I had an interesting email exchange with an AS reader from an agency in Richmond about unemployment and how the VA ad agencies are doing. Said reader had this insightful tidbit to say regarding the state of the industry as it relates to smaller shops and how the market is booming for copywriters:
“Larger agencies will start going after accounts they used to consider not worth their time, in the $3-7million range. Could put many small and mid-sized agencies out of business, coast-to-coast.
AdvertisementThere’s an incredible amount of freelance work out there for copywriters. Most people can’t write worth shit, even something as simple as a business letter. My former Creative Director (copywriter) left to freelance about 5 years ago. He’s been pulling in six figures ever since.”
I think it’s a really fair assestment of the types of clients larger agencies will try and pull. Agencies are becoming less demanding in terms of which accounts they deem worthy. Gotta go where the money is, right? I find it interested to hear that about copywriters, though. I have noticed agencies posting more availability for those positions. But I hadn’t heard that pay was commensurate with the demand.