Advertising Jobs - London

Why Look For Advertising Jobs in London?

Cons
London is expensive. And the advertising industry doesn't offer the biggest salaries (at the beginning of one's advertising career, at least). Therefore, anyone looking for jobs in advertising in London, really needs to have all of their (student) debts paid off, and have some money spare before arriving in the city.

Pros
London is one of the leading cities in the world for advertising. Advertising in the sense of traditional creative advertising, direct marketing, digital advertising, media agency advertising, and all the industries related to advertising (TV, film, cinema, radio, music, animation, publishing, newspaper, and so on).
There are, generally, just far more opportunities in London than elsewhere in the country. Opportunities in the sense of jobs, but, also, in the sense of work placements and networking opportunities (both of which play an important role in people finding jobs in advertising, in general, as well as advertising jobs that they like).

What is the difference between traditional creative advertising agencies, direct marketing agencies, digital agencies, and media agencies, and the difference between the types of jobs that they offer?

There is an important cross-over between traditional creative advertising agencies and direct marketing agencies. Not just in terms of jobs (account planner, account handler, copywriter, art director, and so on). But, also, in the type of work carried out in these agencies. The traditional creative advertising agencies, however, tend to work with bigger clients, with bigger campaigns , and on bigger media platforms (i.e TV and cinema).
Digital agencies, also, have people with similar job descriptions as in traditional advertising agencies. But people in digital focus more on the benefits of technology, as well as explore a greater range of marketing techniques, in their overall approach to advertising. Media agencies focus on how best to buy and sell advertising slots / opportunities for clients. Buying and selling, however is, also, performed in traditional and digital agencies.
Lastly, the terms 'traditional advertising agency, direct marketing agency, digital agency' are being replaced, more and more, by 'integrated agency' and 'interactive agency.' However, it is still useful to use the old terms in order to understand the background approach of these agencies to advertising, overall.

* The following advertising agencies are just a selection of the agencies available in advertising in London, overall.

Traditional Creative Advertising Agencies - London
All, or most of, the world's leading advertising agencies are represented or have their headquarters in London. Some of the leading agencies include:
AMV BBDO, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, CHI and Partners, DDB London, Euro RSCG London, DLKW, Fallon London, Grey London, United London, JWT, Leo Burnett, Lowe London, Ogilvy & Mather Group UK, M & C Saatchi, McCann-Erickson, Mother, Publicis London, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA \ London, WCRS, Wieden & Kennedy.

Direct Marketing Agencies - London
Some of the biggest direct marketing agencies in London include:
141 Worldwide, Arc Integrated Marketing, Archibald Ingall Stretton, Carat, Carlson Marketing, Cascaid Marketing, Chemistry Communications Group, Claydon Heeley, Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel, Digital & Direct Communications, Elvis, Euro RSCG KLP , Gyro International, Haygarth, Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, LIDA, Mediaedge:CIA, Meteorite, MRM Worldwide, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Partners Andrews Aldridge, Proximity London, Publicis Dialog, Rapier, SOUK, Start Creative Limited, STEEL, Syzygy UK Limited, The Marketing Store, Tullo Marshall Warren, Wunderman UK , WWAV Rapp Collins, Zed Media Ltd.

Digital Agencies - London
AQKA, Avenue A/Razorfish, Blue Barracuda, Conchango, Dare, Glue London, Grand Union, LBi, Publicis Dialog, Profero, TBG London, Web Liquid

Media Agencies - London
All Response Media, Carat, Initiative Media, MediaCom, OMD UK, Mindshare UK, Starcom UK, Total Media Group, Walker Media, Vizeum, Zenith Optimedia

Finding Advertising Jobs In London

Job boards, recruitment agencies, trade magazines and journals - they normally expect candidates to have some previous experience in advertising.
Work experience - work placements can greatly benefit you chances of finding full-time employment (opportunity to learn invaluable industry skills; good way of networking that can help, greatly, when looking for jobs in the future; work placement might lead to full-time job; looks good on CV).
Networking. Networking can lead to part-time / full-time job opportunities. Visit the bars and areas of London, in general, where advertising / media people hang out (in particular, Soho / Soho Square, Tottenham Court Road, and so on).
Social networking (in particular LinkedIn) is becoming a popular way of finding jobs in general (need to plan, carefully, how you go about this, otherwise you could be wasting a lot of time).
Sending in eye-catching CV (in particular, for creative / account planning jobs). Make sure your CV really is eye-catching, interesting, and relevant, otherwise it will just get chucked into the bin. Make sure that you send it to the relevant person (i.e the head of the department - and address that person by their name - not 'Sir' / 'Madam') and follow up! Need to do to this properly otherwise you could be wasting your time.