Agency Simulation

APPLYING FOR JOBS

For any agency to work effectively and turn out a complete, well-designed advertising campaign, each person in the agency must be responsible for certain jobs. Study the following descriptions so that you will understand what jobs must be done. Then write a job application.  Use only one side of one sheet of paper.  Do not put a heading on the paper.  Do not put your name anywhere on the front of the paper. Put your name on the back of the page.  Write three full paragraphs:

• Tell which job you most want and why you would be good at it.
• Tell which other job or jobs you would be willing to do and why you would be good at those.
• Tell about how well you do working in groups with other people.

Although one person will officially be in charge of each job, he or she will undoubtedly require help from other people in the agency to complete the work. Remember, for an agency to be successful, cooperation is essen­tial.

 AGENCY DIRECTOR

You are in charge of the agency, all its workers, and all its work. You lead staff meetings, make final decisions (after discus­sion with your assistants), insure that all employees understand their jobs, supervise all work, make sure everyone is doing their job, and help anyone who is having trouble or is behind. Being the agency director is a huge responsibility, and if done right, it requires twice as much work as any other job, but you have the satisfaction of being the boss and taking final credit for the success or failure of your group’s final ad package.

You will appoint the ART SUPERVISOR, PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, or CHIEF COPY WRITER to be your assistant and take your place if you are absent.  Be sure to keep your assistant informed about all your plans and schedules!

ART SUPERVISOR

You are in charge of all artwork for the advertising campaign. Since most ad campaigns are largely art, this means you have a great deal of work to do. Other artists will work for you, doing much of the actual art work, but you must supervise this work, checking to make sure it is done correctly and on time.  You need to help your artists as much as possible. Thus, you must not only be an artist; you must also be a leader and supervisor.

ARTISTS

You will assist the ART SUPERVISOR in preparing all art work for each of the ads. You may make scenery for a commercial or design art work for  billboards or magazine advertisements.

CHIEF COPY WRITER

While most advertising relies on considerable art and layout work, the written or spoken language in all ads is very im­portant. You will have to write the copy for billboards, magazine ads, TV commercials, and/or radio commercials. This total may be only a few hundred words, but the words must be the right words. You must be very creative and be willing to rewrite your sentences or commercials many times to get everything just right.

WRITERS

You work with the CHIEF COPY WRITERS preparing the written material for all ads. You may write just one or two sentences or a slogan on a billboard or a 30 or 60 second radio or TV commercial.

RADIO/TV PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

You are in charge of producing both radio and TV commercials. You have to work with the ART SUPERVISOR and the CHIEF COPY WRITER to make sure that all materials are ready on time. You have to arrange for recording equipment for the radio commercials and TV commercials. You are in charge of setting up and recording these commercials and then playing them back at the presentation of the ad campaign.

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

You will assist the RADIO/TV PRODUCTION COORDINATOR in preparing for the recording and playback of the radio and TV commercials.

ACTORS

Readers will be needed for the radio commercials, and actors will be needed for the TV commercials. These readers and actors should be people doing other jobs in the agency. The RADIO/TV PRODUCTION COORDINATOR can call on anyone and everyone in the agency to work on the agency’s productions.