A Look Inside the Media Department

While the media department is often where you’ll begin before moving to another department, many people choose to build their career there. Pamela, now a media supervisor with a large Chicago ad agency, started there after college as an assistant media planner. She was promoted within the department, and as a supervisor, now heads a team of planners. Her team is responsible for developing strategic media plans for several products owned by a large consumer packaged-goods company. Pamela describes her job as “exciting because you are totally plugged in to the consumer culture, because you have to understand everything you can about the people who buy your client’s product.” Specifically, “what magazines do they read? What TV shows do they watch? What web sites do they surf? Where do they buy the product- at the grocery store, drugstore, Wal-Mart or Costco?” Pamela warns, however, that the hours can be “pretty intense” during client planning- that is, when the client prepares its annual budget.

Successful media professionals, Pamela points out, “aren’t afraid to present their plans to all different types of people-from internal teams to clients.” You should also be able to roll with the punches, as plans that you’ve worked on for a long time could and most likely will be changed often until the final plan is executed.”

Public Relations

The scoop

We’ve all heard the term ‘buzz,’ but what does it mean, exactly? Think about the proverbial water cooler, and the things people talk about while there. Television networks want people to talk about their new show. Chefs want people to talk about their great new restaurant. Handbag designers want their bags to be the new hot thing. All of these businesses recognize that strong word-of-mouth is the most effective advertising there is, and it’s the public relations professional’s job to generate as much of it as she can for her clients.

Whether it’s getting coverage in a national magazine or on a local talk show, public relations is about persuading public opinion. Think of political campaigns, non-profit organizations, and special events—the success of these organizations is largely driven by positive public opinion, and many times advertising is too expensive or not effective enough on its own to move the

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needle. When a political candidate is photographed with a community leader and that photograph appears in the paper, that’s PR at work. When a celebrity is involved in a scandal that could damage his career, it’s up to the public relations professionals to do damage control. Martha Stewart is a great example: the domestic diva spent time in jail and emerged with an arguably stronger image than she went in with! That is the magic of public relations.

Are you a PR pro?

You must be able to write well (preferably in the Associated Press style, the standard writing style for the industry-check appendix for details) and manage your time effectively to meet ever-present deadlines. Expect the unexpected and never assume anything, since clients can be very demanding. You need to be enthusiastic and proactive, and willing to conduct seemingly mundane tasks on some days and stretch yourself to new heights on others.

A Look Inside PR

Jason, a vice president of a worldwide public relations firm based in New York, got into PR after working at an advertising agency just after graduation. He worked as an account executive, then decided to switch over to the public relations arm of the agency, and has continued to his present position working with consumer electronics clients. “I love the fact that I get paid to read my favorite magazines and experiment with the latest tech gadgets.”

Jason mentions the downside of the business: “It is unpredictable and you sometimes feel like you are on call 24/7. You have to be prepared to work late without notice and potentially sacrifice personal time and commitments for unanticipated opportunities.” However, he adds, “PR is an industry where you can turn your passions into a career because there are so many different aspects to get involved with, from consumer to crisis management to health and everything in between. You never get bored, because every day is different: you’ll go from a client meeting, to editing press releases to planning events.” Starting salaries are competitive within the media & marketing industry, but the growth potential is what is really significant for assertive go-getters.

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Functional Overview

Marketing Research

The scoop

Marketing is both an art and a science. Sometimes, a lot of what looks like art has been researched via consumer focus groups, questionnaires, proprietary studies and syndicated research, to name a few. Some companies, such as Kellogg’s and P&G, have sophisticated market research departments where new product concepts, product names, and market positioning are tested. Other companies outsource their marketing research to firms who are experts in the field. Some companies, usually smaller ones who might not have the budgets for it, don’t do any market research at all and instead adopt the philosophy of “throw it out there and see what sticks.”

Needless to say, marketing research can be a very quantitative discipline. However, it usually involves a good understanding of consumer behavior, and learning how and why people buy what they do. The trick is finding ways to use this information to sell more product. Researchers who find that consumers prefer cleaning products with “antibacterial” benefits listed on the label will recommend to brand managers that they incorporate this benefit into their products and convey it on the label.

Are you a marketing research whiz?

If you find yourself interested in the “why”s of marketing more than the “how”s, you may be happier in a marketing research role. Although it may sound like a somewhat dry area, it’s usually pretty fascinating and in many companies it is among the most important, and high-profile, departments. Working within a company’s marketing research department or for a marketing research firm will expose you to many different companies and research methods.

You need to be a detective. If your team is working on new product development, you might need to look for specific patterns in consumer behavior to find out what needs aren’t being met (and therefore, what products the public needs and will pay for). For example, P&G actually places a research professional into a person’s home to shadow them while he goes about his daily routine-cleaning the house, shopping for food, and other assorted tasks. The researcher will thus get a first-hand view of what drives a person’s buying decision and what needs she might have (and, by extension, what products P&G could develop). Vaseline examined how people were using their product, and discovered that many people used it to soothe

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chapped lips—so they created a smaller, portable tube for that purpose. If you are finding out what customers of an existing product are saying, you need to ask the right questions to get the most specific answers. Projects can be team- based, with senior and junior analysts (or research managers, another common title). You’ll usually be working on several projects at once and dealing with different departments, which is a great way to build relationships across the company or with client companies. You’ll earn a competitive starting salary, and since you’ll be working with a lot of data, you’ll most likely need to know the basics of Microsoft Excel.

A Look Inside Market Research

Jennifer, a vice president of a mid-size market research firm, started out in entertainment marketing. She used this experience in media to land a job with her current company, where she works with clients in the media and entertainment industries developing research projects. The big plus of the job is the “opportunity to work with really smart people- both our in-house specialists who create the research tools we use on each project, and our clients who each have unique goals.” The drawback? It can take “a long time to get results back in, and then they might not be what you were hoping to hear.” But that presents a “good learning experience” too.

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Marketing Case: Creating a Category iPod—do YOU have one? 42 million of your friends and

neighbors do!

Launched in 2001, Apple Computer’s iPod was designed as a portable mp3 player (for those of us who might not be clued in, mp3 is a method of storing and listening to music as digital files). While there were a few already on the market, the iPod soon set the standard and has since evolved into an entire media platform, creating a whole new product category along the way.

The iPod, with its uniquely user-friendly design and vast storage capacity, now holds photographs and plays video content from photos to entire movies. It’s no understatement to say that the iPod has revolutionized the entire music industry, largely because of iTunes, an Apple-created service that allows users to download single songs for a low, one-time fee. This service, and others that soon followed, has virtually solved the problem of music piracy over the internet.

Apple’s success is due in no small part to the aggressive advertising campaign it created for the iPod and its range of products. The now- famous ad series called Silhouettes featured black silhouettes of people dancing against a brightly colored background while listening to their white iPods. The ads won various industry awards and became icons of the brand. While celebrity endorsements are nothing new in the marketing world, Apple formed a unique alliance with the rock band U2. Apple created a special edition iPod which features a black and red design and comes loaded with U2’s latest album (can you say ‘marketing synergy’?). The iPod brand’s overwhelming success—it’s shipped 42 million so far—certainly has Apple humming a happy tune!

A Look Inside the Media Department