Saturday, February 23, 2008

boomerang

Monday, I start work in interactive instead of general. For the first time, I'll be sitting on the interactive side of the table. This might feel weird. But hey, it's a dayrate. Speaking of which, is it true that writers in interactive make less than in general? That's what the recruiter tried to tell me which I think is ridiculous. Don't interactive writers actually have to know more?

another inappropriate greeting from someecards

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anything that isn't TV, they try to discount the rate. Don't they know that no-one watches TV any more?

Alan Wolk said...

AdBroad: Despite all the hoopla about how in-demand interactive creatives are, the pay scale is considerably below that of general advertising, on a par with DM.

I've posted about this before, how I'll have headhunters call to ask me if I know anyone who'd be interested in a Group CD job at Agency X's interactive arm, and when I ask how much, am told "They want to pay $150K, but may go up to $175 for the right person."

(To put that in perspective, that's towards the low end of what an *A*CD makes at a general agency these days.)

Excuses range from "there just isn't that much money" to "they can get away with it" to "they're hoping to find some 28 year old for whom this is a huge promotion."

Anonymous said...

We should be making more, because we do have to know more about 'internet' stuff. Good on you for holding out for your rate. I don't consider myself just a writer and I don't think anyone who's serious about a career in interactive advertising should, either. Interactive is by nature a multi-disciplinary thing, so people end up doing a bit more work then they would in ATL. Designers should know how to code or use Flash. Writers should know their way around information architecture and user interfaces. And CDs should understand usability and best practices. Otherwise, all you're going to get is an ATL campaign on the Web. And everyone knows that sucks. =P

Ad Broad, oldest working writer in advertising said...

you're so right, infoarchie. And that would explain why so many web efforts still look like ads that don't realize they're not in a magazine.