Today's advertising industry is far removed from the world portrayed in the television drama Mad Men, about a 1960s Manhattan agency dominated by chain-smoking male executives who dazzle clients with their print and broadcast creations.
For one thing, women share the spotlight with men. Meanwhile, technology has reshaped the industry, and masterminding brand buzz more commonly involves the digital space.
As consumers increasingly turn to online communication, the dozens of colleges across Canada that offer advertising education are shifting the way they groom their “mad men” – and women – of the future, augmenting traditional programs with web-based and social networking training.
Because students also get real-world experience, working with ad agencies and other industry members, most get jobs right after graduation.
Michael Rosen, co-ordinator of the creative advertising bachelor's degree program at Humber College in Toronto, says some students may be lured by images of the glamorous, cocktail-drinking ad world portrayed in Mad Men, but they soon realize “there’s just a huge amount of work involved.”
Humber’s program, in the School of Media Studies and Information Technology, was launched in 2005. It has traditionally attracted more females than males, but of the 64 students admitted this fall from about 300 applications, it’s a 50-50 split.
Sarah Kirkpatrick and Rachel Kennedy, both 23 and in the third year of the four-year Humber program, believe the tech skills students of their generation possess give them an edge in pursuing careers in advertising.
Ms. Kirkpatrick, who had studied business at a college in Calgary, says she was weaned on words like “taglines” and “search engines,” and now wants to become a copywriter – the person who crafts the words seen in ads.
Ms. Kennedy, who aims to become an art director, says she and fellow students built a Labatt anti-drinking-and-driving ad campaign around the Facebook phenomenon that spread like wildfire on the social networking site. The campaign involved pictures of young people having a good time without drinking, with catchlines such as “LOL, I was so sober,” that could be uploaded as Facebook users’ profile pictures.
“People check out their Facebook three or four times a day, where they might not check out a billboard three or four times a day,” Ms. Kennedy says about the message-spreading power of social networking.
Despite the increasing importance of digital advertising and marketing, there remains a “media agnostic” approach to teaching students how to sell their ideas, because print, radio and newspaper advertising aren’t dead: This is stressed by Mr. Rosen and Anthony Kalamut, co-ordinator of the two-year creative advertising diploma program at Seneca College in Toronto.
Mr. Kalamut says ad education at Seneca, which graduates about 50 students a year and has a partnership with York University that results in a bachelor of arts degree, emphasizes creating “the big idea” that works across all platforms.
“Big ideas can sell little products, and no one idea can be considered out of play any more,” he says. “You have to figure out the story to tell, to engage with the audience and put the pieces into play.
“We have to be flexible, quick and agile enough to say, ‘Facebook will be a nice accent to what we’re doing on billboards.’”
Seneca has run an ad program for some 40 years but revamped it about 15 years ago to meet the changing industry. Students now learn design and layout, effective communication and presentation, copywriting, computers and applications, and desktop publishing. In the second year, they choose one of two streams: creative, which prepares students for jobs in (for instance) copy writing or art direction; or business, which offers preparation for jobs in account management, media planning and buying, and strategic planning.
As an example of how traditional ad vehicles can team with a modern method of communication, Mr. Kalamut points to the award-winning “Billboard Coupon Campaign” for James Ready beer.
