Credit: Will Porada via Unsplash
Agencies are finding constant change on the client side, via redundancies among marketers, difficult to manage.
With 20% of marketers estimated by recruiters to be out-of-work around the country, agencies feel like they have to deal with a different person every week because another client has gone through a restructure.
Omnicom Media Group CEO Peter Horgan said he received dozens of applications for OMG's new CMO role.
“It is a buyer's talent market in marketing and communications. It is a different world to just two years ago, and reflects the volatility of our sector,” he told AdNews.
Tumbleturn Marketing Advisory managing partner Jen Davidson said change on the client side is constant.
“The remit of marketing is changing really quickly, the skills required to run a piece of business are changing,” she said.
“This puts pressure on clients to either learn new skills or swap out the people.”
Davidson believes the “big watchout” is the over promotion of younger talent because marketing requires skill, training and experience.
“The over promotion of inexperienced personnel who may well be cheaper is starting to emerge,” she said.
“Unfortunately it's the agencies who suffer the most when this happens as the direction and leadership from the client falls short.”
According to recruiters, the market is brutal and senior talent need to look at ways back into the workforce through either consulting or positioning themselves as a fractional hire.
Aquent Australia’s marketing practice leader Zena Nicholson said restructures, merging teams and streamlining has impacted marketing teams across all industry sectors.
“We have seen a continuous focus on reducing costs within companies since Q4 2022,” she told AdNews.
“Redundancies have swept through organisations across senior marketing management level and unfortunately there is a noticeable volume of talented senior marketers available on the market with few options.
“We are yet to see permanent headcount resources being released or companies investing in senior leadership marketing roles.”
Creative Natives client partner Dan Talia agreed that restructures on the client side have been on the rise this year.
“I think there has been a lot of economic uncertainty from global markets and ongoing need for cost efficiency,” he said.
“This may have led many brands to reassess the team structure within their marketing departments, resulting in a shift toward more hybrid models, with companies balancing in-house teams and outsourced agency support to optimise their budgets.”
Talia believes artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing roles.
“Many companies are reallocating resources towards tech and digital capabilities, consolidating traditional marketing roles,” he said.
“This shift is also pushing brands to streamline operations, bringing in specialists for short-term projects rather than maintaining large, permanent teams.”
Iknowho senior talent partner Rebecca Godkin said in-house marketers have been heavily impacted by wide-spread redundancies in response to the economic climate.
She said sectors such as retail, tech and financial services have seen substantial marketing headcount cut-backs.
“With budgets tightening, and hiring freezes in play, we're experiencing a highly competitive saturation of candidates actively on the job hunt,” she said.
“At the marketing director level, job applicant numbers have increased by 90% over the past 12-months, reflective of tight job market conditions.”
New Chapter Talent director Lucy Bolan said the market has been flooded with senior candidates who have undergone redundancies.
“Unfortunately due to the economic climate we are currently in, many corporates are feeling the effects of the economy and re-structures are now becoming a common practice,” she said.
“The senior end of the market has suffered significantly, and as businesses look to scale down, the $250-$300K salary bands have been heavily impacted.”
Iknowho lead agency recruiter Sheryn Small said the constant changes have caused a lot of uncertainty for agencies.
“Ongoing restructures amongst marketing teams has resulted in many agencies experiencing a state of flux,” she said.
“Agencies are forced to navigate their client relationships with access to fewer senior decision makers, commitments around marketing spend, and in some cases, signed retainers.”
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