Outdoor Mediums

billboards, backlit walls, bus shelters, cantilevers, glass facades, flagpoles, gantries, glow cubes, King Long buses, Metro signages, pole kiosks, subway panels, skywalks, standalones, malls, and airport displays

Holding groups in Marketing communication:

1) Omnicom Group
Companies y Advertising and media

180 Amsterdam / 180 LA, AI Advertising, Total Advertising, AdSource, Alcone Marketing Group (Retail/Promotional Marketing), AvreaFoster, Arnell Group, BBDO Worldwide, Colangelo, Proximity Worldwide, DDB Worldwide, Downtown Partners (Toronto), Element 79 Partners, FAME (retail brand agency), Goodby Silverstein & Partners, GSD&M, Mudra Communications, Martin|Williams, Merkley & Partners, Omnicom Media Group, Organic, Inc., Prometheus (advertising), RAPP, Red Urban, Rodgers Townsend, TBWA Worldwide, TEQUILA, Tribal DDB, The Integer Group, The Kern Organization, The Peter Group, Topak Marketing, Inc., TracyLocke, Zimmerman Advertising y Business to business

Doremus & Co. y Media planning and buying

OMD, Resolution Media, PHD y Channel and field marketing

CPM Group, Creative Channel Services, Marketstar , National In-Store, Pierce Promotions & Event Management, Unisono Fieldmarketing y Public relations

Beaupre, Brodeur Partners, CONE, Fleishman-Hillard, GPlus Europe, Ketchum Pleon, Porter Novelli International y Customer relationship management

Agency.com, Alcone Marketing Group, AtmosphereBBDO, Direct Partners, GMR Marketing, The Integer Group, Javelin Direct, Unit 7, RAPP Worldwide, Russ Reid Co., Targetbase Marketing Inc., U.S. Marketing & Promotions y Outsourcing services

Sellbytel Group y Full-service marketing agencies

TPG Direct, Grizzard Communications Group, SinoTech Group y Specialty

Bernard Hodes Group, Changing Our World, Inc., Cline Davis & Mann, Corbett Accel Healthcare Group, Critical Mass Inc., Davie-Brown Entertainment, Dieste, Harmel & Partners,Doremus & Co., Eden Communications Group, Hall & Partners, Harrison & Star Business Group, Hornall Anderson, Innovyx, Interbrand, Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux, ipsh!, Kaleidoscope Productions, KPR, Lab9, LatinWorks, LIVE Communication, LLNS, Millions of Us LLC, MobileBehavior, Radiate Group, Recruitment Enhancement Services, Seragini Brand Design, Shift Siegel+Gale, Singer Direct, The Beanstalk Group, The Integer GroupThe Marketing Arm, Wolff Olins [Brand Consultancy], Zcalo Group y Marketing technology

Code Worldwide, Live Technology y Market research

Hall & Partners Group, M/A/R/C Research

2) WPP Group PLC (NASDAQ:WPPGY)

3) Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG)

Interpublic operates in more than 90 countries worldwide. It has three global brands that provide integrated, largescale advertising and marketing solutions for clients McCann Worldgroup, Draftfcb, and Lowe and Partners Worldwide as well as a number of domestic integrated agencies and global media networks.

Interpublic has agencies that serve as marketing specialists across a range of channels. These include corporate branding (ex. FutureBrand), experiential marketing (ex. Jack Morton), sports marketing (ex. Octagon), public relations specialists (ex. Weber Shandwick and GolinHarris), healthcare communications (ex. McCann Erickson Healthcare) and digital agencies (ex. R/GA).

In 2008, Interpublic created a management entity called Mediabrands[8] to oversee its two global media networks, Initiative and Universal McCann (now known as UM), which provide specialized services in media planning and buying, market intelligence and return-on-marketing investment analysis for clients.

