TRAINING : The Great Train Trip

AdMedia,  Jun 1, 2007  by Patricia Moore

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While trainers report oversubscribed courses, the industry is screaming for the right people. "Good people with experience in direct marketing are in short supply; good people with experience in the digital space are as scarce as hen's teeth," says Marketing Association ceo Keith Norris.

"Whilst Kiwis are acknowledged to uptake new technology, this has not been the case with interactivity, whether by TXT, email, web or television. As a consequence we have a grave shortage of people."

So where the bloody hell are all the graduates?

Well, maybe the industry is just not looking in the right places. Peter Spencer at Marsden Inch Recruitment suggests one of the drawbacks is a reluctance to recruit people who don't have specific agency experience. "The attitude still exists that if they haven't done it they can't do it. As I heard someone say recently, 'advertising appears to have elevated itself to rocket surgery'."

The 'e' word - experience - is a big factor, but advertising industry recruitment specialists suggest the lack of it need not be a handicap. "If graduates have the right qualities and the right attitude they can certainly overcome the lack of experience," says Billie Davies of Davies & Partners.

Maralyn Buscher at Adpeople says there just aren't enough entry level roles available. "Some media agencies do take in a small number of graduates each year and should be applauded. Having said that, the majority of students are still frustrated by the lack of entry level roles available to them."

Twelve months ago, the focus - here and overseas - was on digital media training. But, says AUT Adschool's Paul White, the bubble has burst there. "We all know there's nothing glamorous about it. There are lots of web designers who can't get jobs."

It's ideas that are important, says White, not the way messages are delivered. "We're encouraging young creatives to think beyond conventional media solutions for every brief." There are two reasons for this. "Firstly we're saying don't think in terms of print, TV, radio, billboard etc, ask yourself where are the best places for the audience to come across this message? Find the answer and you'll find yourself a fresh campaign."

Secondly, CDs are saying they still see too many portfolios that contain little more than print campaigns. "I am not surprised because that's what everybody's done for years. It won't be the case with this year's graduates."

White reports AUT students are more excited about ideas than doing ads. "They have to get a lot further a lot quicker and most of them are eager to do just that. We don't get the sort of people who just want to shoot TV commercials any more. The best of them want to create campaigns that solve problems and really communicate."

When it comes to ideas, many students just don't know how to think creatively, says Euan Robertson, programme leader at the Institute of Communication Design, at Massey University Wellington. "They don't know how to think outside the square." Robertson suggests schooling with a focus on duplication and replication is to blame. In order to get students thinking, the school doesn't allow technology until the 4th year. "We feel technology simply creates an environment where we're looking at eye candy.

"You can't teach creativity. What we do is unleash it with the right tools and techniques via theory and practical assignments - designed to enter into or unlock a particular area and expose students to new ways of thinking."

But if the digital bubble has burst, why is there still such huge interest in training in what Robertson calls 'the new third screen'?

"Interactive/digital is a topic that infiltrates into all disciplines," says Sandy Fraser of the CAANZ/AUT Communications School. "Currently we offer two workshops in this area and will continue to grow our offerings in order to keep up with demand."

But, Fraser says, while digital and interactive will always attract a wide and eager audience, the core areas of media/ communications, together with all levels of account management and strategy seem as necessary and popular as ever. "Catering for creative thinkers and idea generators has been hugely successful with three specialist workshops conducted in May sold out."

At Axis Adschool, David Bell says in virtually every project they tackle they ask students to consider how they'd express their thinking on the web. "This is a constant background theme. So far this year we've already done one exploratory tie-up with Media Design School digital students, with another in the pipeline. We've developed web-only ad campaigns for a new, top secret, web-based client which will go live sooner or later."

But when it comes to using digital interactive media to talk to consumers, NZ may be as much as five years behind Europe and America, says Bell. "Perhaps the most realistic explanation is that we haven't reached the take-off point yet. We're a small country and there's not a huge amount of spare cash to be invested in this frighteningly expensive new world."