News

‘There’s challenges around that at the moment’: M&C head on why agencies aren’t attracting young talent

The chief creative officer of M&C Saatchi ANZ has told Mumbrella what he believes is the biggest challenge that is stopping younger talent from wanting to work at agencies.

In his first interview since joining M&C Saatchi last November, Steve Coll appeared on Mumbrella’s one-on-one podcast where, among a range of topics, he gave his take on the state of agencies in 2024.

“I would love to see more younger talent coming into the business because I think there’s challenges around that at the moment,” Coll told host Neil Griffiths.

“I think there’s probably a perception that AI is going to end up taking the jobs that people might’ve expected to do in creative agencies; that AI will do the thinking, the writing. And I think we’re up against that.”

While new talent entering the industry remains an issue, M&C Saatchi is one of many groups that have been hit with redundancies in the last six-12 months, which also includes CHEP, Dentsu, Google and most recently, News Corp.

As well as artificial intelligence, Coll said there might be a perception that advertising doesn’t have as much “glamour” as an industry like technology, which could be stopping younger people from entering the industry.

“I’d love to see us as an industry lean into that and being able to pull young talent from diverse places into the business,” he said.

“I think… that’s going to massively, massively help improve [and] continue to improve the quality of our work.”

Also on the episode, Coll discussed the recent movements at M&C Saatchi and what’s in store for the future of the agency.

Listen to the full episode with Coll here.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

"*" indicates required fields

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.