TALENTFORECAST2015

Ask most advertising and marketing executives about one of the pressing questions on their minds and they’ll probably deliver the same answer: What talent will we need to remain competitive in the coming years? It’s a good question, and one we’ll be answering in detail in Talent Forecast 2015, our first-ever report on the hot talent in demand for the coming year.

We’re often asked to make predictions on key talent trends across our industry. It’s the reason we decided to publish this forecast, as a tool to help organizations like yours hire the transformational creative professionals you need to fuel the growth of your business in the year ahead.

Our predictions are based on a combination of metrics and observations. First, we’re using our internal hiring statistics to analyze various recruitment patterns, client talent requests and client-candidate matches, then using that data to forecast for the year ahead. We’ve coupled that with the anecdotal research our Nichers have conducted over the past year, including conversations with clients, candidates, agency heads, CMOs and others at the forefront of the creative industry. Our team is constantly asking key questions about who creative leaders are hiring, how they’re leveraging creative talent and what strategic direction their businesses are taking.

From there we’ve conducted a thorough cross-industry analysis to arrive at the predictions you’ll find in this report. Use it as a tool to chart your own path for success in an increasingly-competitive global marketplace, where game-changing marketing talent can provide the competitive advantage you’ve long been seeking.

Mandy Gilbert, CEO Creative Niche

LEADERSHIPNew titles in the C-suite

Chief Brand OfficerChief Data OfficerChief Growth OfficerChief Transformation OfficerChief Innovation Officer

Tomorrow’s leaders will carry many of the same skills as those of today, but with a twist. On the agency side, changes are coming thanks to pricing pressure and the growing number of competitors. Marketing organizations, on the other hand, are grappling with the integration of technology and metrics, while still trying to attract and retain the very best and brightest in the industry. Where they share similarities is in the need to differentiate their products and services from competitors—and constantly bolster profitability. Here are the leadership trends we’re seeing emerge for both agencies and marketing organizations:

AGENCIES ARE BEING FORCED TO JUSTIFY THE VALUE THEY BRING TO CLIENTS LIKE NEVER BEFORE. In turn, this is forcing agencies to become more flexible and transparent with their fee structures, while embracing a lean business model to maintain cost control. Agencies that have already begun to move in this direction are slowly re-establishing trust with clients by providing them with greater control over costs, timelines and marketing priorities. At the same time, agencies are beginning to demand greater transparency from their clients. That’s because many have been burned when parts of major projects have been transferred to other, competing firms, making it nearly impossible for them to not only stabilize their bottom line, but also maintain the kind of creative teams needed to produce transformative work. Doing so will help boost agencies’ sense of financial security and promote the improved fee transparency and focused service levels that clients are demanding.

We believe the lean approach will effectively weed out antiquated agencies and raise everyone’s game. This change is already taking hold in key markets across the U.S. and Europe.

A STRONGER RELIANCE ON ANALYTICS Because agencies are being forced to demonstrate value to clients, many are making unprecedented investments in analytics. That data is allowing them to show the return on investment their work delivers, while possibly highlighting opportunities to further expand their service offering. Those agencies that invest in forming data departments will also have the ability of build out management-consulting practices. They can turn these insights into client-focused solutions that generate new revenue streams and help improve profitability—both of which are key leadership priorities for the coming year.

PRESSURE MOUNTS TO ACQUIRE NEW CLIENTS A key focus for agency leaders will be firm-wide growth and business development. Since agency-of-record opportunities are dwindling due to the emerging strength of in-house creative departments, agencies are shifting their sales strategies from long-term accounts to shorter-term projects. Gone are the days when they relied on large accounts to fuel their sales pipeline. That’s why we’re seeing a renewed focus on developing sales teams that can deliver a constant stream of new client leads. Another interesting trend: an increasing number of marketing teams are engaging specialist firms for project work. They might turn to an agency for its cool factor, brand awareness or social media outreach capabilities.

Agencies - A new emphasis on running lean. As agencies encounter growing competition from both existing and emerging rivals, they’re also finding that marketing in major organizations is bringing creative services—including digital, social media and even video production—in-house. Why? It’s largely due to the demand for transparency.

Marketing - Fourth best is no longer good enough.The era when marketing leaders could expect long and virtually uninterrupted tenure is over. Leaders who fail to help their organizations gain market share or earn top-three category status should either develop a turnaround plan or start the countdown to their dismissal. Those who do reach this goal should be ready to focus on another major priority: retaining and engaging their top talent.

USING DATA AS A TOOL OF CHANGEWith the increased collection of data, it’s becoming more important for businesses to turn that information into actionable tactics that can facilitate meaningful change. Of course, that requires strong leadership, likely in the form of a Chief Transformation Officer who can use the data to break down organizational silos make necessary operational shifts.

That brings us back to the relationship between agencies and marketing organizations. We believe the recent trend of creative services being brought in-house to maintain cost control will continue. That is, of course, unless agencies become more transparent and offer stronger data to quantify their successes, or if another tough recession puts pressure on departments to downsize and eliminate headcount.

