Advertising Agency

A brief Introduction to the functions of an Advertising Agency

Advertising agencies have a significant role to play in the economic growth of a nation. Most of the products and services we use is a direct or indirect influence of the advertisings we’re exposed in our lifetime. Even if you are a harsh critique of advertising because you don’t like the trickeries advertising agencies use to persuade, you can’t get away from its firm grip. The more a nation is prosperous and showing potential growth, the stronger would be its advertising business. As for the UAE, there belongs one of the most consumerized societies in the World. A vast majority of the population of this country comprises mostly expatriates. Though the United Arab Emirates’ economy rose up with the discovery of petroleum in the Persian Gulf in the second half of the 20th century, it’s the pragmatic approach by its leaders toward a free market that made the country remarkable. If you have a chance to visit the prominent Emirates of this country like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah, you can find how they are eager to embrace novel developments and innovation to advance their growth. Without a doubt, Advertising agencies in the UAE, particularly in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are the behind-the-scene players of this extraordinary growth. And we at Effective EMEA is proud to have a leading stature in the advertising business in this country. All globally acclaimed advertising giants have established their branches here along with the multitude of agencies built by local and expat entrepreneurs. In fact, advertising is the real driving force behind the wealthy and influential media industry the UAE. You might be wondering why we discuss UAE’s advertising agencies in a write-up that is supposed to talk about the functions of a full-fledged advertising agency. It’s because we’re approaching this business in the context of the UAE and we will mention again in this feature about the advertising agencies here. That said, let’s now explore the most significant roles of a competent advertising agency.

Preparing a Marketing Plan: Getting the basics right in an advertising agency

All the efforts by advertising agencies that demand highly creative tactics and strategies are aimed at for only one thing—that is to sell the products, services or ideas under a particular brand. A marketing plan is the first step that draws up an ideal roadmap to raise a new or unfamiliar brand to popularity. It can also be a guideline to expand the brand equity of an existing one. The more comprehensive is your marketing plan, the higher result it can bring about. One of the crucial parts of any advertising agency is to create a marketing plan, which focuses generally on the following aspects:

• Target audience
• Client’s requirements
• Competition
• Market analysis
• Budget

n a full-service agency, marketing and account people execute in-depth analysis of the marketplace. And following the inputs from the client and creative department, they draw up an ideal marketing strategy. The competency of a market plan is so massive in an agency business growth since if you compromise on any element in this primary process, that will affect negatively all the following activities you undertake. No matter how creative and technically equipped your agency is, it’s best to create an inclusive marketing plan for all your advertising projects. Most of the advertising agencies in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah pays great attentions to this fact. That’s why you can find some of best advertisings in the UAE whether it be indoor, outdoor, media or digital advertisements. As in any case, there are exceptions. You can also find those agencies who doesn’t give a hoot about their marketing devices always flounder in the cut-throat advertising business here.

Copy and design: Creativity rules the roost in any advertising agency

Advertising is an art and has gone through tremendous changes after the advent of mass media. Nobody can get away with a typical design or poorly written content nowadays. It’s mainly because today’s customers are immune to advertisers and they are often doubtful about the tried and tested methods advocated by old school marketers. People like novelty and an advertising agency that focus on this central area will reap the benefit, by all means. Here are some of the primary functions of an advertising agency regarding design and copy or content creation.

• Graphic design
• Copywriting
• Content management
• Web design and development
• Indoor and Outdoor Designs
• Video creation and editing
• Photography

You might have misgivings about why we include video editing and photography under the section of design and copywriting. But, we take a broad view on the designing and writing part. The media where the design and words appear has not much importance in this regard. It’s not because of the sophisticated tools or technology we use that make an ad great, but the creativity and innovativeness that make it stand apart in the competition. When we talk about creativity, don’t get the wrong idea of what usually attributed to this often-misunderstood word. Creativity in advertising means a calculated and dedicated approach to generate new ideas in the forms of artistic designs, visuals, and inspiring words. To have a first-hand experience of them on display, just take a ride down the upscale highways in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah. You can come across the real battle of creativity in the form of giant hoardings, and digital signs right along the roads. Or just flip through a magazine published in the United Arab Emirates or browse the many channels, you can learn how advanced are the advertising agencies in the UAE.

Advertising agencies gain the edge associating with the right media

As we mentioned above, media in the UAE is thrived piggybacking on the well-established advertising industry here. Since mass media advertising is one of the essential functions of an advertising agency, you can find account people flitting around major media houses in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. Because obtaining a premium ad spot in leading newspapers and magazine in the UAE is somewhat difficult and cost an astronomical amount for a brand owner. However, a well-executed advertisement on a popular print, television or radio outlet can build your brand value much higher than all other ad forms. Quite often, ad agencies decide which media channel will be suitable for advertising their client’s brand event at the time they work on their marketing plan.

Online Marketing redefines advertising agency roles

The reach of the internet to every nook and cranny of the world has totally changed Advertising business. The responsive website design and development is now trending in the online marketing arena. Unlike Internet’s early period when people had only PCs to go online, the usage of smartphones and other devices are on the rise in online surfing.  No advertising agencies can exert any significant impact in the marketplace just through traditional mass media advertising. Hence, the gear of advertising is shifting towards online, and any enterprising ad firm would be wise enough to jump on this online bandwagon. And when it comes to cross-channel advertising, advertising agencies in the UAE carefully consider social media advertising as well as search engine related advertisements. Every leading and emerging brand in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah now have their own Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts to engage their prospects. And a lot of them actively involved in AdWords campaigns. Advertising agencies have a hell of a lot of opportunities in developing a brand’s social media campaign in the United Arab Emirates.

Tracking results and tweaking: Things that makes an advertising agency special

Identifying how customers react to an ad or a campaign determines an advertising agencies’ journey forward. That’s why there are many businesses out there who are specialized in tracking and analyzing the outcomes of advertising projects. If you have an in-house team that can deal with this assessing process, it’s great. Or if you can’t do it, you need to trust a market research firm. Even though it’s painstaking, accurately analyzing market insights is inevitable to customize and tweak an advertising campaign. It’s easier for digital media as there are plenty of tools available to accurately measure how customers behave towards a particular brand. Concerning outdoor, print and signage advertising, it is still a bit problematic. However, new tracking devices are emerging to gauge customer’s engagement in physical stores. Also, digitalization in hoardings and signage inside brick and mortar businesses are giving a clear understanding of the behavioral patterns of customers. In the UAE, advertising agencies are quick to pick up these innovative technologies that help them understand the effectiveness of ad campaigns. The best example of this phenomena can be seen in the digitalization of brand touch points such as kiosks, billboards and the increased demand for marketing analysts in the job market of the UAE.

Conclusion

We’ve listed a few of the essential roles an advertising agency deal with on a regular basis, but keep in mind that it is just an overview of the functions an agency does. We also tried to give a glimpse of the advertising business in the United Arab Emirates, mainly in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Effective is based in this country, and over many years we’ve been handling prestigious client accounts with outstanding services, which covers all areas of advertising. If you want to know more about our advertising agency, please get in touch with us. We’re always happy to hear from you.