Why on earth would you want to work for an Advertising Agency?!

By: littleindianinlondon on 7:22 PM

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That's a question I get from some of the people I end up telling when they ask, "what do you want to do now that you graduated?" A lot of individuals believe that advertising agencies "corrupt" the consumers into believing that they need to buy a product. To me, the point of advertising is to let the consumers know that you this is the product that is being sold, let them understand the basics of what it is used/good for, and hope that in the end, they'll want to know more about it and if they like it, let them buy it out of their own free will.

I remember when I was in an interview, and the interviewer asked me "What do you believe Advertising is?", I didn't know what to say. After taking my advertising course, I realized what Advertising is. Advertising is the start of a dream. It is the the one step that lies between your product and the publicity of your product. It is an idea that someone came up with to introduce whatever is being sold to the world, in hopes that everyone will see what they see. I know it sounds kind of cheesy in some sorts, but to me, that is what Advertising is. People who are passionate about helping others with finding what they want or need.  

In a letter Bill Bernbach wrote to Gray Advertising, he stated "I don’t want academicians. I don’t want scientists. I don’t want people who do the right things. I want people who do inspiring things." Bill Bernbach, one of the greatest advertisers of his time, was a motivated and passionate man. Just to give you some insight on how brilliant this man was, here are a few quotes (copied from buildingpharmabrands.com) that have inspired many:

1. The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.
2. Forget words like hard sell and soft sell. That will only confuse you. Just be sure your advertising is saying something with substance, something that will inform and serve the consumer, and be sure you’re saying like it’s never been said before.
3. Advertising doesn’t create a product advantage. It can only convey it.
4. In advertising not to be different is virtually suicidal.
5. It is insight into human nature that is the key to communicator’s skill. For whereas the writer is concerned with what he puts into his writings, the communicator is concerned with what the reader gets out of it. He therefore, becomes a student of how people read or listen.
6. Our job is to sell our client’s merchandise…not ourselves. Our job is to kill the cleverness that makes us shine instead of the product. Our job is to simplify, to tear away the unrelated, to pluck out the weeds that are smothering the product message.
7. If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you.
8. The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you and they can’t believe you if they don’t know what you’re saying, and they can’t know what you’re saying if they don’t listen to you, and they won’t listen to you if you’re not interesting, and you won’t be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, and freshly.

I know that is more than a "few", but there were 20 and it was hard to just pick 3. But, you get my point, right? Advertising is a hard business. It takes creative, innovative, and down right awesome people to work for great companies like Wieden + Kennedy, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Moroch, and CP + B. 

And that is why I would want to work for one of those companies. Advertising is more than just putting commercials together and making the clients happy. It's making sure that the vision of the company is let out into the world for everyone to see. Donald Draper from Mad Men was very passionate about what I am talking about. He had vision and he wanted his clients to know that they needed to have it as well.

Recently, I applied for an advertising firm called Moroch Partners. The headquarters is based in Dallas, but I applied for the Accounts Coordinator position in St Louis. I know, I keep applying for jobs in St Louis, but for some reason, those are the only legitimate "entry level" jobs that seem to pop up whenever I look. Their #1 client is Mcdonalds, who they have been with for 30+ years. Other clients include, but are not limited too: Vision Works, Columbia Pictures, Make a Wish Foundation, Walt Disney Pictures, Coca Cola (my roommates favorite), and a lot more. To be able to work for a company like this one would be a dream come true. I am a very hard worker and a very determined person. When I see something that I want, I work my way to get it. I want Moroch Partners to see that I am a motivated and passionate individual who is not one to disappoint. Being a quick learner, I can get tasks done quicker than most. So, I am crossing my fingers that this advertising agency will see that I am the perfect fit for their company!

To end this post, I will leave you all with a quote: 

"Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art."

- William Bernbach