Talent Freak Out

The major domos of the top three ad agency holding companies went through a well justified talent freak out on the second day of the 4A's conference this week. They lamented about the fact that the ad industry is not attracting top talent from the ground up. They seemed to have recently realized that college and graduate students do not wake up every morning with the burning desire to jump into advertising/marketing services world. Gosh, what a surprise! They admitted their recruitment efforts were abysmal. Yup! This has been true for 30 years! You would think that a "creative-driven" industry would be more creative in attracting talent. Sadly, top tier talent hardly ever considers marketing services as their first job stop out of college. So who will be available to grow into mid and senior management positions? That is the question left unanswered in the 4A's forum. Read the Ad Age Article