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Advertising agencies handle all aspects of advertising production for companies, from market research to ad placement. Full-service agencies have departments for account management, research, creative services, and media services. Specialized agencies may only offer certain services.
An advertising agency is a company that does all or some aspect of advertising production for the companies that employ it. Some agencies handle all stages of advertising campaigns, from performing market research and defining product branding strategies to producing ads and placing them in appropriate outlets. Other agencies specialize in one or more of these functions.
Full-service advertising agencies typically have the resources to meet all aspects of a client’s advertising needs. This type of agency is usually made up of several departments that work together to take each advertising campaign from inception to completion. Typically, these departments include account management, research, creative services, and media services.
The account management department provides a liaison between the advertising agency and its clients. Work directly with clients to establish a clear understanding of their products and advertising goals. This information is in turn passed on to the other departments, enabling them to create campaigns that satisfy the client and make money for the agency.
Another important component of an advertising agency is the research department. This department analyzes market trends and sales data and sometimes conducts focus groups to measure consumer perception of the client’s product and its competitors. Such information is useful in deciding how to market a product and determining the target audience of a campaign.
Once the advertising agency clarifies the client’s needs and determines how a product can best be marketed, its creative department comes up with suitable advertisements. These advertisements may take many forms, including illustrated or photographed still images and animated or filmed advertisements. Many ad campaigns use a combination of these and other formats. Thus, a typical creative department is comprised of a versatile, artistic staff capable of generating advertisements across a range of media.
After an advertisement has been produced, it must be placed in a suitable outlet. An agency’s media services department is responsible for purchasing the space from which an ad may be displayed. They could secure spots in magazines or newspapers, radio, television or the Internet, or on highly visible outdoor objects such as park benches and billboards. Media services personnel seek to place ads in those locations that are most likely to reach the target consumer while staying within the client’s budget.
Many advertising agencies don’t offer a full range of services, but instead specialize in certain aspects of the ad production process. Some, for example, may only offer creative services, while others may focus solely on media buying. These specialized agencies can be useful for those companies that choose to partially produce their own advertising campaigns, since the company therefore only has to pay for the services it is unable to carry out internally.
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