How to find the best role in advertising for you

Grace Newlin poses for a portrait holding a book
Grace Newlin ’23 is the director of copywriting at the UO School of Journalism and Communication’s Allen Hall Advertising, known as “A-HA,” a student-run advertising agency that works with real-world clients. All photos courtesy of Grace Newlin.

The advertising major at the UO School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) is unique in that you choose a “concentration” — a role within the advertising process that can range from the management side to the creative side. There’s something for everyone, and the concentrations all work together to create a successful advertising campaign.

Though some advertising majors know exactly what they’re going to focus on from the moment they step into Allen Hall, it often takes a few years — and a lot of experimentation — for most students to pick their concentration.

To give some guidance to those wondering which concentration to try, we talked with Grace Newlin, director of copywriting for the SOJC’s student-run ad agency, Allen Hall Advertising (AHA). She stepped us through the concentrations and her own experience finding hers.

First, here’s Newlin’s description of the 10 concentrations you could study in the SOJC’s advertising major:

  • Directors: The advertising masters and account supervisors who uplift members toward their full potential. Team leaders, confidence-builders and conflict resolvers.
  • Strategists: Weather experts who research the best methods for creatives to bring the best content to a brainstorm session. Researchers, analyzers and understanders.
  • Art directors: Crafters of visual language who communicate through color, imagery, typography and style. Art historians, Adobe Suite masters and big-picture thinkers.
  • Designers: Magicians who pull ideas from hats, shapeshifting them into artwork. Adobe Suite masters and visual producers.
  • Copywriters: Word-chefs who make gourmet dishes out of phrases, seasoned with sound and topped with feeling. Wordsmiths.
  • PR/social strategists: Social butterflies who spread their wings across all digital platforms. Strategizers, engagers and content creators.
  • Media planners: Strategic buyers of advertising who maximize the budget to keep the audience creatively engaged. Researchers and number-crunchers.
  • Producers: Creators who transform the snap of a camera into a stunning video, photo or piece of audio. Photographers, videographers and editors.
  • Account managers: Builders who lay a trusty foundation for the team and clients and know the campaign’s blueprint like the back of their hand. Communicators, phone callers and good listeners.
  • Project managers: Conductors who keep time and take notes to ensure the team is on track, allowing them to sing. Organizers, planners and accountability holders.
Grace Newlin poses for a portrait in a New York City park
Senior Grace Newlin traveled to New York City in spring 2023 with a group of fellow advertising majors to visit advertising agencies in the city and get an idea of what the profession looks like in real time.

Newlin’s experience finding her role in advertising

Q: How did you come to your copywriting concentration?

A: I knew that I wanted to be on the creative side of things. That led me to art direction or copywriting. And I was really into both; I like drawing, and I like words. I applied to both for AHA and ended up getting a copywriting position. That allowed me to deep dive into the role, which made me love it even more, because the more you learn about something, the more passionate you become about it.

Q: What do you love about copywriting?

A: I love how intentional copywriting is. Every word, every comma, every line break. And sound has so much meaning behind it. For me, I hear ads. I’m not always watching them. And I think it’s the words that really stick with me rather than the visuals.

Q: You do art, too. Have you ever done any art direction or design within advertising?

A: I feel like advertising is becoming more hybrid now. So it’s cool to have your feet in multiple concentrations rather than just be a master of one. It’s been really fun to work with art directors and have a voice in the room about what they’re making, but not necessarily make the whole thing.

I remember last year I was a copywriter for Protection Connection, but I had an idea for an Instagram post. And so they allowed me to mock it up and then I handed it off to the designers to make it look like the style guide. So I had a good say in art direction. And then there have been times where an art director has just come up with a really good line or an idea for copy. That’s true for strategy too. Sometimes copywriters think of something really strategic, or the strategist thinks of something really visual. And so it’s really just a merging.

The roles are pretty fluid. Art directors and copywriters tend to be really close because they’re creating the whole ambiance of a campaign. So the art direction needs to match the tone of the words and the words need to match the style of the art direction.

illustrated graphic that says protection reflection
One of Grace Newlin’s projects with UO School of Journalism and Communication’s student-run advertising agency, Allen Hall Advertising, was the Protection Connection campaign for University Health Services. As part of the campaign, Newlin wrote content for the campaign’s podcast, “Protection Reflection,” which discussed sex education and featured this podcast cover art.

Q: Is there a particular project you’ve done with AHA that you’ve been like, that was my proudest copy moment?

A: I worked on the Protection Connection podcast. And I got to write scripts for it, and the intro to it, and that was my proudest moment, to hear it spoken out loud and be live and lead to so many great conversations. And with Protection Connection, your words have to be very carefully chosen and trauma informed. And so it was a really proud moment to have it be a success.

Q: That’s amazing. I remember that podcast! The next question is broader. Do the concentrations in AHA generally correspond to the ones in the industry?

A: I would say that they do. I have a lot of mentors who are copywriters and art directors. And they say that AHA was such a great experience because it’s like a mini agency, kind of a practice agency.

Q: A lot of people don’t know about the concentrations when they enter the advertising world. As an AHA director, what would be your advice to first-year students coming into the program? What should they be thinking about and exploring, especially since they won’t be able to join AHA until later in their college career?

A: I think as a freshman coming into advertising, you should try as much as possible. It’s lower stakes, and you can figure out what your strengths are. And I think, more importantly, you figure out what you don’t like. I worked on a project where I did a little bit of strategy, and I realized I really did not like deep diving into Google for 10 hours to understand something. And I knew I didn’t love cold emailing and phone calling, so account management wasn’t really for me. And I knew I liked the creative process.

So I’d just say, keep an open mind. And if you choose something and you realize you don’t like it, you’re never stuck with it. You can always change. And there are always people around you who are wiling to show you what they’ve learned in their role that they like. And I mean, what it seems from guest speakers I’ve heard in the past is that people often change their concentration even when they go into the industry. So keeping an open mind extends through your whole career.

Q: Are there any classes you’ve loved that you recommend?

A: Take Ideasmithing. And take non-SOJC classes. That’s what I recommend for discovering what you enjoy. Every creative idea I’ve had, I have not come to from an ad class. It’s something I’ve learned from a show I’m watching at home or a poetry or art class or some random sociology class. So just to be good at advertising, dabble in other things.

Grace Newlin graduates in spring 2023 and plans to move to Portland for an internship with an ad agency. Check out her portfolio at gracenewlin.com.

brightly colored automotive racing themed mural
Grace Newlin, advertising major in the School of Journalism and Communication, was commissioned to paint a 60-foot mural for a car showroom. She started by mocking up the design and color palette on her iPad and working with the client to tweak the design. She then sketched the design freehand onto the wall and painted it in. She even used a scissor lift to get to the tall parts! It took her approximately two weeks to paint the mural.

—By Chloe Montague, class of ’24

Chloe Montague, class of ’24, is an advertising major and multimedia design minor working as an intern with the SOJC Communication Team and a writing coach with Writing Central. You can find more of her work on her portfolio at chloemontague.design and in her lookbook from Worlds 2022.