Some Interpublic companies include: Accentmarketing, Adair-Greene McCann, Ansible, Atelier Amuse, Avrett Free Ginsberg, The Axis Agency, Cadreon, Campbell Mithun, Campbell Ewald, Carmichael Lynch, Carmichael Lynch Spong, Casanova Pendrill, Cassidy & Associates, Current Lifestyle Marketing, Dailey, Deutsch Inc., a Lowe and Partners Company, DeVries Public Relations, Draftfcb, Draftfcb Healthcare, Fitzgerald + Co, Future Brand, Geomentum, GolinHarris, Gotham, Inc., Hacker Group, Hill Holliday, HUGE, ICC Lowe, ID Media, Initiative, InnovationsDigital, IPG Media Lab, IW Group, Jack Morton Worldwide, Jay Advertising, KRC Research, Lowe and Partners Worldwide, MAGNAGLOBAL, Marketel, The Martin Agency, McCann Erickson Worldwide, McCann Healthcare Worldwide, Momentum Worldwide, MRM Worldwide, Mullen, NAS Recruitment Communications,NSA Media, Octagon Worldwide, ORION Trading, Outdoor Advertising Group (OAG), PMK*BNC, R/GA, Reprise Media, RIVET, Segal Licensing, Siboney, Tierney Communications, TM Advertising, Translation, UM, Wahlstrom Group, Weber Shandwick

4) Publicis Groupe (NYSE:PUB)

Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. As of 2010, the main subsidiary companies of this group are: Advertising y Global networks

Leo Burnett Worldwide Publicis Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi y Other creative networks and agencies

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH): Publicis Groupe holds a 49% stake. Fallon Worldwide Kaplan Thaler Group Burrell Communications Group (49% owned) Bromley Communications Digital and Media Rosetta

VivaKi Digitas Starcom MediaVest Group MediaVest ZenithOptimedia Performics Razorfish Specialized Agencies MSLGROUP Publicis Healthcare Communications Group Mdias & Rgies Europe Mobile Phonevalley

5) MDC Partners (NASDAQ:MDCA) 6) Havas (Delisted from NASDAQ)

(French pronunciation: [avas]; Euronext: HAV) is the second largest advertising group in France and is a "Global advertising and communications services group" and the sixth-largest global advertising and communications group worldwide, operating on the communications consulting market through three main operational divisions: Euro RSCG Worldwide , Havas Media, Arnold Worldwide

PO Purchase order

What skill sets/experiences do you look for when hiring an entry-level employee?

Anne Melanson: I think, Steve, it might be helpful, and I don't know if you've covered this, but we were talking earlier in a conference call and I think it's important to know what kinds of jobs we're talking about, so maybe it'd be helpful if we qualified that. I think all of our agencies are involved in what we call total communications, which now includes internet and interactive agencies. So, when we talk about jobs in the business, we are talking about jobs in the advertising business or what you would traditionally call the advertising business, the direct response area, the sales promotion area, PR a little bit, and the interactive area. So, just for purposes of this discussion, those are going to be the areas that we're going to be talking about, and in each of those areas, there are generally four disciplines, the disciplines being account management, which is the client contact area; creative, which creates the product; media, which is buying the venue for the product that's been created; and research or account planning, in some instances. So, when we talk about skills -- your question about what skills are needed -- I think we'll probably each talk about those specific areas. Rene Bruce: Well, we hire in our agency entry level people at an assistant account executive level. Agencies do it differently. I think for an assistant account executive, just to give you an overview of what account management is. It's really the direct liaison with the client, and it's the person that represents the agency to the client and the client's needs to the agency, so they're really the go-between in a way. But they're also seen as sort of the center of the wheel in pulling together all those different functions that Angel's talked about. So, they need to help coordinate the team. For an assistant account executive, the skills you need, I think you need, first and foremost in any position in advertising, you need to be passionate about advertising. So, you need to get excited about what you just saw. You need to be looking at commercials. You know what I mean, you shouldn't be changing channels on commercials. You should be the type of person that's kind of looking at it, analyzing it, trying to figure out if it's effective or not, who the target audience is. Just really getting excited about it and talking about it. So, I think passion goes a long way. Its not really a skill, I guess, it's a quality. Communication skills are really important for account managers, both written and oral. You have a lot of contact with clients. You need to be able to handle difficult situations, difficult people. You need to be able to coordinate teams and make things happen. I'm trying to think. You need to be very organized. As an account person, you're juggling a lot of things, a lot of client requests, a lot of internal requests, and you're trying to stay on deadlines and make things happen, handling budgets. So, you need to be really organized. Do you want to add anything to that? Anne Melanson: No, that's pretty fair. Marketing skills. I think analytic skills, because the client and your bosses at the agency are really going to be looking to you, the account person, to be able to understand markets, to be able to understand what's happening in the marketplace, and that does require some marketing and analytic skills.

