What media and advertising teams do
Client servicing takes the brief, manages timelines and budgets, and presents work to the client. Strategy or planning studies the brand and audience and writes the creative brief. The creative team turns it into ideas and executions: copywriters write, art directors and designers design, and the creative director decides what goes to the client. Production and studio teams handle shoots, edits, adapts and print-ready files. Media planners decide where the money goes across TV, print, outdoor and digital, and media buyers negotiate rates and release orders. Digital teams run social media, performance campaigns and content calendars. In publishers and broadcasters, editorial teams of reporters, sub-editors and producers create the content itself.
- Client servicing: account executives, account managers and account directors
- Creative: copywriters, art directors, designers and creative directors
- Strategy and planning: brand planners and consumer research
- Media: media planners, buyers and digital campaign managers
- Production: studio artists, video editors, producers and print production
Agency teams at 50, 500 and 5,000 employees
A 50-person agency usually has founders who lead clients and creative, a few account managers, a creative team of copywriters and designers under a creative head, a small digital team and a studio. Every pitch pulls in almost everyone. An agency of about 500 people has offices in two or three cities, business heads for groups of clients, creative directors leading teams, a strategy unit, a media planning and buying arm, a video production unit and a digital performance team.
At 5,000 people, typically a network agency group or a media company, there are separate agencies or units for creative, media, digital and specialist services, each with its own CEO or head, and shared services for finance, HR, legal and technology. National creative and planning heads set quality standards. Media companies of this size run editorial, ad sales, marketing and broadcast operations teams, with shift rosters for news and live content.
How creative, servicing and finance work together
Servicing protects the client relationship and creative protects the idea, so the two must agree on the brief before work starts and on feedback before it goes back to the team. Strategy sits in the middle and settles arguments with evidence. Finance tracks retainers, estimates and media payments, and agencies that release media orders on a client's behalf watch client credit closely. HR deals with creative talent that moves often, freelancers and contract staff for peaks, portfolio-based hiring, and late-night deadlines around pitches and launches. Legal checks contests, talent contracts, and music and image rights before campaigns go live.
Creative sign-offs and reporting lines
Account executives report to account managers and account directors, who report to a business head or vice president; copywriters and art directors report to associate creative directors, creative directors and the chief creative officer. No work goes to the client without the creative director's approval, and no estimate without the account director's. Media plans are approved by the media head and the client, and any release order above a set value, for example ₹10 lakh, needs finance to confirm the client's credit. Agency heads report to the CEO or group managing director. Weekend work around pitches is approved by the department head, and many agencies give comp-offs for it.
Typical media and advertising team structure
Media and Advertising designation hierarchy
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Book a free demoSee pricingFrequently asked questions
What is the hierarchy in an advertising agency?
An advertising agency usually has two ladders. Client servicing runs from account executive to account manager, account director, vice president and business head. Creative runs from junior copywriter or visualiser to copywriter or art director, associate creative director, creative director and chief creative officer. Strategy, media and production have their own heads, and all report to the agency head.
What does client servicing do in an agency?
Client servicing manages the agency's relationship with each client. The team takes briefs, writes estimates, manages timelines and budgets, briefs creative and media teams, presents work, collects feedback, gets approvals and makes sure invoices are raised and paid. A good account manager protects both the client's objectives and the agency's margin.
What is the difference between a copywriter and an art director?
A copywriter writes the words: headlines, scripts, taglines, social posts and long copy. An art director owns the visual idea: layout, imagery, typography and how a film or post should look. In Indian agencies they usually work as a pair on each brief and are reviewed together by the associate creative director or creative director.
Who does a creative director report to?
A creative director reports to the executive or national creative director or the chief creative officer in larger agencies, and to the agency head or founder in smaller ones. They lead a group of copywriters, art directors and designers across a set of clients and approve all creative work before it goes to the client.