Media Buying Brief: Flexible workforce, fringe benefits key to tackling talent crisis

Hiring and retention are getting harder for a number of reasons. Current research shows that institutions are dealing with a smaller talent pool, with programmatic roles and data analytics disciplines particularly difficult to fill. The challenge is also exacerbated by the migration of more talent to tech companies, where high salaries and unlimited vacations are often attractive. (More on that later.) “The demand for programmatic talent has only increased so much over the past few years,” said Amelia Tran, senior director of marketing at WorkReduce, which equips media talent with a data platform. “Agency and brands, especially in-house media teams, are really having a hard time developing and training their teams in the current recruiting environment, and they will be looking for new ways to find talent.” In fact, according to World Advertisers In a joint July survey by the Alliance and MediaSense , 85% of agencies believe there is a shortage of media talent in the market. That number is significantly higher compared to other industries surveyed in the study, which showed that, overall, 77% believe that advertising, publishing and technical talent are highly scarce in their organization. “With all the big tech layoffs…there’s definitely a wait-and-see attitude from an employer’s perspective. And then from a talent perspective, a lot of people have put their job searches on hold because they’re afraid of being the last /The first person to come out,” said Camille Fetter, founder and CEO of Talentfoot, a large holding company that helps companies and independents with staffing needs. To address this, many agencies and holding companies are turning to third-party services such as WorkReduce, which is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and onboarding talent for agencies. CEO Brian Dolan explained that the process can become cumbersome when cutting spending during a recession. Some of WorkReduce’s clients include Gannett, Publicis, and Omnicom Media Group. “Even though the economy isn’t growing as fast as we’d like, consumer spending is still very strong — advertisers want to be in front of consumer money,” Dolan told Digiday. “But budget cuts don’t really change the amount of work that has to be done… The flexible talent option is actually very attractive to people because you don’t have anyone on your books and the work will come back.”

3rd party resources like WorkReduce can be especially helpful when moving to a central service Model holding companies and institutions. This means that more organisations are consolidating their services and looking for cheaper ways to attract talent, which has also led to a reshuffle of existing talent. Outsourcing this work allows agencies to move faster, sometimes even getting people on board and reporting ready within seven days, Tran said. The talent for WorkReduce is already in place. Tran added: “The whole process of trying to figure out how to pull someone from another account can sometimes turn into a nightmare because the current staff is so skinny at the time. I think it really is The advantage of us as an alternative staffing model is because they expect us to be able to really fill that gap in a very fast way.” Not only has recruiting become more competitive, but the impact on salaries and fringe benefits as well as training resources and The expectation of flexible locations has also led to talent shortages within agencies. A major challenge is that ad tech companies typically offer higher salaries and more vacation time, though, Dolan noted, ad companies can win on benefits and salary expectations, which are starting to change in the wake of the pandemic. “It’s not a very simple apples-to-apples comparison,” Dolan said. “Most of these companies pay the same amount no matter where [people] live… Now people are saying, ‘If we want people to go back to the office, you should make more money in New York City. ‘ So people are really thinking about it because it’s about remoteness and going back to the office.” For some, salaries and generous compensation packages may have soared last year as talent demand ballooned, but Fett said the proposals are cooling. In a recession, employers are more likely to negotiate packages back to normal levels. “We’re seeing a lot of employers offering to double someone’s current salary…to run paid media for a major retailer, right? They want the best, and they want to capture market share while the world digitizes . . they’re seeing a frenzy in consumers,” Fett said. Tran added that what is more important for the current workforce is better working conditions, regardless of pay. People want more flexibility in blending work, extended vacations and breaks, and access to relevant training and learning resources. In this case, institutions can cost people more attractive jobs, which is why learning and development has become the latest hot topic for employers. “Ultimately, it’s about providing the resources and things that employees want,” Tran said. “In terms of training and development, it’s a constant drum that you have to beat — it’s not just a one-and-done deal.” Recently, both GroupM and Kepler have built their own learning and Development programs designed to help employees pursue higher careers and keep their skills fresh. The schools are designed to be places for continued learning, said Brian Dashew, GroupM’s North American director of learning and development. “They continue to gain access to content and hands-on opportunities related to essential business functions and professional acumen — topics such as business communication, tool-based training and presentation skills,” Dashew said. Fetter reiterated the importance of employers’ investment in learning and development, especially for the young workforce joining the company. “Organizations are recognizing that, especially with a large remote workforce, learning opportunities are limited,” Fett said. “Historically, this has been one of the top reasons why people call us for a new job. They feel complacent. They don’t feel like they’re growing…and, generally, it’s talent that organizations want to keep.”

— Antoinette Siu

Color by Number

It seems that consumers are starting to pay attention to the negative news surrounding major tech platforms. So-called zero-party data platform Jebbit surveyed 2,500 consumers about the brands they trust most (Pepsi tops the list) in its sixth edition of the Consumer Data Trust Index and found positive consumer trust ratings for Google, Apple and Netflix all emerged. dramatically drop. Specifically, it found:

• Google had the biggest drop, dropping from 16th to 89th in Jebbit’s previous report
• Apple also changed from No. 5 to 43
• Netflix rises from No. 8 to No. 45 .
  

The highest-ranked tech/platform brand is Amazon, starting from No. 1 bit down. 3 to 4.

Takeoff and Landing

In a rare case of collaboration, the National Association of Advertisers, 4A’s (the trade group representing advertising agencies) and The Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing Coalition has joined forces to develop guidelines to help different media companies work better and more effectively with marketers and agencies.

Independent Agency Holding Company Meet the People Partnership with progr ammatic Consulting AI Digital to enhance its programmatic offering.

Personnel change: GroupM EssenceMediacom promotes CMO Jill Kelly to US CEO, effective October 1, Mediacom CEO Sasha Savic continues as the agency’s Global Chief Innovation Officer and Essence North America CEO Jason Harrison becomes Chief Solutions Officer at data brother Choreograph… Horizon Media named Roberto Alcazar Executive Vice President and Managing Partner of its creative agency 305 Worldwide…branding and design agency Basic/Division has promoted Ashley Reichel to CEO, succeeding Matt Faulk.

Direct Quote

“With With soaring streaming and on-demand viewership, the industry has been in great need of additional TV measurement options. Demographic panels are outdated when the majority of viewership is on digitally addressable devices. Over the past decade, due to As technology advances, panel-based measurements are difficult to provide accurately, so new panels based on today’s technology offer us all hope that measurements will be available again, and at a much more refined and useful, level.”

Jeremy Fain, CEO and co-founder of Cognitiv, on the need for new measurement solutions in the TV industry.

SPEED READ

• Tim Peterson, Senior Media Editor, Digiday Reveals the deepest trends in Disney’s latest streaming numbers. Check out his story here.
  

• Antoinette Siu, reporter for Digiday’s media agency, has an opinion on the growing and shrinking Advertising categories are categorized in a quasi post-Covid world, according to MediaRadar’s latest report.
  

  I covered a recent Magna report that The report provides best practices on how advertisers should be using TikTok, arguably the most popular way to reach young and new audiences.