Page 37 - AdNews Sep-Oct 2021
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                   abroad, and that still seems to trickle in now and again. That brought back some pretty senior talent from larger markets who were looking to come home off the back of COVID-19.
“In the high-speed data and technology market, martech and adtech talent is always a challenge and you have to grow that here in most cases. “If you’re really looking to build a scalable, stable offering, you’re recruiting a lot of capable people and they’re either well embedded some-
where else or well aware of their value and quite promiscuous.”
Many now feel more comfortable to make a job shift, while most were holding on to their chairs tightly during the depths of the pandemic in 2020. “And that was true across APAC,” says Naim. “I talked to my counterparts
in Singapore and other places and they saw a similar trend as well.”
Mark Green at the Monkeys: “The Accenture Interactive business is growing strongly across Australia and New Zealand, and in particular, is
showing a really positive response to the current climate.
Left: Special Group’s voting campaign. Above: “Vote Ghost”, VMLY&R. Above left): Toyota Hilux from Saatchi & Saatchi.
“As clients see the need for new thinking and, crucially, new customer experiences, our com- bined creative, consulting and technology business is right in the sweet spot.
“Our biggest challenge isn’t find- ing opportunity, it is finding the best people to deliver the increasing demand for our services.”
Waecker at The Warehouse Group: “I’m also seeing the talent shortage really putting the future of work front and centre for busi- ness, as everyone is trying to fig- ure out how to reskill and retrain the talent we have today in prepa- ration for the future.”
Fleur Head at VMLY&R NZ: “The NZ industry has benefitted from an influx of great expat tal- ent returning to NZ. Although everyone is enjoying being back in the office together, there’s also a lot more accommodation for working from home, both among clients and agency staff.”
Nick Vile at oOh!media: “Late last year and early this year when we were recruiting for marketing and research roles, there was a notable influx of NZ expats applying, having either just come home or looking for roles to come back to.
“One role we had a significant number of applicants for, and most of them were in that expat boat. Ironically, in that instance we went with a local candidate as they were most fit for purpose for that role at the time. It does feel now like that initial burst of returnees has plateaued.”
The economic ups and downs of 2020 had a long lasting effect. Riley at GroupM NZ: “It’s almost like a badge of honour, if you managed to come through unscathed, able to keep your people and grow your business in a tough time.
“I’ve not met anyone at my level who hasn’t learned a thing or two during the past 18 months. We’ve all had our steep learning curve around how to connect better with people, how to spot people in need of a bit of extra attention, and how to lean in and give them that support they need, and how to serve clients in a stronger, more agile way.”
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