Marketing & Creative Jobs in Canada Blog - Part 65

Marketing career change: from the advertiser to the advertising agency

“So, tell me about the agencies you have worked for before…” an advertising agency’s Account Director asked me during an informal interview. “None” is the only answer I could come up with, followed by the dreadful truth: “I come from the client’s side”. Very dramatic. Would we have been in the middle of a thunderstorm, lightning and blinking light bulbs would have perfectly complemented the scene.

Even a fast-learner would inevitably get lost the first couple of days or weeks.

In the marketing world, switching from working at an advertiser who hires advertising agencies, to working for the accounts department of an actual agency is quite a process. What makes it so challenging?

The Fifth P

Marketing executives commonly deal with the 4Ps (Product, Place, Price, Promotion), but they are not really aware of the fifth P – the agency’s P – namely: the Process. Who does what? When? With whom? Where is the brief template? And the contract template? Is there even a contract signed for each project? Seen from this angle, it would indeed require a lot of patience for an Account Director to hire a new Account Manager who comes from the client’s side. Even a fast-learner would inevitably get lost the first couple of days or weeks. Unless the agency provides the new employees with a comprehensive training program that will enable them to quickly understand how and where to find the useful tools and resources.

Why would marketing specialists ever want to move to the agency world in the first place?

As far as the marketing specialists who are passionate about communication and advertising, it has a lot to do with their frustration of not being able to focus more on these specific areas. Where they come from, it’s all about R & D, consumer research, trends, range structure, budget forecast, and market shares, whilst promotion is often the last issue that is being brought up at the time of a product launch. The communication campaign is then left in the hands of the agency. Later in the product launch process and once the campaign is approved, the marketing team’s main responsibility is only to interface with the project manager at the agency in order to deal with day-to-day issues. Continue reading →

Marketing Skills Most In Need

What are the most in demand marketing skills today? In this video, provided by CRMSoftware.TV, you’ll learn the skills marketers need to learn and what the education system should be teaching to help students increase their chances of finding a job and becoming successful in their marketing careers.


Career Advice To Help You Find A Job You Love: Interview with Penelope Trunk

Today’s interview is all about career advice and helping you to find a job you love. The interview is with Penelope Trunk. Author of Brazen Careerist and the recently released New American Dream. Penelope is a terrific blogger over at www.penelopetrunk.com

*The call quality isn’t perfect as you’ll see (Penelope was on a cell phone deep in the American farmlands ;). The content and advice more than makes up for that. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Good news! It looks like the percentage of our happiness controlled by genes isn’t 75% after all. It’s more like 50% and may be even lower…”we might be able to voluntarily change some of our genetic expression, meaning genes are no longer destiny.” Thanks to Lisa Sansom for this.

From Music, to Branding, to Marketing with Ashley Weinhandl

Ashley, before you got into a formal marketing job you worked as a Band Service Agent/A&R Assistant…can you tell us what that was like? Did it help you in some way to prepare for a career in marketing?

Working at Bodog Music as a Band Service Agent/A&R Assistant was an educational experience. It was a fast-paced environment and an exciting role. I worked with bands across North America from Vancouver, BC to Austin, Texas. I worked with the bands from the beginning stages where we discovered the bands and connected with them to having them audition and go through the judging process. It was great to work on a project that would end up as a television show on FUSE TV (an American Television Network). If you watched the series, you wouldn’t realize the amount of work that went into it before it was even recorded. The show was the end result of all of our hard work.

I would much rather work in the evening. What’s great about marketing is that, in most cases, it’s not the hours that matter as long as the work gets completed.

The role was a great stepping-stone into a career in marketing. A lot of what I did focused on successful relationship building and client service – two of the keys to being a successful marketing professional. It also enhanced my ability to multi-task, work in a fast-paced environment, manage projects, be creative and think outside-the-box.

Most of your marketing career has been with a non-profit or public sector company, such as in your current role at the Ontario Hospital Association. Was working at such an organization a goal you had or did you just end up landing there?

Although I enjoy my current role, I didn’t set out to work in the not-for-profit sector. Apart from my role at the OHA, I like to give back through my work at IABC/Toronto and Bladder Cancer Canada, both on a volunteer basis. So while I am currently in the not-for-profit sector, I would like to explore working in the private sector again at some point in my career.

What are some of the benefits of working for the Ontario Hospital Association? What are some of the challenges?

There are a number of benefits to working at the OHA. It gives you the feeling that you are giving back to society and helping others. We also have a fantastic team and culture at the OHA. It’s not an enormous multinational company, we work like a family – and this is harder and harder to find as people become more disconnected from the office.

The challenges the healthcare system faces are pretty much what you would expect. Funding is always an issue in not-for-profit and in healthcare in general, especially right now. With the weak economy in Ontario and the world, the healthcare system faces the dilemma of people being weary of any kind of public-private partnerships when it comes to healthcare. Along with the challenges around the economy and the public-private debate, a large portion of the population is getting older and need care now and in years to come. Continue reading →

Professional Life: Bryan Pearson CEO of LoyaltyOne, and Author of Loyalty Leap

Bryan Pearson is the CEO of LoyaltyOne, a loyalty marketing company. He is the author of Loyalty Leap: Turning Customer Information into Customer Intimacy. Bryan is often quoted in the news and is a sought-after speaker. You can learn more about Bryan at http://pearson4loyalty.com

Bryan, you believe companies should shift some of their focus from acquiring clients to putting the consumer front and centre. Can you explain?

