There’s always a competition for business across agencies, but perhaps nothing so dramatic,” said Karen Kavanagh, Coordinator of Algonquin’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program. “What Mad Men did portray well is the high energy of creative work, the struggle of coming up with great ideas. The ideas are still core to everything an ad agency does.”
Nowadays it’s far more than a print ad with a slogan that sells the idea. Modern campaigns are steeped in experiential advertising, event planning, and social media. All these aspects support campaigns that are still focused on the Big Idea, one Don Draper might have pulled from his back pocket.
It’s always a crew of people, working together, that gets the job done
No current agency is held afloat by the work of one person alone. It’s always a crew of people, working together, that gets the job done.
“Generally a traditional agency has a creative team, a strategic team, and a marketing team with several different positions in each,” said Kavanagh. “Ideas come from everywhere and all those people depend on one another.”
After graduating from Algonquin College’s two-year Advertising program in 1995, Kavanagh moved to Toronto to work with Echo Advertising and a few other firms. Four years later, she returned to Ottawa where, among other things, she taught one class per term at Algonquin, becoming a full-time employee in 2011.
The program she coordinates has since added Marketing Communications Management to its prior focus on advertising, besides adding a third year of study. Its curriculum helps her students develop the skills to work well with others, and to think quickly and strategically. But even well prepared students may find ad agency work tough, she points out, even without a Pete Campbell breathing down your neck.
Decide whether to serve a narrow or broad field
“It can be intimidating when you first get hired,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to share your ideas, and be aware that you’ve been hired for your input as well as your skills.”for more info, check out avant career
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