As of July 15th I made a huge transition at Insight Creative, Inc. For over five years, I called the Copywriting Department my home away from home. Writing copy was certainly within my “comfort zone,” but there were other skills I had—attention to detail, strong organization, a background in TV—that I really wasn’t tapping into as a Copywriter. When a position opened up in Insight’s Media Department, I did something out of character for me … I embraced change. I’m proud to call myself a Media Coordinator at Insight, moving from a highly creative position into a highly strategic one. So far, I think it’s a great fit for my personality and experience. Plus, it’s offering me new and exciting challenges every day that add to a rewarding career. Below are 5 new things I notice as an Insight Media Coordinator.
For years I used primarily Microsoft Word to write all my copy documents including radio and TV scripts. Sure I dabbled in iMovie and did some video production work, but never did I truly get the best out of Excel. Now that I’m in a highly detail-oriented role, I’m learning to appreciate Excel with its sorting and formulating capabilities.
Print is certainly a new avenue for me. I find it interesting how each paper has a different number of columns per page, and so when you have a 5 x7 ad created, you need to take into consideration how many columns per inch there are and adjust your dimensions accordingly. It doesn’t hurt to have a designer on your good side to make all the artwork adjustments for each publication. It certainly brings a newfound appreciation to the work that goes into a perfectly positioned ad you see in next Sunday’s paper!
A poker face is a good thing to practice in the Media Department. You never want to give away too much information about your client … only what’s necessary to plan a good media campaign. You also don’t want to give away your budget, if possible, so you can hopefully negotiate some great rates and save the client a few bucks to use elsewhere.
I used to go through painstaking efforts to make sure the right words were capitalized in headlines, make sure my comma usage was correct, and keep the correct tense flowing in all my copy. Now I don’t need to worry so much about that. I do need to worry that this or that ad doesn’t run on the same day as another ad for the same client. Keeping dates, deadlines, and budgets straight has taken the place of my obsession for perfect grammar.
Needless to say, the Media Department works with a lot of media reps: newspapers, radio stations, television stations, billboard companies, online groups, movie theaters, and more! It pays to find a good rep within each of the media outlets, and work with them for multiple clients. It’s nice to feel I can trust that person, they respond in a timely fashion, stay on top of things, and care about the clients just like me.
To sum up, transitioning to a new position within our agency has given me a first-hand view of how important each department is to the success of Insight. Each department really compliments one another, so what clients notice are solid campaigns from planning to completion.
Have you made a career shift or internal transfer? How has that decision impacted your career?
