Campaign asked interns and recent graduates about how they see their role in the industry changing in the next five years.
Position: Media Executive, UM MENA
As a new-joiner within the media industry, telling people what I do at first seemed difficult. My job description to friends and family varied from “advertising for brands” to “media bookings”. This, however, was my first month in media. Following this, my first year working with UM taught me a lot.
Not only was my role exciting, but was different from what people assumed I do. Being a media executive is much more than the designation mentions. And now when I’m asked what I do, my answer has convincingly shifted to: “I invest my clients’ marketing budgets, and build brands.”
Throughout this year at UM, I’ve learned that not only are we required to be media-savvy, but we also need to be well-versed with technology, trends and the economy. Currently, we as media planners have integrated offline, social and digital platforms to provide the most effective strategies to our clients as a standard practice. With the support of our specialists in creative, content and tech, we are adding a whole new blend to our expertise. However, a few years from now the industry will integrate these three pillars (content, creative execution and tech innovation) as well to build a new standard and all-powerful media “con-crea-tors” instead of just “planners”.
We have seen the results of an integrated campaign and this future integrated media professional is sure to deliver the best outcomes to clients and their consumers, delivering an end-to-end strategy. Of course, the creative and tech specialists will always be there to lead and guide the strategies, but we if we take a look at the media industry and its evolution over the years, we can assume that this level of integration is inevitable.
In addition to this integration, I do think media planning and strategy will be skewed towards technology, which I personally am looking forward to, being mobile savvy and an internet-of-things enthusiast. So I am definitely awaiting this self-predicted trend, to build client strategies and brands through compelling and reactionary ideas of innovation.