Rene Bruce: And I think also a general awareness of culture and what's around you. I think you need to be a curious person and just well rounded in that way, not totally focused on work but have outside interests in movies and trends and in what's going on the world because that's what advertising is about. Steve Norcia: Account management is more than just being bushy-tailed and enthusiastic, although that's a great big part of it. The analytics and the thinking about the client's business and what you're really there for in the long term, to be creative, to be strategic, to be a marketing person, are all very, very key elements. So, sometimes an entry-level position with training programs and everything else rounds you out as a person but it's easy to get persuaded into the fact that if I do a good little Dooby kind of work here, I'm going to be fine. In actuality, it's a lot tougher than it seems. So, you know, if you think it's a lot easier to just get into it and just be enthusiastic. At least account management. Actually, account management's got the biggest problem in this area. The other ones start off being disciplined right off the bat. Would you agree with that? Angel Rivera: I think generally, and this is kind of across all these disciplines, is that for myself I'm looking for a very positive person, very enthusiastic person, a person who is going to fit in well with the culture. Each agency has a different culture. You have to learn what fits where. You have to be aggressive. You have to be assertive. You have to be able to think on your own. These are all really pretty much crossdiscipline. But if I had to pick one thing, if a person -- I don't do the interviewing myself, I do sort of advising our recruiters on what to look for -- and I always say if a person comes in and says, well, I want to work for you because I hated my last job or I hated my job before that and I don't like what I do, I'm probably not going to hire that person because if that person hates something, they're probably going to hate wherever they go. Now, if they say to me, well, I love everything I've done and I want to work for you and I'm going to love working there. Now they got my attention. So, I look for positivity all the time.

Are these qualities also the ones you look for in entry-level creatives?
Anne Melanson: Creative in the agency business is generally the copywriter and the art director. They generally work as a team, one doing the copy, what you would see as copy, and one doing the graphic or the visual. I think the best teams work together, probably know each other so well, that they're sort of interchangeable in that sense. A good copywriter will have a good sense of a visual, of what he or she wants to see, and a good art director will have the same sense of copy. So, that's just so we all understand what we're talking about. That's the basic definition. There are other jobs in creative, but they really all support the copywriter and the art director.

Patty Enright: I think in terms of someone like yourself, sitting out there saying, "do I want to be an art director or copywriter or even go into an agency to apply for that kind of job", you have to be thinking about it really today. You can't graduate in June and then say, I think I'm going to go talk to one of the agencies represented as an art director candidate or a copywriter candidate. You have to come prepared typically with what we call a portfolio, which would include samples of your work. You could be sitting saying, but I haven't had a job yet, what kind of work would you be interesting in seeing? Typically a copywriter, for example, will have maybe worked for their school newspaper, published an article, written something, been in creative writing classes where some of their sample projects could be considered portfolio items. Same thing on the art side. Possibly even a class, an advertising class, where you had executed a campaign. It's really to show where you're level of creativity is coming from. In some cases basic skills but for a very junior person, you have to really be thinking about that a little early on and prepare yourself to go in with sort of "this is what I can do for you" kinds of work samples. Rene Bruce: That's the way our agency is. We have a creative manager, who hires all our creatives, and he really doesn't even look at people without a book. So, you need to get some work together, even if it means taking additional courses at another school where you can really get that experience. But that's the way we work. I think entry level positions in creative are pretty difficult, at least at Saatchi they're hard to come by. Anne Melanson: One of the things that you can do is do a speculative portfolio, too. Take an idea that you've had for a product or a service and put together what you would think would be a good ad. Let's say a print ad is usually easier to demonstrate. I guess I would make a couple of points about trying to get a job in the creative area. It is as you said, there are fewer jobs in creative. I think we all hope that that will change and that there will be more jobs. But right now entry level jobs are significantly fewer than in account management or media. Also, keep in mind that you will meet different people. If you bring your book in, you've put your book together, as Patty said, you bring it in to see somebody and you may get a point of view from that person that totally throws you and says, well, everything I've done is terrible. You have to keep heart and you have to plough ahead, because you'll meet other people, and other people will have a different point of view. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the nature of creative. That's why agencies are different. That's why each of our agencies is very, very different in the way they look at creative and the way they look at clients and in the way they actually do creative. So, my words to you would be don't be discouraged because one person that you see says the book is terrible, a bunch of crap, go back and do it again. Patty Enright: That same person just got hired at my agency! It's true. It's absolutely true. The other thing you can do also, if you're particularly interested in creative, is go to a local restaurant, go to a local retailer in your neighborhood around school, and ask them. Ask them if they do any advertisements, if they do local newspaper

