Future of HK advertising industry threatened by 'mediocre' young talent

<p>Young creatives working in Hong Kong are threatening the future of </p><p>the industry through a lack of passion and, more seriously, talent, </p><p>senior creative directors have warned. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>TBWA Hong Kong CEO Stanley Wong said he believed that 80 per cent of the </p><p>younger generation fits into this "problem category". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"You always have this category of problem people, but in the past they </p><p>were in the minority. However, what is really scary is that they are now </p><p>in the majority - and I don't know what this means for the future," he </p><p>told MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said the young creatives never did anything more than simply take </p><p>orders from the clients and they didn't strive to produce the best work </p><p>possible. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Senior sources within the Hong Kong ad industry said that the problem </p><p>lay in the mindset of young people - who were, they said, too rigid, too </p><p>intellectual and lacking in emotion, and had little concept of craft and </p><p>detail. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Work therefore tended to be execution rather than idea-led - when given </p><p>a brief from a client, conceptualisation would be skipped in favour of </p><p>immediately producing a draft of the ad, according to Mr Wong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"There are no sketches to show the development of the creative," he </p><p>said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"They go straight to the computer and produce a layout with fancy </p><p>graphics and if the client approves it, they take it as finished; there </p><p>is no crafting and no attention to detail." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>D'Arcy group CD Francis Cleetus agreed that there was not enough passion </p><p>among the younger generation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I have rewritten copy seven, eight times or more because I know whether </p><p>it's good or bad," he said. "But, a lot of the time, they seem satisfied </p><p>with mediocre work and they know it is mediocre." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>2 Way Street CD Margaret Tsui said, "Twenty-something creatives are not </p><p>thinking about how the campaign will work for the client; they are just </p><p>thinking about how to get the job done as quickly as possible". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>TBWA's Mr Wong believed lifestyle factors were at the heart of the </p><p>problem. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"In their spare time, they surf the 'Net and play video games. They </p><p>don't read books, newspapers or magazines and this will affect their </p><p>general knowledge," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Ms Tsui added that this "shallowness" had lowered standards of Chinese </p><p>and English copywriting skills. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The creative heads said that more training might resolve the problem; </p><p>however, they added that the going would be tough because this was an </p><p>issue about attitude. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>