New Roles In Advertisng

Scott Goodson posted this on his blog the other day and I found this very interesting.

We are moving forward in this business so quickly that the traditional sitting in a cubicle as an copywriter, art director etc. has become a thing of the past. The roles are being redefined everyday.

The new breed of "adlander" needs to bring more to the table and have a bigger vision of the role they can play.


From Scott Goodson May 5th, 2009

For a long time there have been the same old jobs in advertising. But all of a sudden there are new kinds of jobs out there in advertising which require new kinds of skills. New roles have started to appear in advertising that have not been here before. Like green shoots exploring upwards out of the grey brittle bottom of an age-old pine forest, these new roles have evolved because of what’s happening out there. More modern agencies already have them embedded in their teams, but if you’re thinking of a career in advertising, these new roles will become increasingly important for the industry as a whole.

Digital Presence Strategist

This person is a hybrid web strategist with curiosity about new technologies and a familiarity with mobility applications. This is not a media strategist or a technologist. This is a new role in the US. These guys have tended to be mostly Nordic because 3G happened there like 10 years ago or Japanese, and more recently British and or other Northern Europeans. This is the role on the rise in advertising. I use the term “advertising” because it’s the only short-hand word that carries the weight of strategic and creative excellence in all media, including digital and brand PR. This is a role on the rise because it is becoming important to have a strategic thinker sitting in the team who understands all the complexities of the social media scene, the mobility scene and all the innovation opportunities out there.

Idearator

This is an idea generator who has a legacy in the digital space but is broad enough to come up with ideas that live in all media. This person must play across many disciplines. This role will become increasingly important because the emphasis, the value, and the fundamental business model for agencies has shifted away from a focus predominantly on execution to a focus on ideas.

Partnership Director

Partnering with ‘best-in-class’ individuals and firms is what enables agencies like StrawberryFrog to leapfrog the traditional legacy corporate agencies. This person’s role is to continuously manage the agency’s partnerships and be able to draw on the world’s best talent, tailored to a client’s specific needs. While all agencies work with outsourced talent in some shape of form (some more openly and overtly than others who hide this fact), this is now becoming a mainstream way of working in the evolving media revolution. And this role will become a mainstay of the best in class firms able to deliver for their clients globally and across many different disciplines.

Social Media-Whatever

I'm not going to write much on this. But anyone with any expertise in social media has been important for some time now, and this area of expertise will only keep growing.