advertisements, even your school paper. Look to do something around whatever the message is. Those are things that you can collect for your book and keep, and of course as you get more experience, and let's assume that you guys are juniors, get an internship if you can, even if it means being in place, in a creative department, to see what goes on. That's an enormous, enormous opportunity, not because you should be ever so ingratiated to carry boards or whatever, but to be around that sort of stimulus, to see what's going on, to see what's good and what's not, to be around the individuals when they're talking about what makes a good ad or what doesn't make an ad, or to simply hang around in a new business pitch, where you can see all kinds of thinking that goes into what ultimately makes the client presentation. That's all fantastic learning, particularly as it relates -- I mean, for any area -- but particularly creative. Because you'll know better what kinds of things to start in your portfolio and probably develop a little bit of a confidence about bringing your book in and, as Anne said, I think, taking the advice that you get and trying to learn from it. Anne Melanson: you should be able to answer questions, because you are going to be getting questions from people that you talk to like, "That looks great but what does it say?" "Why did you do it?" "Why is it targeted to this audience? It wouldn't seem to work there." So, you need to be prepared to really answer those hard questions, not just think it's a great idea because I paid attention to it, and that's generally the mistake that I see. That's something that's easily corrected. Here I think is where you can get some guidance. If, as Patty said, when you're developing that book even now, if you could talk to some people in agencies as you're going along and get their point of view, get their words of advice and they can help guide you in this process, I think that would be very helpful. Angel Rivera: The two areas where you might be able to have some immediate impact as a young person out of school would be, I would say, in the direct advertising area and in internet marketing, and ways in which you can prepare yourself for that is maybe even building your own web site or helping others build their web site and using that as your portfolio. Of course, internships are another opportunity. So, I would say even banner ads, somehow getting involved in that through school. Going to Fordham, if you're a Fordham student, go the Fordham site and say, do you guys have a web site? If not, can I help you build one? Or can I help you with this kind of thing. That way you build up some of your skills and you have some experience. The direct and internet are two areas where a young person can come in and have immediate impact.

What kinds of experience do you look for from college graduates? What would give us the edge?

Angel Rivera: An internship, some kind of experience, maybe like travel, if you've got an opportunity to travel to a foreign country. I would look for language skills, if you have a second language, if you have a third language, that's even better. I would look for key words. In fact, we were talking about scanning resumes and us sourcing candidates through these scanned resumes. How this works is the database is created and we look for key words. So, in other words, if I get a call from Foote, Cone & Belding, "we want somebody who has experience working with a beverage company." I would look for the word beverage on people's resumes and the computer would search for that keyword. I could search for other skills, like searching for resumes of candidates who speak Spanish. All the resumes that have those keywords would then be forwarded to the hiring managers. So, you want to look for and you want to prepare and know what those key terms are. Brand is a key term. You can read up on these things through Ad Age or Adweek, weekly magazines, and you'll see the words and the new terms and the new paradigm. Those things, all should be part of your cover letter and your resume, and you have to sort of think ahead. What is it that people are looking for and how can I get this on my resume? Patty Enright: I think the other thing that certainly I always look for is anything that's going to set you above or apart from someone else. Again, to the point that he made earlier, we do get lots of resumes, and we sit down and certainly I look at all of them. But we're looking at you today for the first job opportunity but what we're really looking to do is say, does this individual fit into my organization culturally and do we see -- hopefully we see all of you well beyond that first job. So, anything that can demonstrate a team, sports, leadership, because we don't work alone in this business. We work in teams. We're in a very collaborative environment. So, anything that can demonstrate your association with your university or schools, any sort of participative, competitive sports, debate, any type of cultural experiences which are going to have a broadening experience. My favorite resume is always, I scooped ice cream on Martha's Vineyard for the summer but I was responsible for the cash register. You talk to them and they did it for a week, and then the rest of the time they spent on the beach. Okay, fine. Yes, you had a summer job. But where are you really demonstrating responsibility, authority, did you have to go to work everyday at a certain time? They sound very basic but at the same time you'd be surprised. So, anything that's going to demonstrate your ability to be part of something and committed to something, whether it's a sorority or a fraternity. Maybe you were the secretary for your sorority or fraternity or whatever. Anything that's going to help you, certainly any job experience that you have had, volunteer activities. Were you a big brother, were you a big sister? Did you work as a candy striper in a hospital. Anything that's going to show commitment and sort of stick-to-it-iveness, and also rounding in terms of your experience. All school and no play, you know. Rene Bruce: Yeah, just to follow up on that. Don't be afraid to show your individuality. I think this is one industry -- I love working in this industry because I meet so many interesting people with various backgrounds and all these outside interests. So, we're not looking for people who are just tunnel vision, job related. But

