Having come from consumer titles across various different markets, it’s great to be doing something slightly different but still in the same industry. By that, I mean still being involved with the advertising in magazines yet working for a content marketing agency and not just a publishing house.
My days are varied and can differ greatly but what I love is being involved with our clients business and also working with my advertising clients and creating some great ideas and relationships that result in some great pieces of activity.
My role as Advertising Manager, DARE
My role at River is Advertising Manager for Superdrug’s Magazine. I am responsible for bringing in the commercial revenue for DARE, Superdrug’s customer magazine. Each day varies from one to the next and can be a real mix. With DARE, we look after everything from print to digital adverts, and advertorials through to large sponsorship deals.
A typical day in my job is creating relationships with my clients, making advertising revenue and meeting with clients to understand what they are doing with current advertising plans and how my magazine can help promote what they need. A typical meeting might involve seeing a skincare brand that needs to use DARE to promote a new launch or it might be sitting around a big table bashing through ideas for a cover sponsorship deal or advertorial that has a celebrity endorsing the brand. It really can vary which is what makes it fun and exciting yet also really interesting.
What I’m doing today
I am in the middle of our magazine sales cycle so we are not approaching deadlines or near to print which is a great relief and allows me to be more out and about and hopping from one place to the next.
Today I am based at Superdrug’s head office in Croydon, with lots of meetings with many different people. I first have coffee with the Marketing team to discuss future projects in the next year that DARE will be involved in.
Next, I need to speak to the Fragrance Buyer to discuss our participation at the upcoming Fragrance Conference (and how I am going to arrange 360 cupcakes to be given out with our branding).
Several meetings later, I am catching up with a few more buyers to find out what is happening in-store for the period our issue is on shelf as this is what shapes our synopsis for the issue and also who we will speak to for advertising in the issue. It’s so great to see so many different people and have so many different conversations.
Finally, I then have a mad dash from Croydon into Central London as I need to meet a client at an event for her latest Autumn/Winter cosmetics collection. I love these types of events, today is a PR showcase and it’s great to see all the latest products coming out.
What girl doesn’t love talking about new beauty products and having a little try? I love this brand and really love working with them, they are so innovative and love coming up with ideas.
It’s now back to our office in Covent Garden to finalise my proposal of ideas for tomorrow’s meeting. It has been a pretty hectic day but I love going out and about seeing people.