The AdNews NGen blog: Young brunette media planner seeking cosy career pigeonhole

"So... What do you do?"

Pick-up line, ice-breaker, begrudging-small-talk-starter. It's the universally safe-bet question, sure to encourage further small talk and allow the askee to generate an instant stereotype.

If you were to try it on with my circle of friends at a party, answers would range from physiotherapist to lawyer, primary school teacher to medical receptionist. Interior designer. Sports journalist. Occupational therapist, Blockbuster video store consultant and cruise ship performer.

But as it comes around to my turn, I'm silently dreading having to answer. It's not that I'm ashamed of what I do (I'm not a money launderer, used-car salesman or male nanny). It's just that after two and a half years in the industry, I am incapable of articulating my chosen profession.

Each time I tell my hairdresser, taxi driver, or long-lost high school acquaintance that I work at a media agency, I get the same response.

"Oh OK". Thoughtful nod, long pause. "So what does a media agency do?"

Keep-It-Simple-Stupid, Strategy-On-A-Page, The Elevator-Pitch; being able to encapsulate a complex concept in a concise and engaging way is a prerequisite for this industry. But when it comes to talking about my job, I become as long-winded as a Gilmore Girl with a stutter to rival Elmer Fudd.

For some reason I don't find, "We strategise and plan communications campaigns for clients, and then buy that media space," really does the trick. Typical questions that ensue include:

"So you work in advertising?"

"Is that the same as marketing?"

"Like on Mad Men?"

I suppose the main source of my inner conflict is trying to reconcile a black and white answer to any of these questions. Yes, we work in advertising - kind of. And yes, our clients are marketers. And yes, there are definitely one or two parallels between my office and that of Sterling Cooper.

I don't blame people for not quite getting it. Having had no knowledge of what a media agency was until I started working at one, (Oh heck - who am I kidding, I was in the job for a good six months before I actually figured it out), I understand the difficulty in comprehending that an entire industry exists in between creative advertising agencies, and the Tens, Fairfaxs, ACPs and Austereos of the world.

And as terms such as branded content, "earned" and "owned" media, and user-generated content continue to make the rapid transition from industry buzz words to legitimate "channels", we as media planners must also make a transition. We have already evolved from mere numbers-in-boxes-media-monkeys; so where to next?

Kimberley raised her concern in the previous NGEN blog "Drawing the line" (28th Feb), musing over the pressure to become an expert (or generalist) buyer across all media. As a media planner I'm starting to understand where she is coming from.

I'd be lying if I said I haven't written a radio credit line, given creative feedback on a TV billboard or "commented" on my client's sponsored online forum under a pseudonym. Does this make me a brand manager? Or a PR consultant, copywriter, or social media monitor?

Maybe in another two and a half years I'll have figured it out.

But for now, next time my Nan says to me, "Oh I saw that new television commercial for (insert brand) the other night, did you make that one?" - I'll just smile and nod.

Karlee Fancourt
OMD Sydney