if you put it on your resume, be ready to talk about it. Steve Norcia: See, one of the other things that you can also do is you can read The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as my class does every week, every day, and also read Ad Age and Adweek, and if you can't read them because you don't want to buy the newspapers, get on the web and get on there. One of my students emailed me and said, what do you mean by business-to-business? Well, go to the Ad Age web site, go to business-to-business, 100 leading business-to-business advertisers, and Microsoft at the top of the list. By the time you get finished with the list, you'll know what business-to-business means. There's a tremendous amount of due diligence and unraveling that you have to do on your own. This is not an easy business, and one of the reasons why the pay may not sound like what the Wharton guys are getting is because primarily that's the entry level. And if you prove your worth, your pay will go very, very quickly, probably quicker than any other business that you'll ever imagine. But the issue is you have to have some talent, and you have to have talent and perspiration. The key I think here is if you're thinking about how to write a resume or how to write a letter to an agency and how to get their attention, is just think about a wheat field out in Ohio somewhere. And think about every stalk, and figure out why one stalk is going to stick out from all the others. That's the way you kind of get an agency's attention. With some bit of thinking or some bit of experience or some bit of integrity or whatever it is, but you've got to communicate that you're a communicator. You've got to read books. You've got to go see movies. You've got to understand commercials. You have to listen to what the beat of the industry is telling you and you have to get it. If you don't get it, they'll figure it out in about a minute and a half. But if you get it, they'll also figure it out and they'll send a car for you. Rene Bruce: Please, this sounds really basic, but if you get to the interview point, be able to talk about ads. I always ask the question, tell me about some ads that you think are effective, and I'm constantly amazed at how many people can't talk about it. If you want a job in advertising, you need to be thinking about it. Anne Melanson: Let me throw out something, which might seem a little bit at odds with what we're talking about here, at the risk of sounding a little less Pollyannish (pleasantly, even unrealistically, optimistic), it isn't about just asking questions. That can make you stand out, but you've got to have the goods, too. You do need to know, there are a lot of people who are applying for jobs. We probably get 30 resumes for every job that we have, across all the disciplines. So, while it is a terrific market for people these days, particularly grads coming out, it is still a very competitive market. So, I think you do need to understand that there's a lot of competition. The people that you're competing against are people who, as Rene said, know, they've done their homework. They have a point of view. I have a particular interest in finding out what people's point of view is, not what they read in the trades. I want to know what they think about advertising. I want to know what they like about it, what they don't like about it? What's their beef about ads? What's their point of view on First Amendment

rights. Somebody may think, well, what does that have to do with advertising? It has a lot to do with advertising. There are a lot of things. I was delighted to hear you say The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, because I think people aren't reading enough of the general interest newspapers and publications. Because in advertising, we used to say we want renaissance people, which is a little clichd, but you really do because the most successful advertising people are the ones who know about the world around them. It isn't just by reading the trade journals or by staying just in the marketing arena. If you really have a sense of what's going on in the world, you're going to be successful in advertising. Think about the internet entrepreneurs, they didn't get to where they are by just reading technical journals. They had the technical expertise but they also saw what was happening in the world and the need for a different kind of communication. Once having seen these things, they had the vision to say, this can work. Steve Case said, I'll bet I can connect all of these people in the world through an internet connection and keep it simple and people will come flocking, and they'll even pay money every month to do it. And, bang.

