Why agencies need to rethink the question of talent
In this guest post, Ash Farr, CEO of McCann Australia, argues that adland needs to attract coders and computer science graduates – and industry courses such as AWARD School need to be radically revamped.
The increasing complexity of our industry means agencies need more top-level marketing experts than ever before. Where traditionally we focused on hiring and rewarding process people, we must now approach the critical question of talent from an entirely different perspective.
The role of agencies moved beyond traditional “ads” a long time ago. The right solution for our clients today can vary from product development to apps, from packaging to multiplatform ideas, branded utilities that provide a consumer benefit and anything in between.
In its 101-year history, McCann has always been guided by the principle of Truth Well Told. To be able to tell the truth effectively in this brave new world of advertising requires different skills from the now glaringly antiquated writer-art director dichotomy.
To be successful and to cut through in an environment where the traditional ‘push’ model of advertising is broken, we must create campaigns, platforms and content that consumers will actively seek out and engage with.
That calls for a marriage of science, technology and storytelling. As creative agencies, our core strength has always been storytelling. Technology, not so much.
So how do we address the skills gap and create an entirely new pool of talent from which to draw?
We have to start by looking beyond our own industry to the fields of computer science and coding to find the next generation of advertising industry leaders – particularly as we struggle to convince clients to reward us for the intellectual property we provide to their business.
This goal would be much more achievable when we have more people dedicated to the creation of IP rather than simply the creation of ads.
Today, technology is intimately entwined with the creative process and therefore to truly become a creative company we must be hard-wired into coding. In our hyper-digital world, where everything we do is now embedded in digital, coding is where we encounter the greatest expression of creativity.
Among graduates from computer science degrees who possess strong coding skills, we are more likely to find well-rounded individuals who have the right technical training to create the software needed for today’s sophisticated digital campaigns. Teaching them the principles of great storytelling will not be a colossal stretch.
However, as employers, we also need to lift our game. Once we attract this new breed of advertising superstars, we need to ensure our internal culture is as appealing and inspiring as the Googles and Facebooks of this world, which would perhaps be the first choice of employer for computer science graduates and coders.
In account service, agencies need to be hiring all-rounders who are marketing experts and able to work consultatively with clients to drive their business. In the past, star account directors were merely required to be fantastic at execution, but in today’s complex marketing landscape, that is no longer enough.
This is where the inadequacy of current marketing and advertising degrees becomes painfully evident. Is AWARD School really pushing the boundaries of creativity?
Can it, when what is required of an agency creative has changed so dramatically in the past few years? Are our university marketing degrees really preparing graduates for success? They are so general to the point of having minimal application.
What we need is up-to-date industry courses that breed a generation of industry leaders who are prepared for the challenges that face us now and in the future. And those courses should be accredited, in the same way courses by the Charter Institute of Marketing in the UK are – setting a clear, credible standard.
We all have some work to do.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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It’s all very well to draw a Venn diagram with Creativity on one side and Technology on the other, then gesture wisely at the intersection, but it’s not enough.
We can attract technologists with amazing creative concepts and the promise of high-profile executions, sure. And anyone can talk a big game about the importance of IP and productisation. But that’s not enough either.
Technology, digital, whatever you want to call it, is not a bolt-on. It’s not like buying a new printer and switching it on. Agencies must completely rethink the way they do work, or they end up shoe-horning ill-fitting or outdated processes and methodologies on to inherently agile, modern capabilities.
That Venn diagram, more often than not, has two equally sized circles, denoting equal importance and influence. Who can honestly say that Australian agencies treat technology with anywhere near the importance or respect that they treat Creativity?
Without that respect, you won’t attract the best tv orders, and there’s no impetus for change. Without both, there is no optimization. No savings. No progress. You’re producing work that costs orders of magnitude more than what can be done by half the number of people, for a fraction of the cost, from a shop front in Vietnam.
We’re getting there, but brother, we’ve a long way to go.
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“tv orders” is the hip new word for “coders”. Ask anyone.
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Hi there, I’m the Manager, Creative Development & Media at Aquent and I couldn’t agree more. That is why we have taken a global initiative and a step to trying to tackle the above. We have launched our very own MOOC and it’s called Gymnasium. They are all free, online courses focused on the most in demand creative skills and digital technologies – including coding. We know these skills are highly sought after because we ask our clients what they are looking for in creative talent today.
Our first online course was Coding for Designers and we had 13,000 talent register to complete the course. Our next course is Responsive Web Design for Coders.
The best part is that they are all free to take in their own time.
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In my haste, I forgot to paste the link to Gymnasium if anyone is keen to give it a go!
