Advertising Manager
Cosmopolitan

Nicky S

Hi there, I’m Nicky S, and I’m the ad manager of Cosmopolitan. I work with a team of sales executives, and we go out and we see a lot of clients and advertising agencies, and we encourage them to use the magazine as a way of addressing young women in the UK. And anything that’s commercial, basically, that isn’t about writing the magazine, is more or less what I do. I think the great thing about advertising sales is that it’s still very much a people business.

00:00:33 So when I joined the industry about eight/nine years ago now, a lot of the contacts that I made initially then are still within the industry also, but we’ve kind of moved up together. And it’s great because I have brilliant working relationships with a lot of the key people, and it’s as much about business as catching up with old friends really, and it makes embarking on projects so much easier because you have a real knowledge of that person and how they like to work, and so it’s still very, very social, and lots and lots of fun.

00:01:04 When you read through a magazine, you just get the feeling it’s all about glamour, and excitement, and, you know, the best parts of a person’s life, and it was always something that I thought ‘Brilliant. I just want to be in that world.’ When I went and saw my careers advisor, because my parents were foster carers, they advised me to become a social worker, which is an amazing profession but it was never anything that I personally wanted to pursue as a career. I think because there were limited opportunities in my area, they were kind of more determined to push me into something that they felt was very realistic, whereas I come from a background where you were encouraged to, you know, really thing big, and just at least have a go at achieving your big dreams.

00:01:44 And for me publishing was my big dream. And so I left there feeling quite deflated and still none the wiser as to how I could maybe move forward with my choice, and that only came, as I say, later on, reading more in the papers, speaking to people that were in the industry, going to university and finding out through further careers advice there, really.

00:02:07 All I decided to do was come down to London because I knew that’s where all the main publishing jobs were, and I bought The Guardian on a Thursday. I stayed down here for two weeks. I interviewed for everything. I signed up with a lot of agencies and I got offered a number of jobs, but then a job at the Daily Express came up, and I just thought ‘newspapers, wow.’ The office was on The Thames. It was exactly how I’d pictured it in my mind. I thought ‘No, I’ve definitely got to go for this.’

00:02:32 When I walked into the Daily Express on my first day, it was like walking onto a film set because they had a vast floor full of people buzzing away on the phone, lots of people tapping away at computers, we had the news feeds coming in on TV screens, and I just thought ‘Wow, oh my goodness,’ you know, ‘this is incredible, absolutely incredible.’ And just the noise and the buzz from the sales team, as well, on the sales floor, and the fast pace of it, and I just really enjoyed it.

00:03:02 I instantly felt at home and thought this is definitely something I want to be part of. This is definitely where I should be.

00:03:08 I think anyone that works in sales, the thing that really drives them and makes them feel passionate is the thrill of the sale, really. It’s the thrill of getting that deal. It’s working really hard on a pitch, thinking about all the different ways that you can approach the client’s objectives, thinking creatively, going back and doing the big pitch, and then they say ‘Yes, it’s yours. We’ll give you the money.’ And you’re like ‘wow, fantastic.’ You know, two months later you see your idea in the magazine, and there’s nothing quite like that, and I don’t think you ever get over the buzz of that.

00:03:44 This is the first issue of Cosmopolitan that I worked on. And when this came to print, and I got this in my hand, and saw my name in the magazine, that was a pretty good moment for me, so this was one of the moments that changed my life because I thought ‘I’m here now, and I’m doing it, and it’s very exciting.’ ENDS