HK4As moves to halt the talent rot

<p>The Hong Kong 4As will introduce more comprehensive training </p><p>courses in an urgent attempt to improve skills of young, local </p><p>advertising people. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The twentysomething generation of Hong Kong admen and women once again </p><p>came under fire - at the recent MarCom Asia 2000 conference in Hong </p><p>Kong, Grey China chairman and CEO Viveca Chan told a packed hall of more </p><p>than 400 people that, in general, the new flag bearers of the industry </p><p>"are very much overpaid". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Their standard of English is pathetic, they don't read - even in </p><p>Chinese - their quality of thinking is poor, they cannot do strategic </p><p>work," she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"All they can do is coordinate. If this continues, there will be many </p><p>problems later and the end result will be that we will have to hire more </p><p>expats from Taiwan, India, the Philippines etcetera and that will </p><p>eventually hit our bottom line." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Other agency heads agreed, and noted that although there were young </p><p>rising stars in the industry, they were few and far between. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Saatchi & Saatchi Hong Kong chief executive officer Laurie Kwong said, </p><p>"Most people are execution and not ideas-driven, and they don't have the </p><p>guts to speak their minds. Another problem is that they are impatient </p><p>and they seek promotions and pay rises too quickly. In most cases, they </p><p>cannot live up to their titles." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Added MK2's creative partner Kasey Lin: "Nowadays, young people are </p><p>heavily influenced by things like MTV and video games. They don't have </p><p>the time to appreciate the text portion of the content." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Similar harsh words were levelled at the younger generation of </p><p>advertising professionals by some of Hong Kong's top creatives earlier </p><p>this year (MEDIA, February 18). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, HK4As chairman Jeffrey Yu, also Bates Asia regional president, </p><p>said the talent pool is there but that "the problem is that most of the </p><p>fresh graduates shy away from advertising." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"What we have here is the Nintendo generation, but even this group must </p><p>have its stars. From the point of view of advertising, I'm afraid we're </p><p>not even getting the middle part of this generation," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Apart from introducing more comprehensive courses, the association might </p><p>also approach tertiary institutes to establish an MBA in </p><p>advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In addition, the 4As will be stepping up recruitment drives and </p><p>exhibitions at universities around Hong Kong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Given the right attitude and the right training, most people will </p><p>improve. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Not everyone can be good from day one," said Saatchis' Ms Kwong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Grey's Ms Chan said the problem was that the younger people lacked the </p><p>drive and motivation because "they've grown up during good times". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The result, she said, was that they sought instant gratification. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, she tempered her criticism with considered praise. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Hong Kong people's strong point is that they are efficient and </p><p>multi-tasking. In the West, the ability to multi-task is not that great, </p><p>because usually one person specialises in the handling of one brand," </p><p>she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"But our local talent has to understand that ideas drive the market. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Being execution-driven will not help them in their career." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Only one agency head, Leo Burnett managing director for Hong Kong and </p><p>China Dennis Wong, said he didn't have any problems with the younger </p><p>generation. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"They are committed and are willing to work long hours, especially when </p><p>needed and they readily sacrifice their free time like the evenings and </p><p>weekends," he said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>