Agencies: Stop sacking half your workforce, start thinking laterally
Agencies need to think differently if they’re to survive the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, argues Andrew Baker. And that means not jumping straight to redundancies.
‘The COVID-19 recession’ is already on Wikipedia. The Great Shutdown, as it is now known, has put every corner of the world in a tailspin. There’s no going back – all we can do is focus on what we can control. Changes are inevitable – some will cut deep, others will open up new opportunities.
What normally happens when bad times hit the advertising industry is multiple rounds of agency staff cuts in gloomy board rooms. CEO of IPG, Michael Roth, neatly characterises the advertising industry’s attitude to the current crisis: “We are, of course, doing what we can to minimise the impact on our people to the greatest degree possible. But as you have already seen at some of our agencies, and will regrettably see again, in order to align costs with the new revenue reality, staff reductions will be unavoidable in the face of the pressures most every business is facing.”
Open question to Mr Roth: When you say you’re doing what you can to “minimise the impact” – are you and your exec team thinking laterally? Slicing staff numbers is the obvious, easy way out.
This piece asks agencies to stop sacking staff, while referencing a man who takes aim at agencies for being too big and to embrace technology instead of people
so….save jobs in agencies by firing all their studio and production staff?
hmmm
“The reality is that, with the smart tech that is out there right now, ad agency studios are doomed. ” He’s the CEO of Myadbox so of course he thinks his tech can out-perform artworkers. In some instances that may be correct but I think we’re still a long way off from any of the automated ad creation programs being sophisticated enough to replace the majority of the creative workforce. His solution is basically to hold off sacking people for now so you can make them redundant later when the technology is finally capable of replacing them.
The agency transformation he’s talking about would cut even more jobs… literally talking for talking’s sake
It’s illogical to expect the agencies that need to change to do it. Because they are still wedded to ways that have worked for so long. A CEO with a long agency background is not the best person to blow things up.
In the meantime let’s keep pushing clients to spend more to hit agency targets, keep up the hidden publisher and supplier benefits & push obscure processes onto clients!!
Hi Cait, Thanks for your comments. Whilst I think there will always be a place for ideas/creative, I do genuinely believe that automation from a production standpoint is closer than many might think. Or be willing to accept. Where I think agencies could be redeploying design skills is around creating the assets to support personalisation of campaigns. Helping brands serve the ‘right’ content as consumers work their way down the funnel. Redeploy. Have agencies engage actively with new methodologies/technologies to better enable advertising.
Hi Rach, Please see my reply to Cait above for context. Transformation doesn’t have to involve ‘cutting jobs’. What I’m really talking about is adopting technology and redeploying skills to where they are better served and where agencies can offer value back into their clients – particularly as how we consume media/ads moves towards a need for a ‘volume’ of content.
I’ve seen these technologies come to market over the years, and despite the promises they have not fulfilled the apocalyptic predictions.
Particularly with regards to creative production, clients have been consistently disappointed with the limitations of software and have always fallen back to manual production by a skilled operator.
I wish you well and if you have truly nailed it this time, then kudos to you… but it’s hard not to be sceptical.