Welcome Monkeys....

"The first signs of Indian advertising agencies taking a talent shortage seriously are visible. Leo Burnett India, belonging to the Publicis group, has indicated that it will raise entry-level salaries by nearly 50% for all personnel in non-creative functions".

Again... this is a media report, this time from agency faqs. I ,when joined advertising, years back , it was not the highest paying profession but wasnt bad compared to many others like FMCG..Software virtually didnt exist...I remember myself as the only guy who wanted to join advertising from my MBA batch .Now I find many of my students interested ,PASSIONATE as the industry calls it in joining advertising as a profession. They specialise in advertising , do all the ad papers, do summer internships in front line agencies, get the feeling of the industry and come back hoping to get into the dream profession.

But reality bites. A starter , be it clients service or media planning, is offered not more than a paltry sum of 8000 to 8500 per month even by the big daddies of advertising76.. for all the dogs work that beginers are made to do, for all the burden that these poor young lads are made to undergo in the name of induction and familiarising with the industry, the peanuts that the industry throw will not even get monkeys these days, they prefer call centers.

Ad industry have to wake up to the reality that, to attract talent it will have to be competitive with the rest of the world, simply because the rest of the world gives what the talent wants .. ICICI from our campus choose people for 18000 per month and more.. TCS comes with 27000 per month..Advertising cannot match them I know, but simply because the young generation has passion for advertising ,how long will the industry expect them to compromise? How long?

Between all the crocodile tears that the industry honchos shed over non availability of talents, between the blame game between the agency and the client the ultimate loss is for the industry...

in the meantime let the Monkeys smile..