DATA What you can expect to pay:

Data Scientist $110,000 - $250,000Data Architect $125,000 - $250,000Information Designer $85,000 - $130,000

*based on geographic location and years of experience

The challenge for organizations of all sizes is determining how best to collect, analyze and interpret that data, then use it to develop a coherent marketing strategy. It’s the reason why marketing and data departments are working closely together to leverage that data and use it to market to their target audiences or clientele. Marketers of the future will be part traditionalists, part data specialists and part tech specialists—or, at the very least, creative departments will consist of specialists who work in these respective fields.

THE DATA CRUNCHERS YOU NEED NOWTo build out your data department, you’ll need to hire some key people. The first will be the Data Strategist, a professional who determines what data your organization needs to collect. Next, you’ll need a Data Scientist capable of mining data from multiple sources such as social media platforms or credit card databases, then defining clear, actionable patterns. The scientist will then create an algorithm that produces simulations which can be used to optimize marketing strategy. How? By enabling the market to choose the best possible outcome using predictions based on those patterns, all of which can be put to work in honing the organization’s marketing strategy. The Data Architect will work closely with the Data

Scientist to design the database that will house the terabytes of data sources and algorithms to produce those simulations. After all is said and done, these results need to be communicated to the rest of the organization and the most effective way to do that is through data visualizations.

Enter the Information or Data Visualization Designer. They’re the ones who articulate data and make it understandable for average marketers and others across the organization using tools such as infographics or the Java Script library D3.

The key point is this: if data isn’t a major component of your strategic marketing approach, it should be. That means you’ll need the right professionals to produce, organize and determine exactly what that information means for your clients—then use it to produce game-changing marketing campaigns.

Marketing’s latest revolution is being driven by data. Advanced analytics tools are providing marketing, creative, advertising and media agencies with reams of information they could once have only dreamed of acquiring. In many cases they now know what, when, how, where and even why their target audiences or clientele are interacting with their content or platforms. Depending on the organization, this information is being used to achieve everything from improved operational efficiencies and risk management strategies, to improved productivity and more targeted marketing to consumers.

MARKETING & STRATEGY+5% (2012 to 2014)

One of the fastest growing marketing hiring categories is content development, as organizations continue to invest in improving everything from SEO to blogging.*based on Creative Niche’s internal data

The result: marketers are having to work harder to connect with consumers, and in turn are working more closely with their media agencies to develop the tools and strategies to achieve those goals.

DATA REVOLUTION TRANSFORMING MARKETINGThat’s why marketing is working hard to bridge gaps in areas such as technology, finance and sales—to name just a few. Marketers will increasingly be asked to work with professionals experienced in mining and manipulating prescriptive data who can help drive strategic decisions—as well as find creative new ways to work with the data itself. To complicate matters further, the pressure to justify marketing budgets is greater than ever.

That’s the reason why key metrics have become a critical tool for analyzing the success of a marketing campaign, while Data Analysts and Analytics Specialists are in increasing demand across organizations. As such, tomorrow’s marketers will need to understand branding, analytics, market augmentation, and still be able to serve their clients. Those data-focused specialists are driving home a key message: gaining a comprehensive and complete understanding of a client’s business model is a precursor for success in today’s marketplace.

INTRODUCING THE HYBRID MARKETERSought-after marketers will also carry the strategic and analytical skills to help them improve return-on-investment from their work, then leverage new technologies, social media and the web to find innovative new ways to drive ROI. They’ll be able to develop campaigns and use advanced data collection techniques to track their success, manage client relationships and act quickly to respond to market changes and plan their next initiative.

That’s why we’re seeing the emergence of hybrid leadership roles across marketing organizations and agencies—where IT managers move to the marketing department or agency, for example, or vice versa. Of course, challenges are emerging for organizations hoping to find top professionals with these unique qualifications, not to mention identifying those capable of making the cross-discipline leap.

These hybrid roles often mean changes to structure and that can be disruptive. Senior leadership will need to support individuals in these positions by giving them the necessary autonomy to make changes, manage budgets, eliminate redundancies and hire new people. It’s critical, therefore, that the vision and plan for change is communicated effectively to employees. Securing their support will be the key to success for most organizations.

In short, the marketers of tomorrow—even more so than their colleagues from past generations—will display uncanny professional flexibility and a passion for life-long learning. It should come as no surprise that their knowledge base will be more in-depth and diverse than at any time in recent memory.

Changes to marketing and strategy requirements are being driven almost entirely by the revolution in digital and other communications technology. While those transformative technological developments are proving to be largely positive, the marketplace has changed dramatically. Consumers and target clients have become far savvier and less willing to accept the ‘hard sell’ than they may have in decades past. Reaching a target demographic is far faster due to technology, but now those targets have far greater control over the messages they receive and the platforms on which they receive them.

DIGITAL & SOCIAL+6%

Increase in hires year-over-year in the digital and social media space.

