Advertising likes to sell itself as a sexy profession. The traditional image is that of the copywriter / art director team, dressed in black and creating ads that you will still remember 20 years later. However, with the growth of online most agencies are now looking for web-savvy developers and designers who will be able to create imagination-capturing campaigns. As a sector, there are a wide range of jobs from client facing account management, to design and production, not to mention planning, SEO and user experience. So, a little something for everyone then.
However, last month, the Washington Post published a damning article on the state of digital advertising. Journalist Frederick Filloux claimed the industry lacked creative talent and had failed to come up with a way to really entice users. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs has announced that Apple will be launching the iAd, essentially it's own advertising agency, which should cause even the most confident ad-exec to pause. So what state is the industry really in? And what is working in it like?
Our panel will be answering these questions and any others you'd like to throw at them in our live Q&A.
They are:
Michael Edge, head of digital at VCCP. Michael has over 15 years experience in the digital space and is currently working with brands such as O2, Compare The Market and Microsoft.
Nathan Guerra, director of innovation at AMV BBDO. He joined AMV BBDO just over two years ago as a digital planner, has since worked across a dizzying number of accounts including, Pepsico, Sainsbury's, Mars, Heinz and Starbucks.
Mo Lishomwa, digital director at Saatchi & Saatchi. She is responsible for the digital output at Saatchi & Saatchi. She has been working in the digital field since the mid 90's and in that time has worked with Yahoo!, adidas and BBC iPlayer.
Nigel Gwilliam, a digital consultant to the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). Nigel runs IPA Digital on behalf of digital agencies and specialist divisions of more established agencies.
Vicky Clarfelt, HR manager at Dentsu London. She is a digital native, starting her career on a digital graduate scheme at Grand Union as an account handler. She moved into a purely HR role in 2007 with a core focus on recruitment and training and development.
Nick Cochrane is the director and founder of Zebra People, a digital recruitment consultancy based in London that concentrates specifically on recruiting for the digital industry.
Sam Ismail & William Humphrey, co-founders of the popular blog AdGrads. Both are ex-advertising planners that now work as heads of planning in PR.
Chris Liversedge, director of queryclick Ltd, an agency specialising in SEO and web development.
