How Southern Shops Are Luring Northern Talent

After more than 20 years working in New York at some of the nation's biggest agencies, Bob Potesky abandoned the capital of advertising for the capital of Mississippi.A former creative director at WPP Group's Young & Rubicam, Potesky last month accepted the position of executive creative director at The Ramey Agency, a 55-person shop in Jackson, Miss., that claims about $30 million in billings. That may seem like an unusual move in the upwardly mobile advertising world, but executives said factors ranging from 2001's terrorist attacks to a tough economy in New York to the tightening screws of the holding companies on big agency life have made smaller shops in the South a more viable option than in the past. To lure talent from the North, Southern agencies use creative freedom and lifestyle perks to counter the salary disparities and unattractive stereotypes of life south of the Mason-Dixon line."I wanted control of my own work and future," said Potesky, 49. "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life as a cog in a wheel trying to please a distant boss who owns the holding company."Talent Zoo in Atlanta, which operates a job board and recruits talent for shops nationwide, said the Southeast, led by Atlanta and Miami, is one of the most desired regions for job seekers. In fact, there are more ad people wanting to move south than there are jobs available for them, said Ragan Jones, associate vp of recruiting for the firm. That in some ways makes it a buyer's market, but still a highly competitive one as agencies vie to fill their ranks with seasoned executives from bigger markets, particularly New York. "There is definitely increased competition among the Southeastern shops for New York talent," Jones said. "They are looking for pedigree."Since taking over two years ago as CEO of independent WestWayne in Atlanta and Tampa, Fla., Jeff Johnson has made a concerted effort to recruit senior-level talent from bigger markets. So far, he has filled his management team with six executives from larger Northern shops, including Fallon, Publicis, Cliff Freeman and Partners and Saatchi & Saatchi."People are beginning to realize that there is an alternative to working at the big holding companies," said Johnson, himself a veteran of New York shops Wells Rich Greene BDDP, Scali McCabe Sloves and J. Walter Thompson. "We play that up a lot when we talk to people."It's not always an easy sell, but Johnson said he uses his experience to overcome perceptions that in some cases may be based on little more than Gone With the Wind. "Many Northerners continue to think everybody in town flies a Confederate flag and carries a rifle," he said. "That so isn't true."Salaries also lag behind other regions. According to Talent Zoo, the median salary for a creative director in New York is $230,000; in Atlanta, it's $184,000 for the same job. But, executives who have made the move say the cost of living makes that a moot point. Potesky said he took a "significant" pay cut, but his lifestyle has not been affected. "We lived well in New York, and we will live well here," he said, adding that if the shop had paid his New York wages, "I'd be the richest guy in town."The Sun Belt's ability to draw migrants from the Snow and Rust Belts is expected to continue for many years. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that 40 percent of Americans will live in the South by 2030, up from 35 percent in 2000. The majority of those moving are from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, according to the census. For agencies, that migration provides an opportunity to land executives with more experience on large, national accounts and make the Southern shops more competitive. "It's not just the talent but the toughness these people bring," said WestWayne's Johnson. "It has improved our thinking, our strategy and our creative work."Erwin-Penland is following a similar strategy. The Greenville, S.C., shop has hired six senior executives from Northeastern shops in the last four years, including executive creative director Andy Mendelsohn, a veteran of Saatchi & Saatchi and Warwick Advertising in New York. "When we add people from outside the Southeast with our existing talent, we all learn from each other and we all get better at what we do," said president Joe Erwin.Another growing market, Miami, faces a different set of circumstances than shops in Old South capitals like Jackson and Atlanta. Recruiting talent there has been aided by the renaissance of South Beach and Crispin Porter + Bogusky's success, said Gaston Legorburu, managing partner of interactive shop Planning Group International. His shop added 54 people last year, about a quarter of them from the Big Apple. "It was a difficult sell for a long time," he said. "Now, they are seeking us out."Bill Goldstein is one of those transplants. He left his job as executive creative director at Brand Entertainment Studios in New York last month to join PGI as director of strategic planning. "I was a poster child for New York, but it lost its allure for me," said Goldstein, 34. "New York is tired and done, but Miami is a blank slate. It's everything New York used to be."Potesky said Southern stereotypes almost stopped him from applying for the Mississippi job. But after a couple of visits, he realized most of them were not true. "I'd heard of Southern hospitality, but I didn't know what it meant until I got here," he said. "They are much more open to me than I would be to them under similar circumstances."

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How Southern Shops Are Luring Northern Talent

Jim Lovel

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