What forms can internet marketing take besides banner ads?

Anne Melanson: I have a personal point of view about a lot of what we see on the Internet now, and that is that I think so much of what has been developed on the Internet so far was driven by the technical expertise, and I just see a tremendous opportunity for people coming in from the creative side who can bring to that technical expertise the communications skills that are needed. I mean, think about the frustration that you have when you click onto a site and it's hard to get around, it's not intuitive, it's not pretty. That's because techies, they do a great job, but they're not the communicators and they're not the people who are going to make it visually arresting and visually attractive. So, I think what all of our agencies are looking to do is to partner with those technical companies or to have, as part of our own organizations, the technical end of it, the back end, so that we can offer a full service to the client. So, there are a lot of iterations and there are a lot of kinds of partnerships that agencies can do with the technical clients, and more and more you're finding I just saw that an agency recently partnered with Sun Microsystems, and clearly Sun has decided that in some of their applications they need these communication skills that they don't have in house. So I think you'll see lots of opportunities for that. So, it's really the blending. It's really being able to understand the technical part but being able to get people through it in a very easily understood and communicative way.

Rene Bruce: Our interactive division is structured much the way our main agency is, which is there are account managers, creatives, media. So, they'll need a lot of the same skills that they would need in the main agency. They need to understand client relationships. The web sites need to factor into the overall marketing plan, so they have to understand strategies as well. So, that's the way we're structured right now. It's really evolving everyday. It's kind of exciting. Angel Rivera: We just launched a new company called SixtyFootSpider to complement other digital brands under the True North umbrella such as Modem Media. R/GA Interactive, Bozell Silicon Valley and Stein Rogan & Partners. These digital marketing communication companies don't just build web sties and create banner ads, they deliver online and offline interactive solutions with data-driven planning and measurement. So, they're really doing the consulting behind the work, not just "here's the creative." For example, we work on the Air Force account. When you enter the Air Force web site, what happens? Do I stay long? Why do I stay long? Getting that kind of information and feeding it back to the markets is very important, much more important now than just attracting someone to your web site. The closure, the interactive, the one-to-one discussion with a potential customer is important. Steve Norcia: This is a very, very hot area of advertising. You have here the biggest agencies in the world, including DDB, which is owned by Omnicom, which is like True North or one of the holding companies. We have companies called Razorfish, you know, Organic, agency.com, DDB Digital. There's a lot of these agencies within agencies that are all devoted to the web, and that's where all of the growth is coming, that's where all of the excitement is coming. For those of you who are interested in it, and have a technology avocation, it's a tremendous area for growth and it's probably not to the point yet, although it's getting there pretty soon, it's not to the point yet that you have all of the barriers to entry as you would in the traditional advertising environment. It's very exciting. A lot of times it's not perfect because they're growing and they're organizing and they're changing and they're moving space every day because they're getting bigger. A lot of people aren't very organized. They're very entrepreneurial. But I find that if I have an opportunity to spend time with the interactive people or with interactive accounts, it's very, very stimulating and very exciting. Patty Enright: I would just add one more point to that, which is really how Anne opened today to the first question, I guess, which is some of the clients today come to some of the larger agencies, as we're representing today, for really a holistic view. So, a client, for example, I'll just use Coca-Cola, could come to a particular agency and say, I kind of want everything you offer. I want you to do my general advertising, sort of that television stuff. I want you to do my print campaign. I want you to do my web site. I want you to do my direct marketing, and I want you also to provide me with insights on the purchasers. They may come to a large agency because we can offer all of those services, as you've mentioned, through some of these divisions or units that may have our same brand name or not. But why they're coming to us particularly

when they want our services from our different companies within our main entry is because they want a total branded program for the customer. So, they want Coca-Cola to look the same around the world. They want Coca-Cola to be the same and have the same red in its promotional pieces as it does in its television commercials. Or make a total switch to not using the logo in red at all but carry the message through all of its mediums and reflect it in their web site as well. In some cases a client may choose to go to the person, the individual company that's going to provide the best service or whatever is going to answer their marketing need at that time. So, it's a whole other reason to consider.

