A dynamic and exciting international business Advertising is divided into 5 main areas: media, production, account service, creative, financial and administration management.

Throughout Australia there are approximately 6,000 jobs in the top 150 advertising agencies.

Advertising informs, persuades, competes and entertains. It informs consumers about products and services or persuades them to change their behaviour. It competes with a myriad of other messages directed at the consumer. To cut through this information overload and to create awareness and interest for a product or service requires great creative skills. The proliferation of advertising and rapid technological change means agencies need to find new ways to engage with consumers.

Advertising also adds value to the economy by providing employment in not only the advertising industry, but in all related fields such as the printing industry, the media, manufacturing, service industries, wholesalers and retailers.

Advertising appears in mainstream media such as TV, press, mobile phones, emails, magazines, cinema, outdoor and radio, in new media such as web sites on the Internet, even in unexpected places such as ATMs, fridge magnets, screen savers, T-Shirts or coffee mugs. It can take the form of sponsorship, for example a sports program on Pay-TV. It can be 'point of sale' (the supermarket poster), direct response advertising and direct marketing (through the mail or the 'order off the TV magazine' ad), sales promotion (competitions, special offers) or design (eg packaging) and corporate image.

The specialisation trend has seen many agencies specialise in particular advertising fields such as health-care or financial advertising or a marketing function such as direct marketing, media planning or market research. Each area requires people with specialist skills.