Dive Brief:
- Where have all the young, creative people gone? Apparently not to the advertising industry, according to the New York Times. In a recent story, The Times outlined how ad agencies are struggling to lure young, talented people to their industry – largely thanks to the booming tech industry.
- Mainly, the "young and the creative" who have driven the ad industry for a long time may see the business as "stodgy" and are seduced by the riches and prestige of technology and other industries, according to the Times.
- One way the industry is trying to succeed is by mimicking start-ups and tech companies, so perks like employee happy hours, table tennis and free snacks are part of the office landscape. However, solving the talent gap won't be done with "cosmetic" changes.
Dive Insight:
The Times reports that even the name brand ad agencies are struggling to find and keep young talent while, at the same time, they are being challenged to compete in the changing media landscape largely being driven by millennials.
“The biggest threat — and one of the biggest things that we talk a lot about — is not only attracting but retaining young talent because there are so many more options,” David Droga, the creative chairman and founder of the agency Droga5, told the Times. “We’ve lost people to Facebook. We’ve lost people to Google; we’ve lost people to Apple.”
For example, concerning salary, the average for entry-level employees at ad agencies was about $35,500, according to the 4A’s, an industry trade group, and around 25% of the industry makes less than $50,400 a year.
Advertising is not alone in competing with tech and consulting for younger talent, as banking and media are having their own problems. But at least Wall Street can pony up the same pay grades as the tech industry. Ad industries are stuck with matching the types of perks tech employers offer, which may ultimately be a losing proposition, the Times reports.
“People no longer have that innate desire and that instinctive desire to be in our business,” Jay Haines, a founder of Grace Blue, a search firm that works with the advertising industry, told the Times.
