The changing face of advertising's unsung heroes: new-business heads have begun to win recognition. (Live Issue/New-Business Directors).(Statistical Data Included)

There's an air of mystery surrounding new-business directors that leads some people to compare them to Freemasons. Although agency heads may not quite understand how it is that new-business directors work, they are clear on what an important contribution they make to the success, or failure, of an agency.

Last week the AAR produced research into how much agencies invest in new business. The findings revealed that one in three of the top-20 agencies spend more than 500,000 [pounds sterling] on new business, with most employing more than three full-time professionals to the task.

But perhaps not unsurprisingly the research also identified that direct marketing and sales promotion agencies are investing heavily in new business. In fact, 83 per cent of the direct/sales promotion agencies asked have full-time new-business heads. This compares with 79 per cent of the top-20 ad agencies, while less than 60 per cent of media agencies use full-time new-business staff.

Julie Constable, the head of direct marketing and sales promotion at the AAR, thinks the rise in the direct industry's attention to new business has been growing for a few years. She adds: "Because the industry has grown and there is now a plethora of agencies, it has become much more competitive and they are all having to fight in order to stand out."

Attitudes to the role within creative agencies are changing. Martin Jones, the director of advertising at the AAR, says: "The new-business function is becoming so important and specialist it is a skill in its own right like planning or creative. New-business people tend to love what they do and stick with their agency more than they used to because they want to avoid that feeling of being a sales person."

With market consolidation, the opportunity for promotion into group roles has arisen. David Kean, a former BMP DDB new-business head, now handles new business for Omnicom's consolidated below-the-line operation DAS. Diana Dobson, previously the new-business director at Bates, now handles it for Cordiant. And, similarly, Emma Serednij recently moved from HHCL & Partners to run new business for its Chime parent.

A new-business director sits at the epicentre of an ad agency. He or she knows about all of the important business decisions being taken and, as the spokesperson for the agency, tends to have profile-raising access to the press.