Overrated Career: Advertising Executive

By Marty Nemko

Posted: December 11, 2008

The Appeal: It looks glamorous on TV, coming up with brilliant commercials and then watching them come to life in broadcast programs or print campaigns.

The Reality: Many ad agency employees spend a lot of time trying to win business from competitors or coddling demanding clients. And while the inventive part of the job is fun, many creative types find they're nagged by the reality that their biggest success is simply persuading people to buy Charmin instead of Northern.

Related News

An Alternative: Social marketing. A few ad agencies work to persuade people not to buy—cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol.

Daniel in Boston

I'm on my third lay-off from agency life and I've just about had it.

I have over 15 years of experience but planning on going back to school something in the health sciences. The politics, money and pressure from demanding clients is a drag. Nothing glamorous about it my friends.

I'm also getting older and see this as young person's field who is willing to work long hours and pay thier dues. I'm done!

Sean of MA @ Oct 26, 2009 17:29:18 PM

Advertising as a career is a joke...

Bad ecomomy? Write your own pink slip. Lose a client? Write your own pink slip. Whiney, hard-to-please clients. Constant carping and back-stabbing between agency departments. Egotistical managers and higher-ups who get paid handsomely while paying their employees (who do the real work) next to nothing. I wasted 12 years in this profession and kept on trying to salvage that career for longer. I wish I had tried to become a teacher or firefighter after college (when I was in better physical shape)...then I wouldn't regret my career and would have some happiness and job stability instead of grinding away, trying to find another job in this JOKE of a (advertising) profession....

By the way, 30 year ad man up there is wrong. You can put your heart, blood, soul, sweat and tears into this profession and still come up with nothing.

fedupwithadvertising of NC @ Oct 02, 2009 16:34:25 PM

I don't know about you, but I'm having fun.

I've been in advertising 30 years, and I still enjoy it. Downsides, sure. Frustrations, you bet.

But I get to make stuff up, sometimes a client buys the cool idea, and I've spent my life surrounded by writers, designers, film directors, composers, photographers, web developers, actors - a pretty interesting bunch.

And some of the PSAs I've done have been credited with saving lives, so it's not all shallow and mercenary.

Seems to me that most of the people who don't get much out of a career in advertising are the ones who don't put much into it.

Rob Simpson of TN @ Sep 01, 2009 17:13:49 PM

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