Wherever you go these days and whoever you talk to, there’s a
common moan: the lack of talent or, to be more precise, the difficulties
companies have in attracting and retaining talent. According to a
contact I talked to recently, one of the major management consultants -
the bete noire of agencies in the last few years - has lost more than
half its staff under 30 (ie the next generation) in the past 12
months.
So where are all the future stars going? Into the e-economy, of course,
where the knowledge, analytical and technical skills (although not
necessarily the personal skills) that make these people so employable as
management consultants carry an even greater premium, not to mention the
chance to make serious money and own a piece of the action. If even the
management consultants cannot hang on to this type of individual, what
chance do agencies and clients have?
The answer, of course, depends on how they themselves adapt to the
e-revolution and, consequently, the opportunities they can offer
staff.
But it is quite clear that one of the dangers of this current trend is
the creation of two tiers of employer - those with the wherewithal and
the will to embrace the e-revolution and those, who by dint of
circumstance and/or resources, can’t. The talent will inevitably flock
towards the former simply because that’s where the action and the
prospects are. In a sense, this is a parallel to what happened in the
70s and 80s, when no graduate worth his or her salt would take a job in
industry or manufacturing, preferring instead the lush green pastures of
advertising, marketing, media, banking, law and, of course, management
consultancy.
Already, according to the head of one large agency, this is happening
among his client base where the most talented marketers are gravitating
towards the sunrise industries or, at least, those that combine sex
appeal and opportunity with the most e-potential: telecoms, fashion,
financial services and retailing.
And the losers? Well, they look like being the classic FMCG companies -
Heinz, Unilever, Mars, Procter & Gamble and so on - companies with the
least e-potential. The irony, of course, is that these companies were
once the place to be for young and ambitious marketers. An interview
with Heinz’s chief executive, Bill Johnson, in the Financial Times last
week, underlined this. The people he is most concerned to recruit are
those with marketing skills, not manufacturing or logistics, yet these
are the ones hardest for Heinz to lure. But, as more than one agency
chief has noted, there is already a real paucity of talent in this
sector - not at the top of course, but in the next two to three layers
down.
While it may be comforting to think this will force some clients to ask
their agencies to fill the vacuum, it is of course a double-edged sword:
agencies too have to find a way of keeping their own talent pool stocked
and flourishing. The skills of a good adman transfer almost perfectly to
the e-sector
