Advertising agencies

An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients.

T ypical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Agencies may be hired to produce television commercials and radio commercials as part of an advertising campaign.

Ad agencies come in all sizes and include everything from one or two-person shops (which rely mostly on freelance talent to perform most functions), small to medium sized agencies such as Traction (agency), large independents such as SMART and multi-national, multi-agency conglomerates such as Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Publicis, Interpublic Group of Companies and Havas.

(The text is borrowed and modified from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising_agency: as of 29 September 2011)

Task 10. Advertisement size has much bearing on advertisement success. Look through the table given below and answer the following questions: (Information search) (You have 10 minutes for the entire task)

1. The advertisement of which size has a unique size but may end up further back?

2. The advertisement of which size requires minimal investment, but can get lost?

3. The advertisement of which size creates the perception of a "big" company?

SIZE	BENEFITS	DRAWBACKS
1/8 PAGE	Minimal investment	Limited space for information Can get lost May not have enough presence to make an impact You're perceived as "small," which could work against you Often found only on a shared page or within a marketplace/classified section
1/4 PAGE	Minimal investment You can convey a short message	Very common size may detract from effectiveness Another ad will probably be above, below or next to your ad, competing for attention Perception of your company may suffer due to the "averageness" of the ad size
1/3 PAGE (vertical, horizontal, or square)	Unique size can be more effective than 1/4 or 1/2 Often runs next to an article rather than other ads	May end up further back in the publication
1/2 PAGE (vertical, horizontal, or "digest")	More space to communicate your message and stand out	Another ad may be placed above or below your ad, competing for attention
M PAGE OR SUPER JUNIOR PAGE	Slightly smaller than a full page and less costly Guaranteed only ad on page at lesser cost	Found only in tabloid-sized or other "oversized" publications
FULL PAGE	Creates the perception of a "big" company Only ad on the page Provides enough room to communicate a strong message	Considerable investment

Task 11. Choose one of the following tasks (You have 10 minutes for the task.

1. If you had a minimal sum of money to invest into your company advertisement, would you choose a 1/4 page size advertisement or a 1/8 page size advertisement? Use the table from Task 12 to decide. Explain your choice.

2. A small publishing company decided to start its advertising campaign with placing their ads in 3 different newspapers. Their marketing manager decided to choose “full page” as the size for the advertisements. What do you think about his decision? Is it wise? Why? Give some arguments using the information from the Table in Task 12. Offer your option for advertisements’ placement.

Home task

1. Project work. Imagine that you are a director of a small publishing company that is going to open in some months. You have decided to hire an advertising agency. You have the opportunity to use services of two different advertising agencies – “THAT” and “Bayardad”. Visit the websites of both “THAT” advertising agency http://www.thatadvertisingagency.com/ and “Bayardad” http://www.bayardad.com/ to find the information about their teams and the services they provide. Decide which one you would choose. Make a short report (180-200 words), explaining your choice and present it in front of the class.

2. Written task. You work in a publishing company. Your company desires to present itself as a unique and small company for authors who want to have an individual approach when publishing their books, to have close “family” understanding of their needs and desires. That is why your company gives every client an individual manager / consultant who is available 24 h. 7 days a week on the phone / e-mail as well as personally. Create an advertisement for the company and choose the size of this advertisement in three different newspapers. Don’t forget that your ad should be vibrant, innovative and eye-catching. So, for the next lesson you have to write a short advertisement, present it in front of the class and give a short explanation as to the chosen size of this advertisement.

3. Do Tasks 1-5 from the Workbook.