I want to write advertisements for television commercials! Does anyone know how to contact a credible source?

Question

I am very creative and have notebooks full of advertising ideas for different companies. I am working on my degree in management and will be finished in May of 2008. I am over thirty and a stay at home mom. I have enjoyed writing since I was a kid and have been told I should persue this career. I would love to find a company on-line that submits work to different companies. Radio and website ads would be fun too!

Answer 1

To be a professional copywriter, it's not enough to just enjoy writing, be creative and think you have some great ideas, although it certainly helps. You really need to at least complete a course in copy writing - usually included in a business or marketing degree, but often available at colleges as a stand alone diploma course.

Most copywriters interpret other peoples ideas.
Ad campaigns in general are developed by highly qualified art directors and creatives in conjunction with the client's marketing team, based on a great deal of target audience research.

Most advertising agencies and media employing copywriters are looking for English Majors to fill these positions.

You could try submitting your ideas to ad agencies, but be sure to hold on to proof (by faxing or mailing your copy to yourself via certified mail) that the original copy is yours.
There is a listing, with profiles here
http://www.mind-advertising.com/

A good start for freelance work on the web might be http://www.elance.com, although the writing is often sub-standard and not well regarded.

Contact your local Chamber of Commerce for leads on businesses in your area requiring writers

You could contact the Penn Group and maybe submit some work
http://www.pegr.com/samples.html

Television and radio are fairly difficult areas to crack, although smaller, local stations may look at submissions.

Best of luck to you

Answer 2

I think you would need to get a job at an ad agency--I don't think ideas for ads are bought and sold online. When a company hires an agency to produce its ads, it's part of a campaign that's guided by an underlying corporate strategy that the company itself develops. Groups of people sit around in meetings dreaming up ads---probably a field that's not so conducive to clever freelancers.