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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Media buyer

Media Buyer

Media Buyers are the negotiators, the deal-makers! They take the strategies devised by the planners and dive into the marketplace, actively seeking out the best media spaces and airtime for their clients’ ads (be that TV, billboard, street signage, social media, digital or any other channel). They negotiate and purchase media space on the client’s behalf, ensuring they get the most value for their investment. They stay up-to-date on emerging media platforms and opportunities that align with the clients target audience.

See what it's like...

Matt Tan

TV Buyer at MBM

Going to the beach
Sand everywhere
"I’m responsible for those ads you see that pop up on your TV every now and then when you’re watching your favourite TV show... if you’re wondering why, it’s because it helps get the word out there"
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Career progression

There are not defined time periods between levels of seniority. Talent defines how quickly you can rise to the top. When you start in your role, look for opportunities to support your team and wider business, find a mentor or group that can help you when you are feeling stuck, make lots of mistakes and learn from them, and then try putting your hand up for as many projects and opportunities as you can.
1. Media Executive
2. Media Buyer Account Executive
3. Media Buyer Account Manager
4. Planning Director
5. Head of Planning
1. Media Executive
2. Media Buyer Account Executive
3. Media Buyer Account Manager
4. Planning Director
5. Head of Planning

What might I be able to earn?

The following provides an indication of the sort of earnings that you can achieve in your career.

We’ve taken a selection of roles and provided indicative earning potential. Due to the merit-based nature of the industry, the different levels of responsibility that titles can carry – based on size of agency and nature of accounts – alongside geographical location and the different ways in which agencies interpret individual titles, these are indicative only.

To be successful you'll need...

A love of data and what it tells us about human behaviour.
To be a keen follower of where people are going to get their information.
To be someone who can negotiate a good deal!
To be organised, you have lots of clients at the same time, and you’ll need to make sure they all feel like your number one priority.

Common Study Choices for Media Buyers

Agencies are looking for people who are great at communicating, who are confident with data and numbers, while also applying a human lens to it.

This can be from a tertiary pathway – an economics, psychology, business, maths, or science degree would be helpful, but what you study does not matter, it can be anything you are passionate about.

Two hands both on top of same computer mouse.

Getting a job as a Media Buyer

There are a number of different ways to get a job as a Media Buyer. There are graduate programmes that support you in as a Media Executive (see The Comms Council Graduate Programme for more details), as well as applying directly once you have been in the industry for a few years as a Media Executive.

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