Many companies are product-obsessed, meaning they operate with complete focus on creating, developing and enhancing their products to meet an existing need. Other companies are product opportunists – they obsess on the product, but also use their data occasionally to solve issues involving service or sales dips.

You can begin the journey; take small steps. And if you find yourself to be successful, that may entice the organization to make a larger commitment to other opportunities that exist around customer-centric marketing.

Both of these types of companies operate every day. But these days, with dramatically shifting technologies and fickle consumer demands, merely responding to consumer shifts isn’t enough. The company has to put the customer at the center of its purpose from the start, and then base every decision it makes on what is meaningful to that consumer, using the data the customer shares.

This is what I call a customer-committed company, and it is the one that stands apart. Customer-committed organizations, such as Caesars Entertainment, Nordstrom or Amazon.com, commit to two-way dialogues with their customers and use a careful balance of data and innovation to design a relevant customer experience.

What is ’emotional loyalty’?

Emotional loyalty is more deeply rooted than its counterpart — behavioural loyalty, which is driven by habit, convenience or even price. Emotional loyalty is based on the company’s capacity to recognize the customer’s contributions directly and exists within a sustained customer relationship. It results when the customer sticks with your brand even when there is a comparable, convenient or less expensive alternative available. It is a matter of gaining trust, which is hard won but worth it. Continue reading →

Behind the Picture: What is the Added-Value of a Photographer?

Each time I meet professional photographers, they talk about how difficult it is to give value to their work. This is especially true in a day and age where we all have a camera at hand in one of the devices we carry…and that it looks so easy to take a picture. To get a better perspective on the issue I met Florian Hossfeld, a professional photographer, and asked him to tell me what photography is really about and what I should pay attention to when I order a photo shoot, plus what to look for when buying pictures on a stock photography website.

Even if the picture looks simple, the client should be able to tell how much research and work the photographer accomplished to create it.

How can I be sure I choose the right photographer?

First, to make sure you choose the right photographer, you should interview several ones and have a close look at their work. Each photographer should have a professional website, with pictures organized in different categories. On their website, you should find a short presentation of what they do and if they are specialized in a specific area. For example, being able to master film and medium or larger format cameras is a sign of expertise. They should talk about the way they see their passion, whether they have a technical approach of it or a more artistic one, and how they learned about it. When looking at their photo gallery, their style must talk to you while not being too stereotyped.

What information should you find in the brief to be able to deliver relevant pictures?

I should find the context of the campaign, its objectives, the information about the product, its purpose and who the target is, as well as the atmosphere you need the product to be surrounded with. Ideally, the client should describe his intention in every possible way, as if referring to each of the 5 senses to give a global vision of what he needs. The more information I have, the better. If I feel like I don’t have enough information, I will do my own research and in any case, add my personal touch to the photo. Continue reading →

Daphne Damato is a Bay Brand Manager at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto

Daphne Damato is a Bay Brand Manager at the Hudson’s Bay Company in Toronto. She’s a graduate of Sheridan College and worked at Dot Patio and Home as a Marketing and Sales Retail Coordinator before joining HBC. 

What does the ‘average’ day of a Brand Manager at HBC look like?
Apart from assisting with managing the Bay’s branding and marketing initiatives, my job is mostly focused to broadcast advertising for the Bay, specifically within radio.

I am usually on the hunt for great stories, brand launches and new products from our merchant and marketing teams, which are then developed into great radio ads and recorded in studio with Bonnie Brooks or other celebrities and radio talent.

I think the key to getting your dream job, (or getting into your dream company) is really wanting it. You have to show that you deserve the job and that you are capable and willing to make it happen.

What is the most challenging and the most rewarding part of your job?
They seem to be both in same…choosing what we are going to talk about on air is extremely important to us here at the Bay, which in turn makes it the most challenging.

The hardest part of my job is making sure we pick the right story and angle to present to Bonnie Brooks. We ensure that each ad reflects The Bay’s Pride, Passion and Integrity while presenting our customers with exciting and relevant content. What we record has to be something that the Bay really believes in and something that our customer will believe in as well.

Getting to this point takes a lot of time, effort and creative energy, but once the final record is complete, there is great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. I love hearing the final spots on air! Continue reading →

Career Fair in BC Going Virtual

BC Tech Career FairOn July 24th, a new kind of career fair is taking place. Organized by GrowLab and Karma, the BC TechFair will showcase Vancouver’s growing tech companies.

Job seekers will be able to virtually ‘attend’ the booths of participating employers. Check in, have live chat sessions, ask questions, and read more information about current employment opportunities.

FreshGigs.ca is happy to be a part of this event along with great companies like Sophos, Hootsuite, Top Producer and many more.

For full details on the BC TechFair visit the event website.