Creative Agencies

A creative advertising agency is responsible for creating and executing advertising campaigns for its clients. A creative agency is concerned with what messages to convey to the target audience, and how to communicate the message in a creative way that gets it noticed.

In creative agencies you'll see people take briefs from clients, then recommend the best way to answer that brief through the production of ads. They develop scripts for television commercials, then make those commercials. They develop billboard executions, radio ads, digital and social media content, or build digital experiences.

The process of developing ads can involve market research, developing concepts and messages, creating visuals and copy, and production.

The key thing that distinguishes a creative agency from a media agency is that the creative agency decides how best to communicate a message and produces the 'ad' that does so. The media agency is concerned with where to best place that ad so that it is seen by the right audience. They then negotiate with media companies (such as TVNZ, Stuff, or Google and Meta) to buy the space that the ad appears in.

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Digital Developer

Digital Developers are create the websites and apps for their agencies or clients. Working with Digital Designers, they are creating pages which give the audience the right information in the best way, but also helping to design the way the websites, apps and products look and work.

Based in the technical team, the Digital Developers bring the ideas to life online by creating a digital space which visually translates the proposed solutions into great online content. Digital Developers are comfortable using technologies both old and new to make a website from scratch. Digital Developers will be good at working with people too, they work with other people’s ideas and their own skills to produce great online experiences.

Career progression

Technology roles do not have a defined time period between levels of seniority; because there is always ongoing evolution, you need to keep learning and upskilling as much as you can, while also refining your own skills. Talent defines how quickly you can rise to the top. There is no ceiling for how high you can go within the Technology space, and it is not limited to the advertising industry.

Database Administrator or Systems Administrator – Junior Front End Developer - Front End Developer – Full Stack Developer – Head of Tech – Tech LeadA Front End Developer (developing the things the users will see and use), vs Back End Developer meaning to systems, databases and web hosting platforms. Full Stack Development is being able to create both the front end, and back end of websites or apps.
1. Junior Front End Developer
2. Front End Developer
3. Full Stack Developer
4. Head of Tech
5. Tech Lead
1. Junior Front End Developer
2. Front End Developer
3. Full Stack Developer
4. Head of Tech
5. Tech Lead

To be successful you'll need...

At a minimum, an understanding of front end languages and frameworks (HTML, CSS or JavaScript as an example), backend technologies ( like Python or C#) and database management systems (SQL for example). Also a strong understanding of webhosting platforms (like Amazon, Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure).
A problem solver, you seek ways to solve things.
Collaboration across teams and departments is needed, so working well within a team, and strong verbal communication.
Passion for technology and the future.
Strong written communication, writing proposals and wireframes as well as project updates. Most importantly, strong communication through their coding.
Translating client needs into something possible from a technical point of view.
Resilience and patience – you’ll be communicating complex things to a range of stakeholders, as well as being called on to solve problems.
Strong attention to detail, and being able to switch between tasks as things come up (while building up a good understanding of how things need to be prioritised).

Common Study Choices for Digital Developers

Because this is quite a technical career, additional tertiary study will be required. You could look at study within information or computer science, or information technologies. Having some experience with security and also keeping an eye out around web or visual design may also help.

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Getting a job as a Digital Developer

Unlike the other creative roles, there is not a ‘book’ or portfolio to build to demonstrate your early work. Get started through applying for graduate roles (like Summer of Tech), entry level tech or IT roles.

Mostly, you would need a CV and Cover Letter. You could connect with CEOs from agencies that you would like to be a part of, introduce yourself and see if there are projects which might have some opportunities for you to contribute.

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