Talent is marketing’s biggest challenge | WARC | The Feed

Talent is marketing’s biggest challenge

Finding the right talent to help brands navigate change across all areas of marketing is the industry’s biggest challenge this year, according to the Advertising Association. 

Why it matters

Amid a huge amount of change in the marketing industry, brands and agencies alike are often struggling to find talent with the right blend of skills to move the industry forward.

Understanding the talent gap

“The biggest challenge we have is actually finding talent in this industry,” said Alessandra Bellini, president of the AA, at AdWanted’s Future of Brands event in London. 

“We had the Great Resignation coming through, and out of the pandemic the industry has struggled to attract and recruit talent. Marketing is an incredibly interesting and fun industry, but what we've also found out is that we need to be more sustainable and we need to be more inclusive and we need to be more representative,” she added. 

“We need to be better at creating awareness and understanding of what it is to come into the marketing industry. We need to make the case that this should be a career that young people want to come into.” 

Why recruitment in marketing is a challenge

• Young people have been attracted toward other industries, such as tech, that often pay better and are more diverse.
• An apprenticeship scheme aimed at getting new talent into the UK’s marketing industry hasn’t had the positive impact hoped, underscoring that companies need more help in this area.
• Average marketing and advertising salaries have declined in real terms, compared with CPI.

“We need to help companies with apprenticeships … There's a real problem and mismatch between the tools that are available, the awareness that's available in the market, and how the industry can bring all of that together,” Bellini explained.

“As an industry association, we're bringing together all of the skills courses that are available. We're trying to create a forum for agencies, companies and media to access everything that's available in terms of best practice and ultimately make sure that this industry keeps up with the pace of other industries,” the AA president said.