The state of talent in media planning vis-a-vis the state of media houses attracting talent
Sudarshan Banerjee
Media Planning Group
July 7
The latest issue of the ‘Brand Reporter’ has an interesting cover story, titled ‘Media Magnet’, about how media is attracting talent from other fields, which, if one reflects on it, seems so true. The STAR India president is ex-P&G/ITC, so is the Sahara national head of sales, another FMCG veteran.
This is over and above all the other people mentioned in the cover story and not to mention the many other names that could come in here. It really is no wonder. The media vehicles get paid 85 per cent of the client’s money spent on advertising, while whatever an average media director would make for the whole year is literally ‘gone in sixty seconds’ on a STAR Plus prime-time programme and never mind how well the media buyer negotiated to get the best rates for the client. Juxtapose this with the discussion at every media party one gets to attend (lucky us, you think!).
The discussion at every media party inevitably veers towards how such and such media agency has won such and such account and don’t have people to service the account, and not just that, the previous account it won two months ago still has only one planner who’s currently overworked.
While it is a core team that is often used nationally to work on a pitch strategy, the same team is obviously not available to handle the client once the pitch is won at the end market level. While every pitch presentation also shows the involvement of the top management in terms of percentage of their time as a representation of their involvement in the business, if someone were to be privy to the total of this time, one would arrive at a figure close to 200 per cent or more. While it is true that, often, senior managers in advertising are so caught up in work that they hardly get any shut-eye, it is practically impossible for the senior management to spend the kind of time they promise to clients on all of the agency’s accounts.
While you are reading this, also remember all those articles about how advertising is not attracting the right kind of talent these days because they pay lower rates. You must’ve been an early coloniser of the moon if you weren’t aware of the fact that agencies today hardly ever get the 15 per cent that they used to in the days when David Ogilvy showed people who used to read his book a photograph of the chateau in which he lived.
Hypothetically, let us assume that agencies still get paid 15 per cent – you’ve surely heard/overheard that the average divide of the spoils in the agency is usually 12.5-2.5 per cent. Numerous instances abound of this figure being compromised by an agency eager to pick up a client account for volume-muscle sake.
The point, dear reader, is that while client businesses have grown and advertising budgets have grown, the agencies today are possibly still making the same kind of money they made earlier, if not less, especially if one were to offset this against the rising real estate prices of the offices where the agencies are housed, the cost of infrastructure, et al.
Indian talent is being sought internationally, too. The Middle East and the Far East have contributed to the better people leaving Indian shores due to the dollar-rupee conversion rate, amidst other reasons. Add the mushrooming number of agencies and you have another angle – fragmentation – more slices of the pie. Hallelujah! You wonder how these blokes are still carrying on!
So, where does all this lead us? The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, apparently did not allow ad agencies into its hallowed portals this year. Most of the MICA graduates refused agency jobs this year as marketing paid much better. Newer institutes are churning out media professionals supposedly taught in TAM/MAP, which is used in media agencies, but not versed in the knowledge of branding and communication.
Fewer people with talent and more people with lesser talent lead to agencies poaching from each other, often raising the market price of talent which is still not ready for a particular level. However, that level has to be filled because it was promised to the client in the organogram at the pitch. These people, in turn, make room for people at the bottom to take their places and they aren’t ready either.
The situation is growing into a huge snowball that will flatten us all if unchecked. It is little wonder then that a friend of mine from the client side said at a recent dinner that it was nothing personal, but sometimes she felt exasperated at the levels of understanding of the people from the agency side whom she briefed. ‘You asked for it,’ was the succinct reply that I could provide.
Well, not all of it is bleak; there are clients who’re willing to shell out money for positive ROI and remuneration linked to sales. Media agencies need to stand up and be accountable. Once they become accountable, they won’t cut corners on the quality of their manpower, but will work towards enriching their experience and have the senior management invest in building a team for the future than in top-line growth.
It’s time to remember the spirit of what the old man in the chateau once said and
concentrate on hiring people bigger than us – that is what will make the media planning industry a place for giants.
(The writer is business director with the Media Planning Group, New Delhi. You can write to him at sudarshan.banerjee@mpgindia.com)
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