Ad Man Cometh

by Elaine Tan

Ogilvy Malaysia sifts through the myths about the advertising industry and explains the serious business of building brands and shaping public opinion through communications. By Elaine Tan.

Zayn Khan Group Managing Director of Ogilvy Malaysia

Fun, interesting, exciting, glamorous and cool are just some of the words commonly used to describe the advertising industry. For the most part, this is true, but in a sense, it is also somewhat contrived and belittling.

Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple became iconic through the help of clever, creative and innovative ad men and women who dreamed up Coke jingles, the Nike swoosh and Apple’s still talked about 1984 commercial.

Was it fun to have been a part of such a history-making process? Sure, but you can bet that a lot of late-night brainstorming went into the ideas that now form so much of our social culture. The advertising and communications industry shapes our lives in more ways than we realise.

DEFINING THE ADVERTISING GAME

“Broadly, we’re a creative business. We use ideas to shape opinions and change mindsets in a way that can build businesses, shape society and drive the economy,” explains Zayn Khan, Group Managing Director of Ogilvy Malaysia.

“At Ogilvy, we offer a full spectrum of marketing communications solutions. We become the guardian of our clients’ brands and use all available consumer touch points to build the brand in the minds and hearts of consumers.” This business units, or disciplines, within an advertising and communications agency are usually made up of the following:

Advertising involves awareness building and emotional connection with consumers. It is the so-called ‘glamorous’ side of the business, and responsible for the commercials and advertisements we see every day on various media channels.

Customer relationship management, also known as CRM, is focused on building longterm relationships between consumers and the brand through one-to-one communications such as direct marketing, the Internet or events. An example of this would be a customised offer from your bank to apply for a credit card for fresh graduates.

Public relations manages the clients’ reputation with its key ‘publics’ or stakeholders through different communication channels and tools. Consultants are required to build awareness, create a favourable image, manage information flow and build goodwill with the target market.

Retail activation looks at securing the sale within the retail environment when consumers actually come into contact with products and make a buying decision. This also involves building relationships with trade players such as supermarkets, restaurants, etc.

Production is a technical division that translates the ideas, particularly advertisements, into real materials that appear on television, newspapers and so on.

FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE AGENCY

Angelina Villanueva Group Talent Director of Ogilvy Malaysia

“Our profession is one that uses both the left and right brain. There are times when it has to be analytical and logical, but then there are times when you have to be very creative, and relationships- and emotions-driven.

For those who are interested in working with both their left and right brains, this is really the best of both worlds,” Khan says. He explains the types of career opportunities that are available for fresh graduates within the different disciplines:

Client service: “Client servicing is responsible for running a client’s account and working with the client to build a brand. It requires good people skills, attention to detail, good follow through, multi-tasking and project management skills.”

Creative: “Within the creative discipline, you can be a copywriter, designer or art director. Although our preference is for someone with experience, we do occasionally hire fresh graduates who are special, talented and passionate.”

PR and communications consultancy: “Good communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential as consultants represent the client to various stakeholders. Similar to client servicing, you need to have good people and project management skills.”

Strategic planning: “This is the business and consumer consulting side where you are required to study consumer behaviour, social trends, the client’s business and brand, and formulate communications strategies and solutions for the client.”

Client servicing is responsible for the overall management and health of a client’s account. They then tap into the various resources within the agency to meet the client’s needs. Typically, the client servicing team will work with the strategic planning unit to identify problems and solutions, and develop a comprehensive communications strategy that will employ different disciplines.

FITTING IN WITH THE ADVERTISING CROWD

Contrary to the general perception, the industry is not reserved only for those who have studied advertising and communications. “We employ people from various backgrounds – you’ll find lawyers, architects, investment bankers, programmers and more working here,” says Angelina Villanueva, Group Talent Director of Ogilvy Malaysia. “Rather than the area of qualification, it’s more of the type of personality and interests that you have.” She lists the characteristics of those suited for this business as:

• Curiosity: “Are you curious to find out about things? Do you question enough?”

• Courage: “Are you willing to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, and for your colleagues?”

• Collaborative: “This industry is about dealing with people all the time. Individualists with no willingness to work together will hinder efficiencies and progress.

• Passion: “You cannot sell an idea to the client without conviction.”

• Accountability and ownership: “Clients entrust upon us their brands and business, so we need to be accountable for our work and be able to push through until the end.”

Daniel Comar, Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather, adds: “David Ogilvy, the founder of the agency, did many things before he became an ad man and everything he did before came into play when he started the agency. Formal education and skills are not as important as the person. The nature of our job involves solving problems creatively, and every day presents a new problem. We cannot use the same solution for every problem because each brand is different.

“The other thing is you have to be passionate and love people. You have to understand people and how they think, why they do what they do, how they live, and so on. And you can only get this by being passionate about life. Often, it’s not the lack of qualifications that is an issue, but the lack of life experience. There’s very little you can do in terms of coming up with solutions if you are not aware of the outside world.”

Villanueva is quick to add, though, that some level of intellectual capability is still required. Indeed, one of the misconceptions about the industry is that anybody can do the job.

“We do expect at least a basic degree. Clients come to us for opinions and solutions. If you are not able to think and challenge clients, they will doubt your credibility and that of the agency.”

DEVELOPING TALENTS FROM WITHIN

Although a proactive attitude towards learning and abilities to speak up and stand out are highly valued in this industry, getting acquainted with the business is part on-the-job training and part formal training. You are not left to sink, but do not expect to be thrown a life-line either. Most of the larger international agencies have their own proprietary training and development tools and programmes. Ogilvy, in particular, is renowned for its talent development culture. Informal training is through an ongoing day-to-day mentoring and feedback system, while formal training is structured under Ogilvy University and divided into general, basic and management levels.

“We recognise that life training is an important part of training and supporting our staff,” shares Villanueva. This is in addition to soft-skills workshops like grooming, dealing with stress, anger management, and so on, which are largely for the benefit of a holistic personal and professional development.

The basic level training is a core training programme for new, promising staff nominated by managers because they are high potentials. “It’s a highly rigorous and intensive three months training on the fundamentals of the industry and self-development. They do a broad range of things, from the business part to life skills such as team work, managing your boss, creativity and so on.”

At management level, employees go through more development training such as structuring arguments, presentation skills, coaching, negotiation and the like.

In addition, being an international agency Ogilvy is also able to offer staff regional exposure in training and networking opportunities.

DISPELLING THE MYTH

One of the most enduring myths about advertising is that it is all fun and glamour. Comar looks bemused as he addresses this. “Fun is intrinsic to our business but I’m not sure about it being glamorous. People miss the fact that although we work with directors, photographers, models and actors, it is still work. Coming into the industry with this mindset is like studying medicine because you like Grey’s Anatomy!” Khan elaborates “There is also a lot of substance in the work we do. Advertising is first and foremost about helping clients build their business. There’s a lot of research, analytics and thinking that gets the work done.”

“Those that are not prepared to put in the hard work will never get to experience the glamour or the fun,” Villanueva concludes empathetically.

Should you like to contact Ogilvy Malaysia, please direct your emails to talent.kl@ogilvy.com