Advertising / Media Industry

[space01]

Is the advertising industry a practical industry to get into these days, considering the increasing relevance and value that digital is adding to the bottom line of agencies?

Which of these roles in an advertising agency has the best career progression in terms of salary in the long-run: account management or planning/strategy?

Recently, IAS launched a graduate placement programme called IAS Upstarts that provides structured rotation among a few different agencies. Graduates in this programme stand to receive a "competitive" salary, courtesy of grants by EDB. Does anybody know if it is significantly better than the low pay that those working in advertising agencies have traditionally reported to be receiving?

Overall, assuming that one has the interest for carving out a career in Singapore, is it ultimately a wise choice financially?

Originally Posted by space01

Is the advertising industry a practical industry to get into these days, considering the increasing relevance and value that digital is adding to the bottom line of agencies?

Which of these roles in an advertising agency has the best career progression in terms of salary in the long-run: account management or planning/strategy?

Recently, IAS launched a graduate placement programme called IAS Upstarts that provides structured rotation among a few different agencies. Graduates in this programme stand to receive a "competitive" salary, courtesy of grants by EDB. Does anybody know if it is significantly better than the low pay that those working in advertising agencies have traditionally reported to be receiving?

Overall, assuming that one has the interest for carving out a career in Singapore, is it ultimately a wise choice financially?

I spent a while in the advertsing field before moving off to a client side role. I don't have the right answer for you but i can share the pros and cons I found while working in the field.

You are right in that digital is a valued skill now and if you join a decent digital agency, you have many types of marketig roles open to you. I'm currently in the tech industry and I can assure you that this field hires tons of agency folks because of their expertise and experience with different projects and clients. If jumping out is what you're looking at eventually, yes agency experience is valuable.

If you are staying in advertising, my honest advice is you would need a lot of passion to do great work and feel fulfilled. We all know the downsides of agency life - low pay, long hours, at the client's mercy etc and it all comes down to your passion. I've seen lots of people leave quickly in agencies because 'it's not worth it', but I've noticed that the best and most valued talents in the agency are also amongst some of the most passionate people. They believe in the work they do and feel inspired everyday.

Planning instinctively feels like it's 'smarter' and can get you places, but rmbr the ppl at the top these days are more account mgmt ppl. So it boils down to interest still. Progression and starting pay are similar for both in the beginning, after that it's entirely up to you to chart. Typically salary ranges get really murky in mid-high level so i can't attest to whether they stay similar later on.

For the qn on IAS, not too familiar with that. But check out WPP fellowship too, it's international and more well known in the industry. To manage expectations, a typical starting pay at agency ranges in the $2000s range. 'Competitive' could mean anything. $2.8k for example woild be considered competitive in agency standards.

It's a tricky time to be in advertising, many agencies are eager to dive into digital which is seen as a cash cow, but not all know how to do it well. Having a hashtag to complement an offline initiative is not digital. Being truly digital is a feat i've seen very few agencies do. Bigger agencies have too much red tape to move fast enough to be digital. Smaller agencies suffer from overpitching and not having the rep to clinch big clients.

I'd say the agencies stealing the digital pie these days are those with niche services e.g. SEO, website building, SEM, content etc, and the marketing arms of consulting firms e.g Accenture. Would be worth considering these on top of advertising creative firms, they are interesting choices with a fairly different career path i'd imagine.

If you are concerned about finances, agency pay significantly improves in the mid-high range. If you can bear it in the beginning, you could be earning more than other marketing folks in a on client side in a couple of years time provided you do rly well of course. As i said, murky ranges.

Best would be to get some solid internship experience while in school and start working in client side immediately after graduation. I went down that path and no regrets since. Stayed client side since then.

[space01]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I spent a while in the advertsing field before moving off to a client side role. I don't have the right answer for you but i can share the pros and cons I found while working in the field.

You are right in that digital is a valued skill now and if you join a decent digital agency, you have many types of marketig roles open to you. I'm currently in the tech industry and I can assure you that this field hires tons of agency folks because of their expertise and experience with different projects and clients. If jumping out is what you're looking at eventually, yes agency experience is valuable.

If you are staying in advertising, my honest advice is you would need a lot of passion to do great work and feel fulfilled. We all know the downsides of agency life - low pay, long hours, at the client's mercy etc and it all comes down to your passion. I've seen lots of people leave quickly in agencies because 'it's not worth it', but I've noticed that the best and most valued talents in the agency are also amongst some of the most passionate people. They believe in the work they do and feel inspired everyday.

Planning instinctively feels like it's 'smarter' and can get you places, but rmbr the ppl at the top these days are more account mgmt ppl. So it boils down to interest still. Progression and starting pay are similar for both in the beginning, after that it's entirely up to you to chart. Typically salary ranges get really murky in mid-high level so i can't attest to whether they stay similar later on.

For the qn on IAS, not too familiar with that. But check out WPP fellowship too, it's international and more well known in the industry. To manage expectations, a typical starting pay at agency ranges in the $2000s range. 'Competitive' could mean anything. $2.8k for example woild be considered competitive in agency standards.

It's a tricky time to be in advertising, many agencies are eager to dive into digital which is seen as a cash cow, but not all know how to do it well. Having a hashtag to complement an offline initiative is not digital. Being truly digital is a feat i've seen very few agencies do. Bigger agencies have too much red tape to move fast enough to be digital. Smaller agencies suffer from overpitching and not having the rep to clinch big clients.

I'd say the agencies stealing the digital pie these days are those with niche services e.g. SEO, website building, SEM, content etc, and the marketing arms of consulting firms e.g Accenture. Would be worth considering these on top of advertising creative firms, they are interesting choices with a fairly different career path i'd imagine.

If you are concerned about finances, agency pay significantly improves in the mid-high range. If you can bear it in the beginning, you could be earning more than other marketing folks in a on client side in a couple of years time provided you do rly well of course. As i said, murky ranges.

Thanks for the detailed answers, these are all very interesting.

Also thanks for the heads up on the alternative choices available. I am well aware of the WPP Fellowship programme as well as the marketing consulting opportunities in Accenture, and will give these options a serious thought.

From what I have gathered, GroupM pays rather competitively at around 2.8k these days. Not sure if this is an exception in the industry. Perhaps those who are in the know about compensation in big agencies today can share with us if salaries have caught up over the years.

[space01]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Best would be to get some solid internship experience while in school and start working in client side immediately after graduation. I went down that path and no regrets since. Stayed client side since then.

That's an interesting perspective. I was under the impression that agency would provide you exposure and is thus more valuable. Without disclosing your current employer, could you share more about the role you're currently in? If you know any peers who started out in agencies, how do you think you compare against them—in terms of salary, work fulfilment and career progression?

I did an internship with one of the agencies in GroupM not too long ago within the past year. Wondering if I should join full-time when I graduate or are there better alternatives I can consider.

I know it's a rather silly question to ask when it comes to career advice because it ultimately boils down to understanding your strengths and ambitions, but because a career in marketing/advertising is one that is not so linear, any advice goes a long way into helping one make a more informed choice.

Originally Posted by space01

That's an interesting perspective. I was under the impression that agency would provide you exposure and is thus more valuable. Without disclosing your current employer, could you share more about the role you're currently in? If you know any peers who started out in agencies, how do you think you compare against them—in terms of salary, work fulfilment and career progression?

I'm in digital marketing.
If you are ambitious and work-life balance is not important, agency life is definitely for you.