How To Advertise: An Analysis of Contemporary Advertising (part 11)

The Suppliers of Advertising

by

Charles Lamson

The people and organizations that provide specialized services to the advertising business are called suppliers. Without their services it would be impossible to produce the billions of dollars worth of advertising placed every year.

Although we cannot mention them all, important suppliers include art studios and Web design houses, printers, engravers, film, and video production houses, and research houses.

Art Studios and Web Designers

Art studios design and produce artwork and illustrations for advertisements. They may supplement the work of an agency's art department or even take its place for small agencies. Art studios are usually small organizations with as few as three or four employees. Some, though, are large enough to employ several art directors, graphic designers, layout artists, production artists, and sales reps.

Most studios are owned and managed by a graphic designer or illustrator, who calls on agencies and advertising managers to sell the studio's services, takes projects back to the office to be produced, and then delivers them for the client's approval. The work is very time-consuming and requires a talent for organization and management as well as a core competency in art direction and computer graphics.

Similar to art studios, Web design houses employ specialists who understand the intricacies of Web-based technologies and can design ads and Web pages that are both effective and cost efficient.

Printers and Related Specialists

The printers who produce brochures, stationary, business cards, sales promotion materials, and point-of-purchase displays are vital to the advertising business. Ranging from small instant-print shops to large offset operations, printers employ or contract with highly trained specialists who prepare artwork for reproduction, operate digital scanning machines to make color separations and plates, operate presses and collating machines, and run binderies.

Printers may specialize in offset lithography, rotogravure, letterpress, engraving, or other techniques. Their sales reps must be highly skilled, and they often earn very large commissions.

Film and Video Houses

Few agencies have in-house TV production capabilities. Small agencies often work with local TV stations to produce commercials. But the large agencies normally work with independent production houses that specialize in film or video production or both.

Research Companies

Advertisers are concerned about the attitudes of their customers, the size of potential markets, and the acceptability of their products. Agencies want to know what advertising approaches to use, which concepts communicate most efficiently, and how effective past campaigns have been.

The media are concerned with the reading and viewing habits of their audiences, the desired markets of their advertiser customers, and public perceptions toward their own particular medium.

Research, therefore, is closely allied to advertising and is an important tool for marketing professionals. But most firms do not maintain a fully staffed research department. Instead, they use independent research companies or consultants. Research firms come in all sizes and specialties, and they employ statisticians, field interviewers, and computer programmers, as well as analysts with degrees in psychology, sociology, and marketing.

*SOURCE: CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING 11TH ED., 2008, WILLIAM F. ARENS, MICHAEL F. WEIGOLD, CHRISTIAN ARENS, PGS. 126-127*

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