Careers in Advertising with a Mass Communication Degree/PG Diploma

By Papiya Tahiliani

Mass communication is a window to some really interesting career opportunities! It’s a mediated form of communication that requires at least one or more mediums like newspaper, radio, television or a digital platform to connect with one or millions. A career in mass communication ensures that your reach is ensured, your ideas shared and your popularity… well that depends on how good are you at your craft!  Let us look at the media scene and the numbers to make the right connections with a mass communication career.

The Communications Industry where the future is bright!

The mass communication industry is one of the fastest growing in the country. The Indian Media & Entertainment Industry was estimated by the latest FICCI Study at INR 1262.1 Billion in 2016 and expected to go up to INR 2419.4 Billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 13.9%. The size of the advertising spends in India was INR 528.2 (or INR 52820 Crores) and is all set to touch a figure of INR 1078.1 Billion (or 107810 Crores) by 2021! The CAGR for this period (2016-21) is 15.3%.

A booming Indian economy means that more and more brands will make a beeline for the Indian soil and the Indian consumers will be spoilt for choices. How will they decide? Well, that’s the work cut out for the firms’ marketing departments who will turn to their advertising and promotional partners to do the job! Which means that advertising and promotions will never really go out of fashion!

Careers in Advertising: Choices! Choices! Choices!

The options broadly speaking are: advertising agencies, public relations firms, promotions agencies, event management firms, Digital Marketing both on the agency side as well as in corporate houses, marketing communication jobs in media and client organizations and corporate communications in client firms.

Now that the opportunities have been defined, let’s look at the different roles available.

Broadly speaking a typical advertising agency offers roles in:

-    Client or Account Management
-    Creative Solutions Creation
-    Media Selection and Management

The first role is all about handling the business side of providing innovative communication solutions. It is also about client management and therefore needs people skills. Account management is for those who are organized, understand the business really well, have good people management skills and are good team players.

The second role demands innovation and creativity. Those who write well can think of becoming copywriters and come up with catchy headlines and slogans or film scripts that touch a cord in the hearts’ of the consumers. Those with design sensibilities and aesthetics backed with a degree in fine arts or design can become visualisers and art directors.

The third role is for those who are good with number crunching and data analytical skills. Such people can use these skills to understand which medium works best for the promotional campaign and which channels/publications/sites etc. to specifically run their campaigns on in order to get maximum visibility for their products and brands.

Advertising and promotions is a heady, exciting field where every new day throws in a fresh set of challenges to overcome! It is a profession for young, energetic people who like to partner their clients’ businesses to find innovative communication solutions that can make businesses grow and find new markets.

How to find a foothold in the cut-throat Advertising Industry

Advertising is a career option best suited for those with a creative flair. Along with the skill-set you also need to be armed with a graduate degree and preferably a PG degree/diploma in Ad & PR which gives you an edge over the competition!

How to select a place for studying Mass Communication

It is important to not only do research on various universities and institutions offering such courses, but also look at the faculty and infrastructure. These courses are as good as the kind of faculty they employ, their body of work and the provision for hands-on-skills at the place of study.  Select a college/institution that not only has well-known core faculty, but also has well laid out industry interface and invites well known professionals for teaching and hands-on skills sessions. It will be a good idea to take a tour of the place, speak to student counsellor, if available and definitely connect with alumni for feedback and reviews. The alumni almost always give a true picture. As these courses are professional, also judge a university/institution on its campus placement record.

About the Author:

Papiya Tahiliani is HOD – Post Graduate Diploma in Advertising and Public Relations at Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication.