It's a year many would sooner forget, but 2001 may well mark a
turning point for agency executives. A year when a promising career path
mattered more than the size of a compensation package. Alicia Kan looks
at the highs and lows of life in agencies.
How has the year been for advertising executives? In a word, rough.
Have agencies changed and adapted to what has been a Sod's Law year
marked by a technology slowdown, a global slump, dwindling advertising
revenues, salary cuts, redundancies, a terrorist attack on the US and a
war in central Asia?
Some have, but most are still feeling their way.
Media's year-end ad agency survey polled more than 2,500 advertising
executives region-wide on a wide range of issues, from job satisfaction
to their opinions on how well their respective agencies were riding out
the storm. It also asked them to rank the top five agencies in terms of
creative reputation, account servicing and the company they would most
like to work for.
The survey, conducted online by Asia Market Intelligence, drew a
response rate of 12.5 per cent. The most significant findings drawn from
the answers of 320 individuals who completed the poll are certainly
compelling.
Nine out of 10 feel it is important to belong to a global network.
One head of an advertising agency recently remarked that the world would
belong to the very big or the very small, and advertising executives are
feeling this point of differentiation quite keenly.
The merger and acquisition flurry in recent years has resulted in six
powerful global players: the WPP Group, the Omnicom Group, the
Interpublic Group of Companies, Publicis Groupe SA, Havas Advertising
and Dentsu.
Being a member of the "big six" makes sense: consolidated resources
means a more widespread network to ride out rough seas when times get
tough - although this year has been exceptional with just about every
economy hitting the rocks - and better benefits for global clients.
The M&A dance has slowed down for the moment, replaced by profit
warnings right and left.
Zenith Optimedia predicts an advertising recovery will start in 2002,
but world advertising spending is still tipped to fall 1.3 per cent next
year. In the US, where acquisitions have been taking place until
recently, Zenith says it sees a fall of 3.5 per cent in 2002. Full
recovery in the sector will only be felt in the fourth quarter.
Despite dwindling revenues and shrinking staff payrolls around the
world, Asian advertising executives are confident in the long-term
benefits of belonging to a global network. Interestingly, 85 per cent of
those who have worked at their present agencies seven years or longer -
and they make up the second biggest group among the respondents - are
most vocal about the advantages of being part of a worldwide player.
The first two years of an executive's worklife are critical in deciding
whether he or she stays or leaves.
More than half of the respondents - 51 per cent - have worked at their
respective agencies for two years or less. The next biggest group at 18
per cent are respondents who have been faithfully working for the same
agency for seven years or more. The two-year period is a time of
soul-searching for a new advertising executive; do they treat me well,
do I have a future here, do I like my job are the questions that
regularly cross their minds.
The fact that the second-biggest number of respondents are seven-year
veterans belies the common impression that the revolving door syndrome
is rife in agency circles. Yes, some agency people may well flit around
like flies looking for the best deal, but it appears that only two out
of 10 are seriously thinking of leaving their agencies.
Surprisingly, despite the prevailing belief, the main reason for walking
out is not money or long hours worked, but career development. If there
is a message in this, all agencies had better do more than simply
mouthing on about training. They had better start nurturing young
talent, training them, treating them better, and motivating them. More
than money, these are the factors that will secure staff commitment and
loyalty.
One agency that has been moving in this direction is Leo Burnett. For
the past three years, Burnett has been conducting an in-house survey
globally called the Agency Climate Survey. Asia regional human resources
director Nadia Pan says media's findings bear out what Burnett has found
in its poll. "Our employees' issues with the agency are not about
money," Pan says. "They're more concerned about training and
development. They want leadership and communication."
Burnett now allocates a specific portion of payroll for training, which
is a combination of in-house and external programmes. Pan says there has
been a strong trend towards job satisfaction, with the renewed emphasis
on training and development. Agencies within the network which score
highly in Burnett's poll also tend to enjoy sustainable success - both
financially and creatively - in the long term. "They may not get the
highest revenues, but their performance is consistent," Pan says.
