The Importance of Advertising Education Mike Longhurst Senior VP, McCann-Erickson Europe.
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Transcript of The Importance of Advertising Education Mike Longhurst Senior VP, McCann-Erickson Europe.
The Importance of Advertising Education
Mike LonghurstMike LonghurstSenior VP, McCann-Erickson EuropeSenior VP, McCann-Erickson Europe
The age old statements
Advertising is an art not a science You can’t teach advertising It is a creative business isn’t it? Consumers change all the time, so why bother? It is a young people’s game It’s just about personal flair We don’t want others to know how to do it
The Truth
It IS a young people’s game Most older hands are lost before they can plough
back what they know Teaching on the job loses at least 50% of all
knowledge If knowledge is not created, distilled and packaged in
universities for handing on to the next generation, much of it is lost
It IS a young people’s game Most older hands are lost before they can plough
back what they know Teaching on the job loses at least 50% of all
knowledge If knowledge is not created, distilled and packaged in
universities for handing on to the next generation, much of it is lost
So what about Advertising education?
In UK universities we are low-profile
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Management
Business Studies
Media Studies
Marketing
German
Film
TV
Theatre
Dance
Portuguese
Advertising
Courses offeredCourses offered
The reality
Only 12 / 96 recognised universities offer a degree course which contains Advertising
Total courses offered is 53, of which none is solus Advertising
Only one of those is ranked in the top 20 universities Only 2 are in the top 60 13 are from universities that are unranked
UK Graduate intake
53% from top 10 Unis* 92% from top 20* 13% Studied Advertising-related subject*
Very few decided early that Advertising is what they wanted to do
*IPA Stage 1 course graduate survey 2001
Implications
Graduates have a vastly better chance of being taken on by an agency graduate trainee scheme if they:a) went to a top Unib) studied an academic subject, not Advertising
Training courses like IPA try to fill the knowledge gap, but can only be partly successful
Grads historically don’t want structured post-grad qualifications
So are the blind leading the blind?
We complain about our diminished role with clients
Terms of business now little more than ½ what they were
Edged out of boardrooms by management consultancies
Regarded as the “delivery” end of the process, not the intellectual end
Our services bought in auctions, by purchasing departments
The pressure is on us to be more effective
Clients face stiffer competition They demand ever greater accountability They are less trusting of thematic broadcast
advertising Are they right to be?
How effective are we…really?
M&M, Euro Effies, IPA and other awards celebrate the achievements of the minority, not the majority
Most campaigns struggle to demonstrate effectiveness
For every brand that succeeds because of advertising, there might be another that fails because of advertising
And many that succeed despite advertising!
How rigorously are the awards cases studied?
Just reading, collating and publishing achieves little
Where can the lessons be aggregated, analysed and disseminated, if not through universities?
New Initiatives
UK’s Institute of Practitioners in Advertising has a long history of running great courses
They have now announced a welcome return to Post-grad qualifications after 20 years: Foundation Certificate level
• Check and supplement agency induction processes• Multiple choice questions• Online learning modules
Diploma level• Multi choice modules on theory and practice
And an MBA at Leeds University
EACA has attacked the under-graduate problem
EACA initiative with University of Navarra Aim to create a European curriculum Educational Summit in Barcelona June 2003
Aim to create a profession
Invited all educational institutions
Form Association and publish Journal
I see problems for both
Post-grad is traditionally unpopular with grads Will agency managements demand it?
University courses traditionally suffer from poor teaching Will we be able to change that?
But we need both!
The conundrum
Universities won’t offer
good courses,because agencies
won’t employ the graduates
Agencies won’t employ the graduates because universities
don’t offer good courses
Meanwhile we live in challenging times for brands
As the public face of brands, advertising has also become a target
Advertising a scapegoat, panacea, cheap shot
Demands for more laws, codes, regulations
The search for cheap easy solutions focuses on advertising
Consumption
Deprivation
Inequality
Young drinking
Obesity
What “they” say about advertising
Exploits children
Damages the environment
Creates waste
Promotes sexism
Encourages greed and envy
Destroys indigenous lifestyles
Destroys “Southern” industries
Creates visual pollution….
So?
Advertising is seen as part of every problem, not part of every solution
Advertising is seen as a disposable element, not essential to economic wellbeing
This is even more so amongst the young, who we depend on for new blood
So?
A lot of people want to stop what we do
The best don’t want to join us and assist what we do
Most of what is said about advertising is wrong…why?
We have tolerated or even fostered mythology
We have ignored proper education in our business
Both within advertising practitioners and outside
Conspiracy theories that were destroyed many years ago have re-surfaced as new
Vance Packard’s “Hidden Persuaders” Vance Packard’s “Hidden Persuaders” comes back as regularly as “Who killed comes back as regularly as “Who killed Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe?” theoriesKennedy or Marilyn Monroe?” theories
The same thinking is being applied to new The same thinking is being applied to new mediamedia
Advertising is seen as the irresistible force The consumer is the defenceless victim
Why can’t we simply prove them wrong?
Because we often aren’t clear on the answers ourselves
And we are working against low knowledge and high scepticism of advertising outside the business
Yet everyone experiences advertising and everyone has an opinion
Conclusions
In many respects we aren’t impressing anyone as much as we think
Recruits Clients Opinion-leaders Legislators
Conclusions
The traditional idea that “You can’t teach Advertising” is false
Our business needs the academic influence and disciplines
It will not kill creativity
Conclusions
The advertising business needs to achieve a better balance between Art and Science
It needs to build the Art onto the Science, not add a bit of Science to the Art
Education is our only way forward.
Thank You