Day In The Life Of A Copywriter

Jessica Lee

As advertising majors, we all know that there are many different roles within an ad agency.  These roles range from account manager, to creative director, to art director. However, when most people think of advertising, they think of the copywriters.   

Copywriters are responsible for creating concepts and ideas for accounts. As part of the creative department of the agency, they develop ideas, images, and phrases that will be used in the actual creative executions.

According to Ben Akers of Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) in the UK, every day is different as a copywriter. Akers tells of his random scribbles of ideas and unorthodox brainstorming sessions with his Art Director. He works on his tasks sporadically but is hardworking. He uses creativity and wit to produce catchy phrases or ideas for client products and brands.  (See the full blog here).

In his blog, Akers goes into some detail about how as a copywriter he interacts with the rest of the agency by presenting a creative concept to the rest of the creative team and the rest of the agency. This teamwork on client-work is common in an ad agency since one person cannot be responsible with coming up with an entire ad campaign.

Akers shares his skill set simply by listing what he is interested in. Akers shares that he has an “…insatiable love of words.  Whether they are printed or spoken, books or songs, websites or TV, I read, listen, and watch everything.”

In my opinion, it is this constant learning and culturing that makes a great advertiser and a great copywriter.  My Advertising 150 professor always reminds us of the importance of continuously learning about the world, foreign cultures, our surrounding environment, products and brands and everything in between.  This awareness and knowledge is an extremely important skill for a copywriter and for advertisers in general.

A copywriter’s job is different from day to day.  However, whether the job entails brainstorming over coffee, pitching an idea to an account director, or learning about the ever growing world around us, there is never a boring day.