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Here’s the link to Aquent Gymnasium: http://gymnasium.aquent.com
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yeah for sure, as anyone can tell you, software programmers have THE BEST communication skills, just like everyone else in the IT industry
it’ll be a complete SNAP to have them writing award-winning creative in no time at all
all that time they spend online gaming has taught them more than you’ll and I will ever know about human behaviour
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The problem for agencies is other businesses need these skills too and are better equipped to attracting top graduates. I have never seen an ad agency at a University careers fair or lobbying to attract the best talent. Advertising still pays grads near minimum wage when other businesses are happy to offer the best people reasonable salaries. The high churn rate in advertising means unlike other industries advertising approaches young talent more like an expense than an investment and does not create real structures for training and development.
The problem is not just a skills gap but the industry being way behind others in the hunt for top talent.
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Love your work, Nell. You’ve artfully combined stereotype and fear into three paragraphs of staggering insecurity.
Not every “software programmer” is spectrum-dwelling gamer, and not every creative is a coked-out narcissist. Most of them might be, but not all, and if we want to attract the best and the brightest, it’s important to drop the bullshit posturing and wand-waving dismissivness.
Technologists aren’t going to steal your job, Nell. They’re already doing the thing they love.
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Think Nell has missed the point. ‘Creative’ is great – but if you don’t have the vehicle and capability (read: technology) to make it accessible.. you’re dead on arrival.
Now – isn’t there a cereal packet mock-up you should be applying those creative skills to?
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If large agencies are serious about having “well rounded” staff who are multi-skilled, they will have to become more comfortable hiring people over the age of 30. It takes time to learn a range of specialist IT and marketing skills.
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So how will this affect graduates who have just spent three years studying advertising and marketing degrees? Like me.
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Strangely McCann’s CEO might say “agencies need more top-level marketing experts than ever before” but no one’s told his HR department or their hirers, as they rarely hire any one remotely resembling a “marketing expert” continuing the age old tradition of hiring from within their own industry. Ash, these kinds of statements just seem to me to a little like Martin Sorrell’s recent comments that he didn’t like the term advertising – yet another hollow prenouncement from someone who should pick their words a little better.
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@Sondra and Carolyn… I just signed up to the course you mention and think its fantastic Aquent offers them free! Maybe there’s no reason after all that creative thinkers can’t simply ‘skill up’ to address the technical requirements of the modern day rather than waiting for the tech guys to start caring about storytelling…
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Agencies won’t be able to hire the best coders – because they can’t afford them – because they don’t know how to bill them out. You’ve gotta move beyond time+materials billing first.
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as Graduate pointed out – no uni graduate coder/programmer/developer worth a lick of salt ( and even ones that aren’t) is going to work at the minimum starting salary in the advertising/marketing world when they would earn at least 1.5x that in the IT or Consulting space (where most of them get picked up).
agreed completely with anonymous on billing above.
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And the top coders normally aspire to start their own tech startups and raise funds from VCs and Angels. They are too entrepreneurial, too ambitious, too innovative to be doing something they find not challenging enough.
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American & U.K. agencies have been doing this for years.
It’s a rehash of RGA America story. Nothing new, just smoke and mirrors to build up hype on an international win
Look forward to see what they do next
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And further agencies need to address their constant “sweat shop” attitudes and demands to work ridiculous and excessive hours (overt and covertly implied from the top down) for “peanuts” Working in agencies vs client side is something strong talent who also possess outstanding technical skills are evaluating strongly.
Stop also hiding behind the unfounded ideology that “if someone hasn’t worked in an agency they wont succeed” – total bullocks. Be brave, be smart and be fair and hire on potential and passion and give a great work-life balance with fair $$$.
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@AlisonF I’m thrilled to hear that you’ve enrolled in Aquent Gymnasium. We’ve heard some fantastic feedback so far. There is no reason why current agency employees can’t up skill through training to help them be more relevant (and dare I say it, get paid more?).
I also think that employers should focus on investing in training of their current staff (not that they have to pay anything for Aquent Gymnasium). They don’t necessarily need to hire new talent with these skills.
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“We’re not in the technology business, we are in the fucking creativity business.”
George Lois (via @MrChristiffa)
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Wrong.
You are all in the transaction business.
And the database guy in the back corner creating the schemea that allows for seamless elegant transactions online is the *only* talent asset you got who is nigh un-replaceable (assuming he works for you and not the competition).
Creatives are a commodity.
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Wrong. We’re in the human business.
The people we want and can get are studying psychology, sociology, behaviour and where the arts meets science.
Great tech in marketing is only that which permits simplified, natural human communication, and behaviour change. Creativity is a type of technology, and a very potent one still.
Tech talent should be paid well and kept happy on projects that push them, not locked in a full-time employment cage where their skills die in a matter of months, they are pollinators that need to be taught how to be loyal to one agency.
The techs that wear white socks to work and feel nothing when they see a baby orang utang are not needed, now or ever. They feed off the agency tech people on an invisible, as-needed basis.
It’s most important to have that great idea, that great story, that great BEHAVIOURAL architecture, coupled with readily available coders who understand the “new creative” as well as the way to make technology facilitate simple, lucid communication amongst consumers.
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