Role design and job descriptions for Advertising Agencies: who owns the brief, the deadline and the sign-off
In many ad agencies the role titles come from a template and the real work is unclear. Clear roles settle who writes the brief, who may change it and who answers to the client.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in advertising agencies
Advertising agencies inherit titles from older agencies. A senior copywriter, an associate creative director and a creative lead can all mean the same thing, or three different ones. Servicing managers write briefs that planners rewrite and creatives ignore, and the client blames whoever was in the last meeting.
The fix is to describe seats by what they own, not by the title. For each seat write the decisions it makes, the people it works with, the output it must deliver and who signs off. A one-page description per seat settles most arguments about who should have caught a mistake, and gives promotions a plain base.
How to set it up
1. List the seats that touch a brief
Servicing lead, planner, copywriter, art director, producer, traffic manager. Write the order in which the brief moves between them.
2. Write ownership in plain words
For each seat, one line each for: decides, delivers, signs off and escalates to. Avoid long lists of duties.
3. Define the changes to a brief
Who may change a brief, how a change is recorded and who tells the client about the effect on time and cost.
4. Match titles to levels
Group titles into three or four levels with a short note of what is expected at each. Use the same levels across servicing and creative.
5. Test the pages with the people
Ask each person to read their seat and mark what is wrong. Adjust, then use the pages in hiring and reviews through the recruitment process.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask three people who owns the brief on a live campaign and compare the answers.
- Count titles in use and how many have no written meaning.
- Find a recent missed deadline and trace who could have stopped it.
- Check whether job adverts match what the seat really does.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach role design and job descriptions in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
One page. It should say what the seat owns, who it works with and what good looks like. Long lists of duties are rarely read and rarely true.
Yes. A clear page does not limit ideas. It states who owns the brief, the deadlines and the sign-off, and what level of craft is expected at each step. That makes promotion fairer.
Record the work, discuss it in the review and decide whether the seat should change or the person should move up. Leaving it unnamed is what causes resignations.