Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Interesting question. I've recently had this same discussion regarding Marketing (instead of Advertising).

Regarding Advertising: Advertising has definitely changed a lot in the past decade or two. Instead of being one-direction (advertiser to consumer), it's now a two-way dialogue. It's true communication, not just broadcasting a point of view to anyone who will read/listen/watch.

That means the old-timers don't have as much of a built-in advantage as they used to. It's actually a very exciting time to get into advertising IMHO. The digital media (including social media) level the playing field to a large degree, so communication skills are more important than years of experience. That gives newcomers a very exciting reason to get into Advertising.

On the other hand, Advertising is still about getting an idea across, and the old-timers have learned some important lessons that a newbie might miss. One example is the focus on benefits rather than features, or emotional appeals in addition to functional benefits. Pictures vs. words. They also know how to listen to customers and consumers to learn how they think, what words they use in their brain-chatter, what their attitudes are toward a company or product, etc. Those things are not immediately obvious to newcomers.

Another consideration is that advertising effectiveness today is far more "measurable," so the industry is driven by analytics more than ever before. If you don't have a flair for analysis, Advertising may not be right for you.

Finally, Advertising is a very broad industry. A good graphic designer is part of Advertising. So is a copywriter. And a media buyer. And a SEO specialist. And a PPC wizard. And all of them are interrelated, and they all interact with other aspects of Marketing -- sales, packaging, product development, etc.

Let's take this from another angle. Advertising is a much mis-understood art. (If I am allowed to call it that). From what I see in advertising today, many advertisers are making the same mistakes as they were 50 years ago.

Mr Goodman speaks of analytics - which is fair enough. Now the problem is subtle - is this data valid? Because asking the wrong questions will give you the wrong answers, what's more the piles of data that result still needs analyzing and is made harder by there being little in the way of a trend. That's because the initial question was poorly formed. It wastes time and it wastes money. Forming those initial questions properly is a real art. Forming good questions means that the results of the analytics come through very clearly.

Bear in mind that the split test so beloved of the internet marketer was devised in the early part of the last century - now over 100 years ago. It is still poorly understood. Glenn Livingstone says that most people test two things twenty times instead of twenty things twice. Understanding why this is will tell you a lot about why advertising is seen as charlatanry by many people!

It will also tell you why good advertising is actually extremely hard to do, and why it is worth doing well.

In this respect, advertising is a job for those who don't mind making mistakes. It is a job for those who can learn from their mistakes, and enjoy the feedback they get from the client data.

Advertising has changed, especially if you compare it to the likes of what was shown in Mad Men TV series. A big change is how online ads are much more important now.

But there still is plenty of advertising going on, which means there is need for people to work in advertising. And change in industries open up opportunities, as many old school advertising people aren't able to make the change to new fangled advertising. So even if advertising as a whole is not growing (it very may well be growing, but I haven't seen numbers to know if it is or not), opportunities are opening up to do new advertising for those that can.

Would I advise someone to go into advertising? I more base that on the person and their interests. If some part of advertising is something that appeals to them (say the creative side), sure go for it. If you are just going to get rich, well maybe not advertising. Or better yet, don't do it for the money but instead chase a career goal related to an interest.

Advertising has been around since the first product has been sold. People/campaigns that are unethical has been around almost as long. Some people believe what they're selling is top-notch (but is later proven to be less-so). Some people know what they're selling is so-so (at best) - but they have mouths to feed at home - and make the ethical tradeoff. Everything we experience is ultimately subject to our own ethical scrutiny - it's just that with less time and clever research - we've been trained to trust certain things. Some countries are enforcing ethical advertising (cigarettes in Australia, health/beauty claims in EU, etc.). But if someone were to truly believe in something, and really want to share its benefit, wouldn't advertising be one of the ways to achieve personal satisfaction?

Two-way communication in advertising, is nothing more than a selling point for advertising itself. Today, consumers demand transparency, honesty and ethical conduct from organisations and even entire industries. Which is exactly why the advertising industry claims it values a two-way, interacting dialogue with the consumer. Just to give it the feeling the industry has become transparent, honest and ethical.

Besides this, the industry has a way of making itself seem important. Companies spend millions of dollars on agencies to develop creative strategies, which is justified by the claims that consumers need to like a brand to purchase a product of that brand. This isn't true. Consumers want a product to do what they expect from it: a computer with a nice processor and a pair of jeans that doesn't tear easily. A great example is the European clothing brand Zara. At has stores throughout the major cities in Europe and has never develop an ad of any sorts.

I what would attract graduates to advertising, is the fact that it is a creative industry. What they should realise, is that creativity is the driving force behind all successful organisations in all industries. Not only to be found within the job description of a brand strategist.