Media Agency Report: Playing for Keeps

Media agencies are countering the lure of e-business jobs by wooing talent For a few years in the 1980s, the media departments of Benton & Bowles and Ogilvy & Mather indulged a friendly rivalry by holding summer events. In 1984, the highlight was a young executive pie-eating contest between a B&B team that included Rich Hamilton, Phil Guarascio and Irwin Gotlieb. The Ogilvy team included Larry Cole. Hands behind their backs, the teams devoured lemon-meringue pies. "We were of lesser girth than the other guys," remembers Hamilton, now the head of Zenith Media in the U.S. (See Q&A, page 52.) "But we beat them badly." That kind of corporate camaraderie was a potent tactic agencies used to foster loyalty--and it worked. Hamilton stayed at B&B for two decades, Guarascio only left to run General Motors' advertising and Gotlieb stayed until 1999, when he left to head WPP's media network MindShare USA. Cole, more or less, is still at his agency--last month he left Ogilvy, a WPP shop, to be vice chairman of MindShare USA. Today, however, media executives who play together don't necessarily stay together, and media operations--unbundled or not--need more than summer fun to keep good people. The lure of the digital world has underscored the changing status of media employees in advertising. Traditionally the part of the agency business containing the largest number of lowest-paid people, media staffers are now catching up with peers in other departments. Agency sources agree that an entry-level salary in the major markets is now about $24,000-27,000, with advancement and raises coming quickly. It is not uncommon for a media executive with one year of experience to command $35,000 and for the best prospects, even more. Online media planning and buying jobs pay better still. A discussion among media agency leaders at the recent American Association of Advertising Agencies' media conference in Orlando, Fla., ended with one executive lamenting that a young prospect with a year's worth of experience demanded a $10,000 signing bonus--and got it. With a more competitive marketplace, talent, benefits and compensation continue to be improved. Media, meanwhile, is now regarded as a serious career. Agencies are fast-tracking young media pros, increasingly looking outside their own talent pool, offering innovations such as flex time and training programs to stay competitive with rivals within and outside the industry. "You're seeing more of a star system develop," observes D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles veteran Norm Sherman, president of recruitment firm Gundersen Partners, North America. "When talent is approached, you're seeing more of a willingness to counteroffer. There's been a knock up in salaries." Like the rest of Madison Avenue, media practitioners have been poached by dot-coms and interactive agencies. "Employees at advertising and media companies are being targeted by Internet concerns because the issues and challenges facing new-economy companies are increasingly looking like the problems facing traditional ones," says Jim Citrin, managing director of global Internet practice at recruitment firm Spencer Stuart. "Over the eight quarters [in 1998 and 1999] that involved appointments we handled at dot-coms and Internet companies, the people who came from traditional backgrounds accounted for 38 percent of placements and grew to 88 percent," Citrin says. But it's not just agency operations feeling the pressures of a robust, transformational period. Independents are grappling with a competitive marketplace, too. "Demand for good people is outpacing supply," says Charlie Rutman, managing director of Carat North America. "It's not just the dot-coms. The economy is strong, and there are plenty of jobs in sales and traditional agency media departments." In a buoyant economy, talent is a key differential. Today, a three-year stay at a company practically qualifies an employee for a gold watch, while the concept of a one-company career ended with the typewriter. In addition to competitive salaries, media companies are adding flexible hours. Leo Burnett's Starcom Media Services is a case in point. Sixteen of Starcom's 525 U.S. employees now telecommute. "We're setting up brainstorming focus groups with people at different stages of their careers to see what benefits they want," says Penny Erikson, director of development at Media Edge. "We're thinking of setting up a flexible benefits menu, with points vested over time so there would be an incentive to stay. Benefits will differ if you're younger--maybe more money--and if you're older, maybe more time and how you work." These days, money isn't the breaking point. "How do you attract and retain good people?" asks Rutman. "Part of it is compensation and part is creating an environment where people have the opportunity to have impact, to grow. You need to create a good culture where things get done. Individual recognition is powerful." Brian Brooks, WPP's chief human resources officer, concurs, saying the media function within advertising is becoming akin to more progressive models abroad. "Media departments in the U.S. have been back-office operations, where individuals aren't perceived to make a huge difference," says Brooks. "Now the personality and talent differences in the U.K. and Europe are becoming the same here: Individuals can make a difference." Brooks points to WPP's U.S. introduction of MindShare as further evidence of the evolution of American media operations. The company is now using employee stock programs at MindShare in the same way it does at its general agencies. Stock options have been the huge draw to dot-coms, where salaries are of lesser importance. Recent stock-market volatility, where dot-com shares have plummeted, has tarnished the appeal of such incentives--at least for the moment. The San Francisco media community has probably been the hardest hit by the digital companies. Because of the risk of employees moving after the recent market gyrations, it's been easier for the media industry to keep middle and senior management. Another drawback to the Internet world may be its 24/7 work ethic. "If you work here, you'll work harder. We offer a more energetic, intelligent environment; the speed and pace is not for everyone," claims Scott Kurnit, CEO about.com. "We use the Microsoft model. You recruit well--it's not easy to get in--and if you stay, you'll get tough." Yet Erikson points to two of her unit's employees who left for dot-coms and then returned to Y&R. "In the end, it just wasn't worth working every night and weekends, betting on the [stock] options that may or may not be worth something," she notes. In addition, the creation of operations like Digital Edge has helped Y&R keep talent. "We can offer digital experience to those who want it," she says. Professional development is also proving to be a key retention tool. "We've been extending our extensive training and development to prepare young people for supervisory levels," adds Hamilton. "The dot-coms are a complicating factor, but it goes back to fundamentals." Media Edge now gives employees the opportunity to attend the London Business School. The new program gives company fast-trackers the chance to network with other agency staffers from around the world and attain general management skills previously not expected of positions within media organizations. "It's a global leadership course. They don't spend time on media and advertising," explains Paul Woolmington, Media Edge worldwide vice chairman. "They talk about strategy and practical aspects of business environments." Indeed, media is now a desirable career choice, a shift that is helped by the hot visibility of the Internet revolution. Agencies that successfully mentor the next generation of executives will ensure their future as kingpins in the media landscape.

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Media Agency Report: Playing for Keeps

Noreen O'Leary

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Noreen O'Leary