Nike, Apple among most desirable clients

NEW YORK: Nike, Apple and Google are among the clients that agencies regard as being the most desirable to work for, a multimarket study has discovered.

The Talent Business, the recruitment firm, and Bonamy Finch, the insights provider, asked 400 executives for their opinions of 27 multinational corporations, with participants drawn from markets including China, India, Germany, the UK and US.

According to the results, the "premier league" of brand owners to take on duties for included Nike, the sportswear manufacturer, Apple, the electronics pioneer, and Google, the online giant.

Joining this group were adidas, another member of the sportswear category, Volkswagen, the automaker, and Coca-Cola, the soft drinks specialist.

Some of the mid-tier organisations in this area were Microsoft, the IT expert, Kraft, the packaged food manufacturer, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, the FMCG firms, and Visa, the financial services company.

Colgate-Palmolive, the dental and personal care conglomerate, GlaxoSmithKline, the pharma company, and Johnson & Johnson, from the healthcare segment, came at the bottom of the rankings.

L'Oréal, the beauty and cosmetics firm, also featured here, alongside Reckitt Benckiser and SC Johnson, the household goods companies.

"If you as a brand owner have a poor reputation amongst creative talent, you are competitively disadvantaged," Gary Stolkin, global chairman and CEO of The Talent Business, told Ad Age.

"CMOs will realise that their reputation as a business directly impacts their ability to get the best people to work on the business around the world. There's a commercial imperative to do something about it."

The main factors making clients attractive were appreciating the "value of ideas to drive business", forming genuine partnerships with agencies and requesting that roster shops offer "business solutions" beyond communications.

By contrast, the chance to develop campaigns which could potentially have an international reach and influence was afforded the lowest level of importance.

All of the respondents to the survey earned salaries of more than $300,000 a year, and fulfilled creative, planning or account management roles.

Data sourced from Ad Age; additional content by Warc staff, 13 July 2012

SIMILAR NEWS