Communication and transparency make a huge difference as well. CIA
managing director Charles Brian-Boys recalls asking in all the agency's
staff into the conference room to show them that the latest business
figures were considerably down. "They had three choices: make the
necessary redundancies, look at closing down the business or everyone
gets a 20 per cent pay cut but we all retain our jobs."
The last option got the overwhelming vote. "It's a strong bond we have
here," he says. "The economic situation has pulled everyone together in
our agency; people here act more like a family."
Despite longer working hours and less staff, agency people still believe
their senior management has done well under the circumstances.
Only one out of 10 respondents think their senior management's
performance has been poor in today's harsh climate. Having said that, a
possible bias may exist as the respondents are survivors of the
inevitable redundancies plaguing the region as much as it is impacting
the rest of the world.
Seven out of 10 expressed confidence in senior management's ability to
take their companies through the current crisis. The same number believe
that despite the dire situation, their employers have still provided an
environment that fosters creativity.
Bartle Bogle Hegarty's creative director, Steve Elrick, says: "Our
people can see that a tight-knit unit like ours is all heading in the
same direction - that everyone, whichever department, is respected for
their ability to contribute to creativity. And people also see us
standing firm on the value of creative work - like our refusal to
present creative work at pitches; as though serious insight into brands
and great creative work can be conjured up in a couple of weeks.
"I've had many other agency people applaud us on this. They say 'I wish
we could do that.' I usually reply, you can. Grow some balls."
When it comes to best practices, Elrick says the best creative people
are self-motivated. "All I hope I have done is give the teams the
environment in which they trust myself and the other people in the room
to choose and fight for the best work devoid of politics or any other
factor," he says.
Training and development is a no-brainer. "We try to have fun together.
Doesn't it just appear that a lot of agencies are depressingly serious
and bland? We've also tried to give our people a little wider scope too
- we've asked them to look outside advertising for inspiration. Sent
them on courses that have nothing to do with ads," says Elrick.
Despite what's happening, advertising is still the career for most
respondents.
The survey shows two out of 10 plan to leave the industry altogether in
the next 12 months. Six out of 10 intend to stay - job cuts and salary
cuts and longer hours notwithstanding. Hong Kong 4As chairman Jeffrey Yu
has said that ad executives need a passion for advertising. The fire is
still there, but it helps that agencies are working furiously at stoking
the passion by developing their staff and providing the appropriate
environment for growth.
"Getting the right heads (of divisions) is pretty damn important," says
Ogilvy & Mather vice-chairman Tim Isaac. "We also care about awards -
it's at the heart of what we do." Isaac says the human resources
function had never before existed in ad agencies, but O&M is consciously
upgrading, advising and training staff.
How does he manage to keep communications flowing when the agency has
grown so huge? Isaac says management does its best to keep
connected.
"I write up a chatty email to everyone in the agency, with little
anecdotes. It's tough, but we need to keep the communication channels
constantly open. And there's room for improvement. We're aware of how
we're not doing it well enough."
Which agencies do ad executives rate most highly?
Ogilvy & Mather's formidable reputation continues to precede it.
The network trounced rivals, topping media year-end measurement of the
creative and account servicing reputation of ad agencies.
Naturally, this made O&M the it agency again in this year's poll. The
majority of respondents all want to work for the agency, which is lead
by regional chairman Miles Young, media's choice for its new Agency Head
of the Year award.
The sheer strength of O&M's creative and account servicing muscle meant
that the fight was really for second place. BBDO and J. Walter Thompson
were respectively honoured in second place for their creative and
account servicing reputation respectively.
In the mixed bag of media and ad agencies that respondents would most
like to work for, O&M was followed closely by MindShare in second place,
Leo Burnett in third, Zenith Media in fourth and Bartle Bogle Hegarty in
fifth.
The online poll went to 2,569 employees spread across more than 500
advertising and media agency offices in Asia.
In all, 320 completed questionnaire forms, or 12.5 per cent of the
total, were returned to Asia Market Intelligence, which conducted the
poll.
According to AMI, no more than seven per cent of completed
questionnaires came from one particular agency. More than 60 per cent of
votes for the top agency came from employees outside of the top five
agencies in the three ranking categories.
The results of the survey show the attitudes towards advertising
agencies among those who work in the industry.
