The simple reason adland is short on wisdom
With the average tenure of a marketing person now less than two years, adland needs to get to grips with how to integrate both wisdom and youth into its workforce, argues Ben Willee, GM of Spinach.
At the age of 43, I’ve reached an interesting stage of my career. Working for an independent, I’m in the unusual position of working alongside experienced people in their 50s, but I also get the pleasure of mentoring people in their 20s who take me out of my comfort zone every day.
With the majority of agencies owned by one of five listed entities, the people with the most power are often the accountants. Their remit is to worry about getting the profit numbers for the next quarter, not about fulfilling the needs of the agency’s clients. That relentless quarter by quarter pressure can mean replacing experienced hands with younger, cheaper employees so they can turn more margin.
Very few of those agencies have many people left over the age of 45. If they do, they’re exclusively in management positions. There aren’t a lot of diverse, mature people working day to day on a client’s business solving problems.
Of course, the irony is that having inexperienced people servicing client accounts means it will end up costing more in the long run. More experienced people get things done right more often the first time, so over the journey, things happen quicker and more efficiently. Part of the reason agency holding groups and management consultants are buying up independent agencies at a rate of knots is because they’re not populated by 20-year-olds.
It’s important to acknowledge age isn’t the only indicator of experience. You could be a 35-year-old that has worked on some big accounts and has just as many scars on your back as a 50-year-old. You can’t manufacture the knowledge that comes with having seen problems first hand.
What’s important, though, is how close your people have been to where the decisions were made. They might have worked on a big account but been in the engine room where things were more process-driven. You want them to have worked on that piece of business in a position that’s close to where the critical decisions were made.
I reckon that you need to appreciate the experience in the room but also acknowledge and nurture the whizz kids. For independent agencies like ours, this is made possible by the fact that we’re not ruled by accountants asking us to squeeze every last drop out of every salary dollar.
We don’t have to hire less and less experienced people and push them harder and harder. That means we get the best of both worlds with wisdom plus youth and skill.
So how can marketers tell if an agency is prepared to staff their account with the experience required to solve business problems? Ask about depth and variety of experience and the relevance to your business.
People at the agency may not have worked in your category but they may have worked in one that has experienced the same or similar issues. You need fresh perspectives in mature categories but you also need experienced heads, so think laterally about how the agency’s track record can benefit you.
You also want the people at the table to have a breadth of experience. When I say that, I mean experience outside their own discipline because people can be myopic about their own area and lack an understanding of the impact on the big picture.
With the average tenure of a marketing person now less than two years, trusted advisors in your agency team are as valuable as the whiz-bang tech heads or out-there creative people. Most clients value the contributions of both.
Don’t fall for the trick of getting sucked in by the newest, shiniest toy like the rest of adland does. Having an agency with a few grey hairs is actually a good thing.
Ben Willee is the GM and media director of independent full service agency Spinach.
Good pitch
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This is a well structured article and applies to all consultancies, advertising being only one. It’s taken too long for employers to recognise the skills mature people bring to the workplace and that experience can’t be under-rated. Coupled with the excitement and enthusiasm young people bring, it’s a recipe for success.
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Very true – not to mention only having young people is age discrimination.
It might be interesting to see the proportion of people over 40 employed by ad agencies
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Join help the aged. Then STFU.
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Only in media is being over 40 considered being old.
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Unfortunately the industry is incredibly ageist. It is in no way a reflection of the diversity outside the industry bubble. 6 years ago I spoke at a Mumbrella 360 session about the issue so many face on both agency and client side. Shortly after I took the campaign to the streets and online. There was an enormous amount of support and a fair share of toxic barbs that comes from daring to mention the elephant in the room. I was contacted by so many in their late thirties and early forties who looking ahead felt incredibly unsure about their future. Every 6 months or so, the issue flares up again just like the equally offensive gender diversity issue. Lots of talk and no real change at all.
After some great periods of consulting with both agencies and clients, the search for a role where experience was valued became fruitless. I ended up hearing “we’re looking for someone at a different stage of their career than you” far too often and the industry literally starves you out of the door.
I feel somewhat fortunate to have remained in the industry into my fifties as the limit has now been set a whole lot earlier. Without substantial change, unfortunately those in their 30’s and 40’s are facing exits far too early.
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Warren Brown put it well at 360 “people don’t get old, they only get tired”. Experience doesn’t necessarily make anyone tired.
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IMHO (as a person who no longer works in the game) the whole issue of retaining people comes down to economics. Too often the of agencies product or the basis of their pitch is determined by who can provide the service cheapest. A natural consequence of this is that as people grow and develop experience and naturally want to be paid more there is less space for them in the business, these people need to be replaced by more cost efficient people. The focus is on increasing the revenue side of the P&L statement and reducing the expenses side.
An effect of this revenue/expense mindset is that agencies fundamentally undervalue their work and in doing so engage in remuneration models which are beneficial for the client but not so for the agency. How many retainers are based on project work or management of media spend rather than how many hours the agency had to spend working on your project? The proposition of the service is what it can be delivered for rather than the effect it has. The ultimate effect of this, I think, is that a lot of clients don’t properly value their agencies (or the work they do) – and until you fix that problem expect the industry to stay young….
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As someone who is now well and truly out of the industry, it often appears really strange to look back in through the industry window occasionally.
I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some great mentors as I progressed through the industry who were both men and women in their forties, fifties and sixties.They were inspirational and added enormous depth and credibility to an agency or client team. I had hoped to be doing much the same at the same age but these mentors have sadly been pushed out of agency structures where senior experience is often scoffed at as being closed minded and tired when quite the opposite is often true; particularly through client eyes.
Along the way this has changed the true value that agencies have to offer clients. Having worked on both sides I have encountered far too many times when inexperience and lack of guidance has made made young players present as nothing more than embarrassing.
I’ve seen them hoping the boardroom floor would open up and swallow them whilst others continued to carry on regardless.
After they leave the building high-fiving and congratulating themselves on how well they have performed, the discussion within the boardroom was more often than not quite the opposite..
Someone recently asked me if I missed the industry and my immediate answer was an emphatic no! I do miss the creativity, strategic thinking and some amazing people. But these skills are far more appreciated outside the industry bubble where experience is actually valued.
Looking back through the industry window occasionally at the view I see little future for those who are working so hard to attain experience. Then the industry churn cycle starts once again.
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