How do I get a job at one of these agencies? Or how do I start my job search?
Patty Enright: The answer is huge. It's anywhere from write a cover letter, a very traditional letter, suggesting why you want to work for the particular agency. Or why you want a job in account management, creative, media or whatever. I'd also really encourage you all to do a little bit of research on the internet. Go to web sites. Because most of us -- I'm expecting all of us -- probably will accept your resume online. So you can go to the web site, probably in each case learn a little bit about these entry-level opportunities, possibly even go to a section on the web site that's called something like job opportunities or employment opportunities, and really then go specifically find out if we're looking for interns or we're looking for assistant account executives or a starting out copywriter art director, and apply online. To the extent that we could get your resumes online, I think -- I mean, jump in if you disagree -- we'd rather see it that way. However, do we? No. We still get lots of mail, snail mail. We get lots of telephone calls. I'm forever amazed at people who just call up and say, I'm available at 3:00 o'clock, can you see me? It's nice if we're free but I think probably introducing yourself in another form is probably better. I also would suggest that if you are on the internet or on a web site, particular web site, and they don't list the who, you could call the agency and ask who the entry-level recruiter is. Be prepared to either get -- and this happens all the time because of the kinds of responses -- you may get sort of transferred to a voice mail that says, if you're interested in the following, here are the names. Again, it's something I look for and it's probably just because I'm getting old, is if you've really directed it to the right person and that that individual does work for the company. But I would encourage you certainly to go to web sites. You'll learn. You'll learn about the jobs. You'll probably get it directed immediately to the proper individual. It's easier. It's the way you really all know how to work. It's something we've learned, but it's sort of the way you do everything today. So, continue to do it that way. Rene Bruce: I'm going to throw out another recommendation, and that is contact your alumni office and find out who's working at the agencies and get in touch with them and network until you're blue in the face. Because I think all of us, we receive

so many resumes and so many phone calls that we're sort of knee deep in it and it's hard because we're going through so many. But I've gotten a lot of people who come through other account executives I work with in the agency, and they'll say, you know what? This person contacted me. They're an alumnus from my school. I met with them. I talked with them. So for me that's already a pre-screen, and they're great. You really have to meet them. That's a great way. Alumni are usually very open to helping people from their school because they remember. Your alumni office is going to love me. They'll all be calling tomorrow. But they're very open usually to helping out. I think, as far as cover letters, back to the passion and enthusiasm we were talking about, demonstrate that. This is a creative industry. We're not saying you have to do anything totally wacky, but talk about our clients. Talk about my CEO and what he said, if you've read something about him. Put that in your cover letter because it shows me that you've done you're homework. Patty Enright: But make sure that they really are the CEO and that it wasn't an old article, because you won't get anywhere beyond a "thank you, but no thank you" letter after that. So, that was the point about making sure that you've got the person, if you've going to specifically write to someone, make sure you have the right person. Angel Rivera: Just to illustrate to what degree we're going to attract people to work for us, we pay our employees $1,000 for any referral that they give us when we wind up hiring somebody they've referred. So that would be an incentive to reach out to the alumni of your school and have them refer you for a job. Particularly in our company, and I'm sure others are doing that also, they'll get a $1,000 reward and you'll have a mentor in the company who is $1,000 richer because he or she referred you. Also, regarding the web sites, there are some interesting ones. Obviously, all the agencies have very good web sites, but if you go to the holding companies, they have links to the companies that they have affiliations with. So, if you go to WPP, that would be interesting, and you'll see all the different companies that they own and they have links to those companies and then you can post your resume through those links. The other ones would be Interpublic, True North, obviously, and Omnicom. Those I would recommend highly that you visit those web sites and then link to the agencies that they are affiliated with.

What kinds of starting salaries can we expect to see?

Anne Melanson: Salaries will vary. There are always salary studies going on with career placement offices to see if agencies are competitive. Salary ranges, depending on experience, background, schooling, generally anywhere in the 27, 30, 31 range.

