The Future

My research and thoughts into the future of advertising industry:

The job market industry for college graduates has increased 13.5 % for the graduating class of 2011. More specific to my career path is advertising and within advertising I will focus strongly on media planning. Employment rates for advertising increased 108% this year. Jobs for media planners increased 57%. These rates peaked in May 2010 and have since leveled off to what employment rates were in February 2009. Along with these rates AdAge reported that marketing services and media have gone up 3.7% to $33.7 billion in 2008. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these rates are predicted to continue to rise through 2018 for employment in advertising, marketing, promotions, and public relations. These rates will rise due an increase in the number of goods and services and the need for brands to differentiate.

The Bureau also states that the advertising agencies are looking for students with “related experience, a high level of creativity, strong communication and computer skills” in finding the best jobs. Even more so the trend of moving to digital media is being incredibly important. The industry currently is currently moving into a very “cross-trained model” says The Richards Group. This means that many media planners now have to be trained in traditional, but also the digital world. Employers are seeking graduates that have experience in new age media including social media, and using traditional media in a non-traditional way especially with the internet. Additionally, traditional media such as newspaper, TV, and radio have all moved into a digital space. Once again this shows the impact of how important digital skills are currently in the advertising industry.

A huge challenge for advertising is that it is so dependable on consumer interaction and the economy. One reason for the change to the digital world is that is has much easier measurability than traditional media. As seen in the past history of advertising when the recession, many companies cut back on advertising. This is bound to happen again in the future.

The competition for these media and advertising jobs are very high. The number of applicants applying for a position outnumbers the spots available. The average salary currently for media planning is $47,900. The Bureau believes that there will be high earnings, travel, and longer hours associated with these positions.

In 2009 MediaBistro.com released a “Media Job Report” which analyzed this job sector. The most desirable jobs were marketing director, senior advertising sales executive, account manager for digital media, and online publishing.

The leading advertising agencies ranked by revenue of 2009 are BBDO Worldwide, McCann Erickson, BBD, TBWA, and JWT. The top media agencies are Zenith Media, MediaVest, Carat, Sarcom, MediaCom, Initative, OMD, Universal McCann, PHD, Mediaedge:CIA, Horizon Media, Optimedia, MindShare MPG and Maxus.