A Day in the Life of an Ad Agency Coordinator

Kelli Smith- Agency Coordinator

 Let me try to paint you a picture.

Starting at 8:00 a.m. each morning my phone begins to ring. We have six account executives and five graphic designers. Each of these executives wants a designer, and it is my responsibility to act as the proverbial gatekeeper. For each account executive there is a client who needs an ad, flyer, emailer, logo, poster, or website design, and I must ensure all these tasks find their way onto the day’s “to-do” list. On any given day there can be as many as 30 projects on that list, so my job as agency coordinator is to sort out what is truly urgent and relay it to the graphics team. The list is constantly evolving, even after a designer receives it. The ability to communicate effectively is essential.

You will figure out something very fast when working as an agency coordinator. If you do your job well and handle work flow smoothly, then no one will ever know. Projects will be completed, work will be timely delivered, and clients will be satisfied—all is right in the world. However, if you don’t communicate effectively, then work will begin to slip through the cracks, and everyone will take notice. Again, communication is imperative.

The job of the agency coordinator is to make everyone else’s job easier and when that happens we can push more work through and satisfy more clients.  When you treat every client like they are the only client, keeping things in priority order is imperative. 

The scariest part of being an agency coordinator? Sending out the project list each morning to have an account executive see that their item is a little further down the list than they think it should be. I’m starting to understand why my phone came without Caller I.D…