Things I Learned Switching From Journalism To Advertising
Why journalists suck at group activities: The Neal Ungerleider Newsletter #85
A few takeaways, in no particular order:
LOLOL there’s no such thing as advertising anymore because everything’s advertising: Once upon a time, there were more-or-less clear definitions for what “advertising,” “marketing,” and “public relations” were, with well-defined agencies, freelancers and consultants specializing in each category. But in 2021 figuring out which is which is pretty miserable work.
Advertising agencies put together email newsletter drips for clients that sure seem like marketing to me. Public relations firms put together memes for clients on Istagram that sure look like advertising. Marketers are doing podcasts for clients discussing their new products that really feel like public relations.
But wait, you tell me! I’m watching a commercial on television that’s surely made by an advertising agency with a longstanding client account, an overstressed creative director and a freelance voiceover artist who’s received a Christmas gift for the last six years from the agency for consistently hitting the mark and being pleasant to work with!
Well, yeah. But odds are good that same ad agency is doing two or more of the following: Running the brand’s social media accounts, building a mobile app for the brand’s newest product, hiring influencers to showcase the brand on their IGTikTokTweetBooks, and putting together retail displays for the product in store.Advertising people have a better understanding of how their industry works: Broadly speaking (with some significant exceptions), there’s a disconnect between journalists understanding the topics they cover, and journalists understanding the economics both of their industry and the outlets they work at.
This is a combination of a legacy worldview among some journalists of a brick wall between editorial and publishing where thinking about how their company actually works is unseemly, a talent pipeline where journalists with understanding of internal business concerns have a fast track to editor jobs, and the simple fact that the economics of the industry = plunging revenue from infinite digital ad inventory meeting finite demand, reader/viewer expectations of receiving content for free, and unsustainable print costs. I mean, it’s not a good scene to process.
By comparison, advertising folks—whether creatives, account folks, agency employees, or freelancers—tend to have a better economic understanding of their chosen industry. Part of this is the boom and bust cycle of agency life where an ad agency losing even one client can quickly lead to massive layoffs. Part of it is the inescapable presence of the handfull of large holding companies that dominate the industry. Part of it is the mercenary nature of ad agencies, where talent routinely jumps ship every few years for more attractive opportunities.Better individual economics in advertising vs. journalism: I spent more time as a journalist arguing for an extra $100 here and $200 there on my expense account than I care to admit. I wrote op-eds for major newspapers that influenced local legislation and had major reprecussions for entire industries that netted me less than $300. Certain feature stories I worked on, even if they paid thousands of dollars, often worked out to under $10 per hour of pay due to me spending weeks of full-time work on them.
Furthermore, with some rare exceptions, journalists—both staffers and freelancers—lack the structural leverage that’s all important when negotiating contracts and job securities. Net 90 (and longer!) payment cycles are routine for freelancers, as are publications simply delaying payment for months without explanation. Many publications will not compensate employees for necessary expenses such as subscriptions to industry publications or budget to take sources out to lunch—and they’re perfectly comfortable with that because they know there’s an eager supply of ambitious journalists looking to take the place of anyone who complains too much.
By comparison, negotiation in the advertising industry is pretty much expected by both freelancers and staffers, ad agencies are paid obscenely well by clients, employees largely know their airfare won’t take months to reimburse when they travel for work, and entire offices aren’t passing around the same Lexisnexis or Bloomberg password.
Journalists = lone wolves. Advertising = pack life: Sometimes stereotypes are right. For instance, the stereotype that journalists skew misanthrope, don’t work well with others and are primarily solo operators. I mean… put journalists in a room for an editorial meeting and they’ll do just fine. Assign three journalists to work on a complicated story and everything will be okay. But have journalists collaborate closely, day after day, with little time to work on their own? Herding cats is easier than that nonsense.
Advertising, by contrast, is all about the group work. A talented graphic designer or copywriter or animator working on their own is useless for the finished product. Successful projects are a mix of creatives bouncing ideas off each other, communicators who can convey those ideas to the client, and clients placing faith in their service providers to do right by them.Both are filled with curious high achievers who work their butts off and hate boredom more than anything else: I mean, yeah.
Inside TikTok’s Algorithms:
I’m a bit late to the party on this, but Abby Ohlheiser at MIT Tech Review has written an incredible guide to how TikTok’s recommendation algorithms work.
The TLDR of it is that TikTok’s algorithms center as much on recommending *users* to other users as it does recommending content, and that TikTok’s user-centric algorithms tend to generate—intentionally or unintentionally—affinity communities around hyper-specific hobbies or interests. Because these niches are so small, new or unknown creators can quickly reach audiences sharing the same highly specific interests.
Anyway, completely recommended for anyone working with social media for a living or who just wants to pull the curtain back a bit.
Movie Premiere! Join Us!
The Faithful debuts on Friday, March 19 at 8pm ET. Join us at the premiere! Tickets are 50% off for Neal Ungerleider Newsletter subscribers with promo code NEAL50.
The film itself explores fandom and the cottage industries of memorabilia that form around celebrities, using Elvis Presley, Pope John Paul II, and Princess Diana as case studies.
On the content front, we’ve also done something awesome with the support of Grant for the Web and others: Built our own screening, payments and community platform from scratch as a case study for other filmmakers.
See you there.
Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately:
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll at the 92nd Street Y just doing rapid fire jokes about 1980s-1990s NYC. It’s never too late for extended improv around the ideal time to go to Zabar’s and optimal placement of Murphy Beds.
The magic of Fordite.
About This Newsletter: Neal Ungerleider is a strategic communications consultant who works with individuals, agencies and brands. He writes this weekly newsletter about the media communications industrial complex and hopes that you found it of use. Check out his bio, his portfolio, and current projects and interests.
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