The UK advertising industry needs to plan for a future where talented young graduates are in shorter supply, says Tom Bewick, Chief Executive of Creative & Cultural Skills.
The Treasury-backed Leitch interim report predicts a 40% decline in the number of prime age workers joining the labour market in the next 15 years. By 2020, the brightest and best graduates will be increasingly fought over by employers and the current "buyers market" enjoyed by leading advertisers will have evaporated.
"The message for employers is clear," says Mr Bewick. "The industry needs to start planning now to ensure it has the skilled people to maintain its current strength in the global market. That means opening up new routes of entry to the best jobs in advertising and diversifying the workforce to draw on new pools of talent."
Speaking at a business breakfast hosted by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising he highlighted the work being undertaken by the Advertising Skills Advisory Panel, a joint partnership between the IPA and Creative & Cultural Skills. He then went on to talk of the skills challenges facing the advertising industry. These challenges include:
Demographics
- of the over 25,000 people who work in agencies, research shows the sector is extremely graduate rich and in particular recruits predominantly from the 20-45 age range
- currently there is no lack of supply, making this a buyers' labour market research for the Treasury (conducted by Lord Leitch) is forecasting nearly a 40% decline in the number of people, particularly 18-44 year-olds, coming onto the labour market over the next 15 years
- women, ethnic minorities and older workers are by far the larger groups. This means that there is an obvious challenge of diversifying the workforce since many of the traditional entrants will not be there or will be fiercely fought over by other sectors of the economy
- the progress of new technology,
- the increasing convergence of the digital industries;
- new niche forms of advertising,
- the changing regulatory environment
To address these challenges, Mr Bewick highlighted practical initiatives that the IPA and Creative & Cultural Skills were pursuing. These include:
- developing industry approved Apprenticeships
- the cultural leadership programme will include a strand on advertising focussing on CPD and middle managers
- joint investment with IPA in the 'Diagonal Thinking' project
- Creative Knowledge Lab, which will be an industry approved careers and advice web portal
Mr Bewick encouraged the industry members of the audience to get involved with this work through the IPA and Creative & Cultural Skills in order that it reflects the needs of the industry and therefore empowers employers to invest in the workforce to meet the challenges of the future.
Advertising industry can't take talent for granted