Why ad agency pay matters

I hear many complaints about the young media buyers we meet with at big city ad agencies.

Often the buyers are just out of college and hard to prove real value to when they learned the term "CPM" 6 months ago, and will leave their position six months from now.

But work with them we must. To better understand how, follow the money, their money that is.

As you will see from the following there is strong motivation for them to move quickly from their first low paying positions. Don't take it personally. They want to move up their career ladder just like you do, only for them there is economic motivation to move on because starting salaries are low. How low?

Rachel, the career advice columnist for Media Life, reports;

"They'll start at about what an administrative assistant makes but less than a beginning elementary school teacher. What's different is that salaries can then climb rapidly, and over the course of a career media people as a rule do far better than in past years. One reason why is that media has become a much more competitive and demanding business. Within three years you can expect to take home what a retail store manager might make, and as you gain yet more experience you could be making the salary of a family doctor or even a cardiologist. The challenge is weathering those early years, and it helps if you are passionate about media... I talked to several media friends, and they say that entry-level salaries in the Northeast have been stuck in the $30,000 to $32,000 range for quite some time. And given the economy, that is not likely to change. But it can go up sharply."

So the next time you meet a starting media planner take the time to help them out. They may not be in their position long. But it is worth the investment considering that some will move up quickly the ad agency ladder and become relationships well worth the investment.

Read the whole column on Media Life:

Rachel, what can I make in New York?

Comments

[Cheap Hermes Bags]

I have faced a lot of problems with inaccurate statistics, which led me to some wrong decisions.

[Jim Belosic @ Reno ad agency]

It's interesting to hear that most ad agencies are still under-paying thier buyers. I always had the philosophy of pay peanust and you get monkeys. If I can give my buyers an incentive to achieve, the agency usuallu benefits, as well as the clients. Most times I try to bonus a 50% commision on savings over the rate card. The media outlets hate it, but we've saved our clients a ton of money doing so!