Advertising Managers

Advertising managers formulate policies and administer the advertising firm's operations. Managers may oversee the operations of an entire company, the geographical territory of a company's operations, or a specific department. Managers direct a company's or a department's daily activities within the organization's overall plan. They implement organizational policies and goals. This may involve developing sales or promotional materials, analyzing the department's budgetary requirements, and hiring, training, and supervising staff. Advertising managers are often responsible for long-range planning for their company or department. This involves setting goals for the organization and developing a workable plan for meeting those goals.

Advertising managers work to coordinate their department's activities with other departments. If the firm is privately owned, the owner may be the manager. In a large corporation, however, there will be a management structure above the advertising and marketing manager.

Advertising managers may be assigned to oversee specific geographic areas in companies with several locations. For example, a large ad firm with facilities nationwide will likely have several managers in various territories. There might be a Midwest manager, a Southwest manager, a Southeast manager, a Northeast manager, and a Northwest manager. These managers are often called regional or area managers. Some advertising firms break their management territories into even smaller sections, such as a single state or a part of a state. Managers overseeing these smaller segments are often called district managers and report directly to an area or regional manager.

Advertising managers are responsible for coordinating the work of many other employees. Creative directors oversee staff, such as the copy chief and art director, who are responsible for the contents of ads. Media directors oversee the work of staff who purchase advertising time or space in various media, such as television, radio, the Internet, or magazines. Another type of advertising manager is the account manager, who represents the agency to its clients.

Managers working at large advertising agencies usually handle a variety of accounts, while those working at smaller agencies usually only handle certain types of clients. For example, smaller firms may handle only financial accounts, hotels, book publishers, or industrial clients. Some managers work for agencies that are known for promoting package goods. Others work in retail and department store promotion.