Sophie Wellsted

As an Advertising Manager you have to understand and foster relationships with people and their businesses. Understanding their target markets and where they sit within the market sector and what they are trying to achieve is very important- they must be a good match for the magazine to ensure correct product placement if they are to have some success.

Budgets and targets were set- with the knowledge of various client’s advertising plans and habits. Helping clients have editorial coverage within the magazine was very important to add value to their campaigns which meant good communication with the editorial team. Page planning the magazine could at times be tricky- particularly when trying to co plan the American edition. Everyone’s needs including the editorial teams needed to be met.

As senior management within a magazine, you must live with the pressure that advertising revenue is vital to the magazine’s survival and all staff that also work on it.

Being well presented was vital. I could suddenly find myself in the showroom of some very well known interior designers or beautiful shops and that was all part of the fun.

My job was to find new advertising and expand existing clients spend. This was a creative job working with many of the large advertising agencies and PR agencies in London and the surrounding areas. This could involve designing shelf talkers for pot noodles that would fit the below stairs print works, or to be told you have £20k to make a plan with. Working with many brand houses such as Diageo, Robinson, Walkers, Sara Lee, Imperial Tobacco and Mcvities to name a handful- it was a fun role that involved a lot of evening events hosting tables at The Dorchester or The Grosvenor House Hotel. Keeping The Asian Trader magazine- a staple of the British corner shop, in the forefront of mind with brand managers was vital. The not to be ignored Indian sector which often came up against The Grocer Magazine held a great deal of sway within the sector.

Once I came down the stairs at the office to find Sanjeev Bhaskar waiting at reception!

Working alongside some of the large PR and advertising agencies and brand managers in healthcare brands my job was to maintain market share and increase revenue and find new customers.

The thing I liked the most about this role was working along the PR Companies to carefully write copy- particularly for advertorials. The role was based in Regent Street in London and involved many healthcare dinners usually held at The Dorchester or The Grosvenor House Hotel.

My first job working on a magazine after local

Newspapers. This was a job that required me to maintain market share from ad sales through to PR led advertorials in the chemist arena.

I predominantly dealt with Bayer and Glaxo Smithkline Beecham. I closely monitored my market share using AC Neilson Software.

A very sociable role with many black tie events held in the top London hotels such as The Dorchester and Grosvenor House Hotel.