*based on Creative Niche’s internal data

That said, responsive design is now smart design, so staying a step ahead of the latest and greatest digital developments is more important than ever. That’s why it’s important to note that nothing on the digital front is possible without skilled developers. Their talents will be in high demand for the foreseeable future. But as new developers enter the marketplace, those with the most comprehensive and diverse skill sets will remain the most highly coveted. One of their enticing qualities will be an inherent ability to adapt to that fast-shifting landscape, along with a constant drive to upgrade their skills.

That might also include a desire to learn design protocols for wearable device interfaces and apps. Expect to see a surge in demand for developers (and even digital content producers) specializing in creating everything from apps to interfaces for wearable technologies such as watches and even Google Glass—if the bulky digital glasses ever manage to shatter their way into the mainstream marketplace.

A SPOTLIGHT ON USER EXPERIENCEMaking those devices appealing to a wide range of consumers will mean improving user engagement, which is why so many agencies and large organizations are working to build their user-experience design departments. In the past, a visual designer may have created work that would be adapted across platforms, but digital projects are now being driven with a primary focus on user-experience and interactivity. New roles such as that of the UX Architect and UX Strategist have emerged, neither of which were in existence just a decade ago.

At the same time, your next digital hire just might be a Digital Analytics Analyst, someone with expertise in collecting and interpreting the data you’ll be collecting through all of those digital devices and platforms. And if predictions are to be believed, a great deal of that content will come in video form. Organizations will produce an increasing amount of video content to appeal to their time-pressed audience or clientele, whose preference for watching over reading is only becoming more pronounced. It’s why you might soon be posting ads for video or motion graphics specialists who can make that content as attractive as possible.

A STRATEGIC SHIFT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALISTSThat brings us to social media, which will continue to be a huge part of our lives and an integral consideration for any agency or marketing department. Tomorrow’s social media specialists will need to to do more than simply write and post content. They’ll need to be able to develop strategy, analyze data, conduct a quantitative analysis of that data, then deliver a presentation of key findings to clients. The ability to work with social listening tools such as Radian6 and Sprinklr will be a prerequisite for any social media content specialist or community manager. Your next social media hire will be able to combine the media approach of a traditional agency, but place it into a hybrid content strategy that maximizes online and social engagement.

And if they’re not already, there’s a very good chance these digital professionals will became an essential part of your organization.

While the digital and social media landscape is in a constant state of flux, one thing remains the same: the demand for professionals versed in mobile app development and responsive design will continue to grow. The reason is that brands are more eager than ever to connect with consumers wherever they may be—which explains why so many are creating native apps and mobile responsive websites to engage with target audiences in their own, unique digital environments, rather than relying solely on a traditional desktop-optimized website as their primary point of digital interaction.

DESIGNWhat you can expect to pay:

Senior Designer $75,000 - $100,000UX Designer $70,000 - $110,000Motion GFX Designer $60,000 - $75,000

*based on geographic location and years of experience

Great contemporary design has to engage its target audience across media platforms. A designer needs to think about user experience, engagement and interactivity. It’s not just about look and feel anymore. They need an understanding of how to translate material from being one-dimensional, to being viewed and understood online across the wide array of touch points at their disposal. They also need to understand how various designs interact with each other—think of how retailers are rebranding themselves with highly immersive in-store and online experiences that work together seamlessly. That’s the reason why we’re also seeing the integration of augmented reality in print using apps like Layar, for a entirely new level of interactivity.

New design skills in demandThat brings us to the recruitment process for hiring designers—particularly the skills you’ll want to see on their resumes. A major assessment point for candidates: Can they create visual representations of data? Taking the reams of ‘1s’ and ‘0s’ your organization collects when conducting market research or interacting with customers, then translating that information into actionable information will require the deft hand of a skilled designer with one foot each in the creative and data

worlds. Another key question: do they have expertise in product and industrial design? As most areas of marketing become less siloed, designers need to be more flexible than ever. That means being ready to apply their skills to virtually any medium—sometimes at a moment’s notice. Tomorrow’s designers, in other words, will be purists capable of delivering on multiple mediums and across different materials.

But what about soft skills? Beyond recruiting designers willing to do what it takes to please their clients—a must-have for any employer in the creative industry—you’ll hire people who are capable of backing up the value of their design choices using field research. Then, they’ll be able to illustrate how their work might help solve problems for your company or its clientele. Design, therefore, is now as much a strategic consideration as it is an aesthetic one. As such, your next designer will be capable of justifying design decisions to clients. They’ll also be flexible and eager to adapt to emerging trends and technologies, while leveraging design processes that are as much about collaboration and a holistic approach, as they are about inspiration and creativity.

Despite the seismic shifts across the design industry in recent years, branding remains the basis for great design. As a discipline, design was once primarily about aesthetics. If a designer was good at alignment, branding and typography, they were a success. Now, it is just the beginning.

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*The facts and figures presented in this publication are based on Creative Niche’s proprietary data.

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