Written by our junior, mid‑level, and new‑to‑the‑industry team members, this series offers an unfiltered look at advertising through the eyes of the next generation. From first‑brief insights to behind‑the‑scenes stories, The Briefing Room captures the energy, curiosity, ingenuity, and hard-learned lessons that drive advertising careers forward.
When most people think about the advertising world, they might imagine a creative department brainstorming campaign ideas: sketching storyboards, writing headlines, or on a set of a huge production shoot. Or they might think of an Account Manager wining and dining clients, smoking cigars, drinking whiskey, and discussing client concerns…ok, that's just a scene straight out of Mad Men, but you get the point.
The reality is that many students or young professionals aren't exposed to the full range of careers that fall within the advertising world. While every agency or company may be structured a little differently, there will be similar teams working behind the scenes. Of course, there are the Creative and Account Management teams, but beyond that, you have Project Managers, an Insights team, Analytics /Reporting teams, and, of course, the Media team.
As a media buyer or strategist, the root of your job is to place creative out into the world. Because at the end of the day, creative can’t make an impact if no one actually sees it.
At Co, our three owners span across multiple generations: a Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial, all of whom bring different perspectives. As one of the fellow Gen Zs at the agency, I grew up immersed in advertising, but my experience over the years makes me look at things through a completely different lens.
Over my 5.5 years at Co, I have moved up the chain from Media Coordinator to Senior Media Strategist and learned a lot along the way. One of the biggest lessons is that advertising isn't only for the stereotypical “creative” people. Working in media teaches you different forms of creativity. This includes creative problem-solving, collaboration, and, of course, unique and creative media placements.
When working with challenger brands, you are often competing against a much larger company with even bigger budgets. In Media, we are tasked with finding the right target audience and reaching them at the right time and place. Success in media isn't always about spending more; it is about being strategic and making every dollar work harder.
For example, while working to drive consumers to Evergreen Goodwill, we were tasked with reaching an audience at a store location to promote sustainability for Halloween costumes. On top of traditional tactics, we tapped into two micro-influencer groups that naturally aligned with the message: Mom influencers and Gen Z creators. By amplifying their authentic content with paid support, we extended reach beyond their organic followings — and tracked the real-world impact through in-store digital coupon scans.
Cross-team collaboration can spark creativity! At Co, our campaign kick-off calls include all departments. The more brains working together in a room, the more opportunities there are for creativity to happen. A media insight might inspire a creative concept, or an analytics observation might reshape how we think about targeting. The more brains working together in a room, the more opportunities there are to challenge assumptions, push ideas further, and ultimately make the biggest impact for your client's budget, big or small.
Today's consumers are used to advertising, and people are becoming very good at tuning out ads. Our role in Media is to find media placements that break through the clutter and stop the scroll. This can be done in many different ways:
At the end of the day, advertising needs more than just the "creatives" to succeed. It needs account managers, strategists, planners, and media buyers who know how to get that work in front of the right people. If you're a student or young professional weighing your options, don't count yourself out. You might be surprised how much creativity lives in the media world, and how it can bring a campaign full circle!
Brittney Krempl joined Copacino Fujikado in 2020 as a Media Coordinator and has since grown into a Senior Media Strategist role. In her time at the agency, she’s led the media strategy across a range of clients including Gesa Credit Union, Lightcurve, Mary Bridge, ORCA and more. Throughout her tenure, she's enjoyed getting a peek behind the curtain on all the platforms she scrolls and streams herself, officially becoming the friend who geeks out over all things ad-targeting, fun media facts, and insisting on a silent room during Super Bowl halftime.
