Street level views of marketing & advertising in Idaho
Word over the weekend is that changes are happening, and more may be on the way…
Details to come as they’re made available, but in the mean time I can tell you that among those changes may be a new contributor to the Idaho Ad Agencies blog.
Stay tuned.
Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies blog
It seems that the number, and quality of comments have both improved lately, and for that I have to say ‘thank you’ to all of you who take the time to read and comment on the Idaho Ad Agencies blog.
For example, and for those who may have missed it, take a look at Shadow’s comments on the Issues Facing Agencies post from a couple of weeks ago. That comment, and those that followed, are the type of discussion I’d like to see even more of on this site.
There are many others, of course. But, before I let too much more time pass by, I wanted to take the snarky, sarcastic hat off for just a moment to say thanks.
And with that, we now return to our regularly scheduling programming, already in progress…
Late last month I posed the question to the readers of the Idaho Ad Agencies blog, “What do you think is going to be the biggest issue facing agencies in Idaho this year?” The responses were varied, as I expected, and ranged from serious to sarcastic.
It’s only fair that I share my thoughts on the subject.
I think the biggest issue facing agencies in Idaho (and everywhere else for that matter) this year is talent. More specifically, finding, recruiting, and retaining talent.
Let’s look at Boise and the Treasure Valley, for example. While there are over 600,000 people in the Boise MSA, the marketing and advertising industry is still a relatively small community. As such, the pool of available talent is very limited. Add to it the fact that agencies from out of town, and out of state are actively recruiting talent away from the Boise area, and the issue is further magnified (I’ve seen recruiting happening from a variety of agencies in the past year in Bend, Portland, Seattle, and Boulder, just to name a few).
Also, as evidenced last year, a number of seasoned agency staff, particularly creative staff, strike out on their own for a variety of reasons. That’s to be expected, of course, and is not something that’s likely to change any time soon.
The questions then, is what is the agency management / ownership doing to compensate for this? Are they on the lookout for new talent every day, or are they only looking when they have a specific position to fill? I’d be willing to say that it’s a little of both, and the answer will vary depending on which agency we’re talking about.
Of course, it’s easy for me to sit here and say that agencies should always be on the lookout for new talent. But along with that commitment comes the time and expenses related to it. I think, however, that those who are willing to make the commitment to finding and recruiting new talent for their shop will be in a good position for continued success.
So, now that I’ve rambled on for a while, I’ll throw the question back out to the audience: What steps can agencies in Idaho take now to position themselves well for the current, and future, war for talent?
Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, agency talent, boise msa
Steve Hall over at AdRants made mention of the Kansas City Ad Club’s videos that they’ve put together for their upcoming awards show.
Good stuff, even if the poor old OMNI did have to suffer a painful death at the hands of the ADDY.
So here’s where the bar has been set for local awards shows. Yes, I know that Kansas City is a much bigger market than pretty much all of Idaho combined, but that’s beside to point. It’s been proven time and time again — it doesn’t take a large market to produce great work.
Technorati tags: steve hall, adrants, kansas city ad club, omni award, addy award
As expected, the open letter to the Boise Advertising Federation drew quite a bit of interest, and several responses.
Included in those was one from Edward Moore, President of the BAF, as well as a response from Shane Vaughan, one of the current BAF board members. My thanks go out to both of them for taking the time to respond on behalf of the BAF. Agree or disagree with what they have to say, they deserve credit for responding openly.
If you haven’t already, and are so inclined, take some time to read the original post as well as the comments to date. Then, by all means, add your own if you’d like.
Technorati tags: boise advertising federation, edward moore, baf, shane vaughan