on TV? Or the radio, the Internet or on billboards? How about coming up with great company slogans and jingles, or helping manage the rollout of new products and working to improve the perception of those products by the media? If these possibilities interest you, then a career in advertising may be just what you've been looking for.

As a result of economic liberalization and the changing social trends advertising industry has shown rapid growth in the last decade. Advertising is essentially brand building through effective communication and is essentially a service industry. It plays a significant role in today's highly competitive world. Whether it's brands, companies, personalities or even voluntary or religious organizations, all of them use some form of advertising in order to be able to communicate with the target audience.

A career in advertisement is quite glamorous and at the same time challenging with more and more agencies opening up every day. It is an ideal profession for a creative individual who can work well under pressure. 

Qualifications

Most advertising agencies recruit candidates with a formal management or advertising/mass communication qualification. Preference is given to MBA's for posts in the market research, client servicing and media planning departments.
In the creative department, requirement is of a general graduation with a command over language, good communication skills plus knowledge of designing packages like Photoshop, coral draw or fine arts.

Skills 

To be an ad professional one should have a high level of creativity, imagination and innovative thinking. Writers and artists need to develop a portfolio of their best work. They should have insight into the interests of people from all walks of life, ability to work as part of a team, mental and physical toughness to be able to withstand high pressure and criticism.

Career Options

Advertising field offers a range of lucrative and interesting careers. Career opportunities in advertising include placements in Advertising Agencies, Market Research agencies and companies, Advertising sections of radio and television, Advertising sections of newspapers, Advertising departments in private and public sector companies etc.

The job in this field is categorized into two - executive and creative. Executive side includes Client Servicing, Market Research and Media Research. Creative side consists of copywriters, scriptwriters, visualizers, photographers and typographers.

The executive department understands client needs, finds new business and retains existing business, selects the appropriate media, analyses timing and placement of advertisements and negotiates the financial aspects of the deal. Creative department creates the advertisement copy. They verbalize and visualize the specific need of the client.

Remuneration

Advertising is an immensely rewarding profession. Fresh graduates can start with a salary of Rs. 9,000 - 15,000 per month. While those with MBAs and professional training in advertising can get salaries ranging from 15,000 to 20,000 per month. Salary of a successful advertising person you can be around 30,000 to 50,000 per month depending on the advertising agency or company.

In this industry rewards are directly related to the initiative you display, the effort you put in and the results you achieve. If you are ambitious and hard working, you can quickly move up the ladder.