PUBLICITY volume of general advertising has become so great and its manipulation so intricate that it has called into being a new profession—that of the advertising expert. There are few qualified adver tising men who use the title " expert," as to a certain extent it has been very greatly misused, and men of ability do not care to associate themselves with the term on this account.
Whilst there are many departments of advertising which have their specialists, such as the advertisement copy writer, the follow-up specialist, the rate specialist, the retail specialist, &c., there are three distinct dig isions, each of which provides a wide and profitable field of activity for the ambitious. Thus advertising men, as a class, might be subdivided as follows :— The advertising agent and contractor.
The advertising manager—a general specialist retained by large advertisers,—and the Advertisement manager, who controls the advertising depart merits of the various publications.
The Advertising Agent would appear to occupy the most important position, as he acts as the intermediary between the advertiser and the news paper, the bill-poster, and to a certain extent the printer. It is he who actually places by fir the majority of the orders, and by far the greatest volume of business passes through his hands. it would seem that this was the logical development of the business, because of the enormous number of advertisers all needing a certain amount of advice on the conduct of their campaigns, besides wishing to be relieved of the mass of minute detail con nected with their administration.
The advertising agent amasses in course of time a vast store of informa tion and valuable data which is placed at the disposal of advertisers, and by continually handling a number of accounts in many different trade classifica tions is enabled to give to each of his clients the experience he has gained thereby. For this reason the advertiser seeks the aid of the advertising agent, and all new business gravitates naturally in his direction.
From the newspaper proprietor's point of view this arrangement works well, since he avoids dealing with a great multitude of accounts, preferring that financial risk is taken by the agent—since the agent is directly respon sible to the newspapers for payment. Quite apart from this the newspaper regards the advertising agent as a creative force, inasmuch as he is mainly responsible for bringing new advertisers into the field, they providing increased revenue in advertisements.
The position of the advertising agent is rather a peculiar one. He obtains
his remuneration in the form of commission from newspapers, so it would appear that lie is the servant of the newspaper. Nevertheless he is, in reality, the servant of the advertiser, who, in a manner, employs him to conduct his ad vertising. The advertiser, however, does not pay the agent—who receives his remuneration from the newspapers.
The term "Agent," therefore, would appear to be, to some extent, a mis nomer, since he is responsible to the newspaper for payment whether he is paid or not paid by the advertiser. The newspaper sells space direct to the agent and not to the advertiser through his agent. In reality then the agent is a principal in his transactions. He actually buys advertising space like so much merchandise, and sells again at a certain profit either stated or not stated.
Whilst all agents stand in much the same relation to the newspapers, their relations to the advertiser are widely diversified.
This brings us to the fact that there are two distinct classes of advertising agents, the service agent and the cut-rate agent or space broker. At first glance it would appear that the difference between the two classes lies in the fact that the service agent charges a high rate of remuneration for his services, whilst the space broker charges a low rate.
The Service difference, however, has a much greater signi fieance. The service agent has a moral responsibility regarding the success of every campaign which he administers. He has to look carefully into the advertiser's problem and advise him as regards the methods which will in all probability make for a successful solution. He formulates the general plan of the campaign, apportions the expenditure through the various channels of advertising, and uses the press or any section of it, the hoardings, railway stations, or any other method which he considers will strengthen the paign, quite impartially and without bias. His advice and experience must be continually at the service of his client. In short, he constitutes himself practically an advertising department to every client he has, an advertising department the yearly upkeep of which is probably much in excess of the average advertiser's yearly expenditure. His services are to a high degree professional, and quite apart from his own personal services, the service advertising agent must employ an expensive staff of specialists trained to every department of advertising to enable him to give expression to the plan of the campaign he has originated for his client.