How Ad Executives Cope With an Industry Recession
Monday, July 27th, 2009
The largest advertising agencies had already cut more than 18,000 jobs by April of this year. And as the ranks of Madison Avenue’s unemployed swell, the job of finding relevant work has become a big challenge for ad executives.
“People are getting desperate,” says Amy Hoover, a vice president at Talent Zoo, an executive-recruiting firm that specializes in ad-industry placements. “Job candidates are asking me to submit them for jobs that offer less pay and less responsibility — just so they can be employed again.”
Ad people are used to jobs being eliminated when accounts shift from one agency to another. But rarely has the industry’s foundation seemed so shaky. Even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, agencies of all sizes and shapes were already facing a bleak environment because of the slowing economy. The attacks have only exacerbated the problem. On Oct. 19, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners let go 10 of its 50 employees at its West Cost office. On the same day, Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\Day disclosed that it had laid off 15 people from its work force of about 800. Other ad firms that have also issued pink slips recently include Interpublic Group’s Mullen/LHC, and Wieden & Kennedy.
Category Advertising, Economy | Tags: Tags: Ad, Agency, Economy, Execs, Executives, Industry, Job, Market, Recession,