Young Talent our Most Precious Resource?

Dear Advertising Big-Wigs,

In the last couple of months I have been witness to too many examples of how Agencies, and specifically our leaders, are failing to prepare, mentor and nurture rising stars in our industry. Perhaps my perspective is jaded, but it seems to me that there is a serious lack of training and support available to young creative and account people in our industry, and with shrinking budgets, and emphasis on short term profitability, I don’t see this trend improving any time soon. Now don’t get me wrong, I think there are plenty of young, curious and talented advertising professionals out there, who on their own time are reading blogs, taking courses, and generally expanding their knowledge but it certainly isn’t formally encouraged (or rewarded) by many agencies.

At the very least, I think we owe it to our industry to actually help our account people learn how to approach writing a brief – what makes an insight an insight? What makes a brief powerful, and how can is it used to inspire a creative team? Basic stuff, but we can’t expect our account coordinators and AE’s to learn through osmosis. Someone might want to walk them through this important part of their future role. For the creative folks – they need to take an active role in selling the work, and please, we need to help them figure this out sooner rather than later. If we continue to have account people writing bland, uninspiring briefs, and creative people who are unable to articulate their ideas and relate them to an overall strategy, then surely we are all doomed.

We are a creative industry, and we thrive on big ideas that challenge the status quo, but I think it is time we bring a little bit more rigor into our training – after all, how are we supposed to improve the way we approach our jobs, if we never learn the fundamentals?

Sincerely,

Todays blog was written by guest writer KB.