Reflecting on a career in advertising and marketing
As advertising agencies struggle to remain profitable, advertising is no longer the sought-after career it once was
After more than four decades in the advertising industry, Ludi Koekemoer’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent AdFocus Awards is well deserved. As the author of several industry textbooks, he is regarded as something of a guru with a wealth of experience in advertising, brand management, strategic planning and new product development. Much has changed in advertising in the past 46 years, he says. It’s a very different landscape today, with most agencies struggling to remain profitable. Sadly, he adds, advertising is no longer a sought-after career and pays poorly. Marketers no longer see agencies as their partners but rather as suppliers. They want to pay them less but expect more. For their part, agencies have lost the ability to provide strategic input and tend to do what the client tells them to do, he says. Exacerbating the situation is the fact that advertising graduates are migrating to clients that offer fewer hours and better perks and prospects. “We live in a very diff...
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