Clemenger’s Clinton Parr, who is speaking at the AdNews Media and Marketing Summit, thinks there are other people and culture issues which need tending to at agencies before the robots come…
Since the beginning of the 20th century, when millions of horses were cruelly made redundant following the invention of the car, economists, boffins, futurists and doomsayers have theorised about the impact of machines and robots on our own livelihoods.
For all the talk of robots stealing jobs, experts are deeply divided on the issue. In a poll which stated, “technology will displace more jobs than it creates,” 48% agreed, while a thin majority were more optimistic.
So, how do we future proof the media and marketing discipline and recruit for roles and challenges that don’t even exist yet?
A structured and deliberate approach to training and development is the biggest weapon that we have to stay ahead of the curve. Identifying future trends and training our people in these means financial investment AND, more importantly, creating time within people’s day to complete the training.
In addition, we need to make advertising an attractive enough industry that we can entice the best and brightest from jumping into the tech sector, which has a habit of stealing away talent. This means developing meaningful career plans, using latest trends in performance development and deploying real-time feedback.
Further, we need to stop viewing “agency culture” as a series of parties and ping pong tournaments and instead focus on how we connect with, communicate to and invest in our staff as humans, not just as employees… or worse, human resources.
Is automation a real threat to jobs?
The creative industry, by its very nature, is somewhat future-proofed. For all their “brain power”, robots have not yet cracked the domains of taste, creativity, or an aesthetic, or emotional response in any meaningful way.
The areas in which robots will be able to automate our jobs, is likely to be in the areas that we’d like them to function, for example, mind-numbingly boring HR admin and compliance. This frees up the people who have been bogged down with these tasks to focus on value-adding tasks.
How do we tackle a talent shortage and better recruit a more diverse and dynamic talent pool?
This is an industry-wide problem, that requires industry wide action.
One thing that we’ve done at Clemenger Sydney is invest in a paid internship program, which specifically targets recent high-school graduates from demographics (including socio-economic, ethnic, educational, or regional) that otherwise may not have considered advertising as a career.
This is just one small example, but there is so much more that needs to be done. Flexibility in the workplace will help cut commute times for those who live beyond the middle-ring of suburbs. Redefining our view of what a ‘Creative’ person looks like to extend beyond just AWARD School, will open up Creative roles for those that may not have been able to afford the fees; remembering that youth does not always equal innovation and that wisdom is extremely valuable.
In summary, you probably don’t need to start stockpiling canned food just yet. For the foreseeable future, “the robots” are more likely to augment our jobs in positive ways, freeing us up to focus on more meaningful work… well at least until Skynet and the Terminators take over in 2029.
By Clemenger Sydney head of people and culture Clinton Parr
Clinton Parr, head of people and culture at Clemenger Sydney, will be speaking at this year’s Media and Marketing Summit in Sydney on May 12.
You can book tickets here.