AI exposure: Advertising Sales Agents
Sell or solicit advertising space, time, or media in publications, signage, TV, radio, or Internet establishments or public spaces.
Reading this score
computed54.5% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Advertising Sales Agents at the 92th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 3.0 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 20 tasks it averages 1.88 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used, at 80.0%. The least is Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information,..., at 7.1%. A gap of 72.9% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within sales occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 22 roles in the group is 49.4%, and only 4 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 20 tasks, 19 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 1 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommend appropriate sizes and formats for advertising, depending on medium used. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Locate and contact potential clients to offer advertising services. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.28 | exposed |
| Identify new advertising markets, and propose products to serve them. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.99 | exposed |
| Write copy as part of layout. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.70 | exposed |
| Write sales outlines for use by staff. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.27 | exposed |
| Determine advertising medium to be used, and prepare sample advertisements within the selected medium for presentation to customers. | 67.1% | 20.4% | 12.5% | 4.12 | exposed |
| Explain to customers how specific types of advertising will help promote their products or services in the most effective way possible. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.43 | exposed |
| Prepare promotional plans, sales literature, media kits, and sales contracts, using computer. | 61.3% | 26.2% | 12.5% | 4.12 | exposed |
| Obtain and study information about clients' products, needs, problems, advertising history, and business practices to offer effective sales presentations and appropriate product assistance. | 57.5% | 17.5% | 25.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Provide clients with estimates of the costs of advertising products or services. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Consult with company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies to develop promotional plans. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Prepare and deliver sales presentations to new and existing customers to sell new advertising programs and to protect and increase existing advertising. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Draw up contracts for advertising work, and collect payments due. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | 4.24 | exposed |
| Process all correspondence and paperwork related to accounts. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Gather all relevant material for bid processes, and coordinate bidding and contract approval. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.01 | exposed |
| Maintain assigned account bases while developing new accounts. | 41.7% | 20.8% | 37.5% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Inform customers of available options for advertisement artwork, and provide samples. | 35.0% | 15.0% | 50.0% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Arrange for commercial taping sessions, and accompany clients to sessions. | 28.3% | 21.7% | 50.0% | 4.06 | exposed |
| Deliver advertising or illustration proofs to customers for approval. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Attend sales meetings, industry trade shows, and training seminars to gather information, promote products, expand network of contacts, and increase knowledge. | 7.1% | 5.4% | 87.5% | 3.56 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 3.05 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.35 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.68 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.60 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.88 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.07 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.