Winds of change

and it's very windy

Well the year has been getting away from me. Some intense work periods and a quick family holiday - on top of the normal life admin - have all combined to truncate my time somewhat. But that isn’t your concern. Your concern is employer branding stuff or at least topics that orbit that particular planet. Don’t despair, for we will visit them in due course.

And that course starts………..

…..now.

What have I been thinking about?

Well the latest drum thing from Rory Sutherland is very interesting. In it he posits that the next phase of being an agency will become less a market of “tell us your problem and we will come up with a campaign to fix it” to one of “we have developed this campaign/ad, we think you should buy it”. He equates it to the Cannes film festival which is essentially a sales conference for a film “product” rather than the advertising awards which is more of a post-creation celebration. Interesting anyway. There definitely feels like a change is in the air regarding the agency model and how those of us in agency life monetise and get paid for what we do. In a world of mass AI adoption, the “skills” that used to be paid for have now been commoditised (or democratised). What may have taken a week is now rendered in minutes. So where does the value come in? If it isn’t the “things we create”; the artefacts of advertising, that deliver value - what can we create that does? The most sensible conclusion seems to be (and it’s one that Rory puts forward) that it’s thinking, ideas and strategy. The ability to come up with solutions that exist outside the normal scope of options; a reframing of the challenge. In his world this may come fully formed as a finished “off the shelf” idea that someone can buy. Personally I’m not quite sure about that but what do you think? This one is going to rumble on.

And while you’re compiling your answers, feel free to flick through the following.

Employer brand stuff

Want to work for Palantir? You too can be permanently buzzing all day long on nicotine. I know we used to provide cigarettes as army rations but this is the first time I’ve heard of this in a corporate environment. Perhaps it’s a response to talent demand?

The Guardian does a really good job of the “behind the scenes of job x”. This time it’s a waitress. Really worth a read this.

Employment stuff

There is a premium to pay for working in the suburbs apparently (according to this report).

This is really interesting - got some good data and analysis on the historical misrepresentation of productivity levels in the UK as well as some thoughts around the areas for improvement in employment; namely that we lag behind other nations on employing under 25s and over 50s.

In the past, I would have trotted out that Americans work longer hours in the past. Turns out this has changed.

Obligatory AI post - interesting podcast with Daniel Russkind talking about his new book “A world without work”.

This is a bit of a tough read about the rollback of DEI and what it means for women.

So it isn’t often that we see employer branding ads out in the wild. But during the Champions league game the other week I spotted one for McDonald’s! Not recruitment. Employer branding.

Tapping into the “many people think that young people aren’t great” trope it does a good job of challenging that perception. I do wonder why they are doing it now. Perhaps there has been a drop off of applications after the bad press about working there ? Good ad though.

Other stuff

News goes hyperlocal and produces some very good stuff to watch. A Boston man is a one-person news organisation. Wonder if this is how more local news is going to go now that regional reporting is going to the wall.

Right…I’m off to get the washing in that’s blown off the line. See you when it’s warmer.