Patty Enright: Again, keep in mind that -- I think I talked about earlier having an internship. That can really help. It can really help in terms of that range.

I'm interested in an internship and I want to produce TV commercials. To whom should I apply within an agency?
Patty Enright: Typically, it's either going to be the television production area or you're going to be looking for the creative recruiter within a large agency. But typically, and again I think in all of our agencies we have actually production, television production departments, and you'd be looking for an internship with a producer. Angel Rivera: There are various types of internship programs. The 4As, which is the American Association of Advertising Agencies, they have a very good internship program, particularly they have a minority internship program that I believe is 10 weeks during the summer throughout the country. We host about 20 interns every summer through that organization and through that program. Unfortunately, the application was due last month (January) but if you're a junior, or even a senior, or even graduate students who actually participate in the internship program, I recommend that highly. You have the 4As and you also have the American Advertising Federation, AAF, which is another good web site to go check out. So, I would check out both of those web sites, the 4As and the AAF. They have internship programs that you can connect to. Patty Enright: You can follow the traditional paths that we've talked about to get introduced to an agency outside of one of these programs. Check with an alumna, if there is one, because again that person might get you in front of the right individual. Also, very often we secure interns very early in the year and guess what happens? Sometimes someone, for whatever reason, can't make it, so later in the game there are often spots. If you're really serious about it, just don't drop the ball. Keep pushing, you'll get one. You really will. If you don't at one of the large ones, try the smaller agencies.

Career Advice from the Pros

Do you feel it's better to actually call the agencies directly and inquire about internships that way or go to the career service and placement office?

Steve Norcia: I think you have to do everything you can. Think about it as a contest and you have to get across the finish line before everybody else.

What disciplines or courses of study are advertising agency recruiters interested in seeing?
Steve Norcia: Okay, so, the other thing I wanted to say on behalf of the AEF just for a couple of minutes is to say that their mission now is to spend time with liberal arts colleges, which may come as a surprise to you, but I want to build on what Anne said before about general knowledge. Liberal arts is probably the place where you get the general education that advertising agencies want the most, so that's something to keep in mind. That doesn't mean that if you have an MBA, that we're not going to be interested in you at all. That's not the case. But the truth of the matter is right now, at least, the Advertising Educational Foundation is driving very, very hard in the area of liberal arts, as opposed to business schools or advertising schools necessarily. So, you'll see us making more talks at universities that are liberal arts universities.

Why is that?
Steve Norcia: Because we feel that a general education is probably a better place for most advertising people to come from because of the generalness of the discipline.

So, what most agencies are looking for is liberal arts?

Angel Rivera: I think to what Rene said earlier, I'm not sure that there's any cookie cutter prototype. But at the end of the day I think if we were to look at the grads that we hired last year, they all wouldn't have come from marketing or business school programs or advertising programs. But they would have come from as equally Princeton as they would BU marketing department or a business school here. Steve Norcia: I think the emphasis of our organization, the AEF, Advertising Educational Foundation, in the past had sort of gone towards more business schools. Now we've changed that because we all feel that liberal arts are probably a better place to go. I want to thank our panelists for being with us. (Applause)

A Case [Advertising]
To explain his statement further, Sansom cited the example of the 'blank cap recall' campaign of James Ready in 2010. The brand had traditionally printed words of wisdom on the back of its beer bottle caps and labels. The idea was to create a brand recall value for itself with a certain sense of humour, and advice for saving beer money. However, in June 2010, there was a mix-up at the bottling plant, and many caps went out blank. Soon after, James Ready and its agency Leo Burnett Toronto began to receive messages through social networking sites and videos, wherein beer drinkers refused their beerflavoured celebrations.

So, the agency decided to use this as an opportunity to build a connect between the brand and its drinkers with campaigns like sharing its billboards and campus casino nights to turn blank caps into the Blank Cap Recall. In July 2010, the brand issued an apology video on its Facebook page and asked drinkers to send in their blank caps or pictures of their blank caps, in exchange for a James Ready mystery gift.

"And, the activity created one of the best engagement bustles for the brand, converting a 'screw up' into a branding exercise that was at a personal level," said Sansom.

He finally concluded the session by stating that marketing techniques today have to have a service design. "If you build it with more value and more meaning, they (the consumers) will come," he said