Do you look forward to the Super Bowl, not for the football, butfor the opportunity to dissect Madison Avenue’s finest work? Whenyou get a new magazine, do you first check out all theadvertisements before reading the stories? It’s okay to admit ifyou do. Your love for advertising would be a perfect fit at anadvertising agency.

While ad agency jobs are competitive, there are always going tobe positions open for talented, hard-working individuals willing todo whatever it takes to get the job done. Consider the followingcreative ad agency positions and decide which would be best for youto pursue:

Art director

The art director is in charge of the creative side ofadvertising. This is the “big picture” person who gives directionto advertising campaigns. The art director is unique in that, whilehis position is highly creative, he still works in management andis responsible for getting production out of his department.

Job challenges: One of the toughest aspects of an art director’sjob is to maintain the spirit of a campaign as the project passesthrough the hands of a variety of parties, all with differentinterests. To accomplish this, the art director must be a goodnegotiator and a solid leader.

Career tips: The dream job of many creative types is artdirector. If you aspire to one day become a famous art director,you should start by enrolling in an advertisingdegree program. In addition, you should immerse yourself in theindustry as much as possible. Study agencies’ latest work,subscribe to industry journals and read marketing blogs. Alsoremember to be patient, since this position takes many years towork up to.

Copywriter

A copywriter creates the copy for advertising in media rangingfrom print ads to radio spots to television commercials towebsites. The copywriter works with both the art director and thecreative department to not only come up with creative concepts, butalso turn those concepts into headlines and prose that accomplishthe campaign’s goal.

Job challenges: Because copywriters face tight deadlines on anumber of projects throughout the day, they can easily start tolose their creativity and grammatical accuracy. Since these are twoof the most crucial skills for a copywriter to possess, copywritersmust fight to stay sharp every day.

Career tips: If you’d like to pursue a career as a copywriter,consider an advertising degree program that allows you to developyour creativity and writing skills. You should also considerlearning how to write with Internet search engines in mind, sinceInternet marketing has become one of the fastest-growing segmentsof the advertising industry.

Designer

Designers create and arrange all the graphic elements used in anadvertisement. Different designers work with different elements;for example, graphic designers generally lay out print ads, Webdesigners create websites, and illustrators, photographers andanimators create original content to be used in a variety ofmedia.

Job challenges: Like copywriters, designers need to stay sharpeven after working on a number of similar projects in a row. Theyalso need to stay up to date on constantly changing industrysoftware.

Career tips: If you’re new to design, you need to first get asolid foundation in the principles of art and design before takingon sophisticated programs like Adobe Photoshop or Autodesk Maya.Too many amateurs learn software before they learn art. As aresult, they produce work that is technologically impressive, yetfundamentally flawed. The best way to avoid this knowledge gap isto pursue a degree in visual communications. Visual communicationdegrees offer concentrations in advertising design, multimediaand web design and more to ensure that you acquire thecomprehensive knowledge of art and technology needed to become asuccessful designer.

Media planner

While the creative team is the part of the ad agency thatactually creates advertising messages, the media planner’s job isto connect those messages with the right people. This involveseverything from purchasing television time slots to analyzing Webtraffic data to researching niche magazines. A media planner’sultimate goal is to get the best return on the advertisinginvestments made by his agency’s clients.

Job challenges: Media planners must be acutely aware of whotheir target market is and what they are doing. Because targetmarkets can be fickle, media planners must have the judgment tomake tough decisions quickly.

Career tips: Media planning is more numbers-focused than many adagency positions, so you should consider business classes inaddition to your advertisingtraining. Statistics classes are also helpful since criticalthinking skills are imperative.

Information in this article was provided by IADT – San Antonio.Contact IADT – San Antonio today if you’re interested in developingmarketable knowledge and career-relevant skills with anindustry-current degree program. (IADT – San Antonio does notguarantee employment or salary.)

Courtesy of ARAcontent