“They got snapped up real quick.”
That’s how professor Christopher Cakebread, a Boston University associate professor of advertising in the College of Communication, describes the way the Advertising majors of the Class of 2000 for his Introduction to Advertising class had success finding jobs. But he cautions: “You seniors this year won’t be having the same luck.”
The recent cooling off of a hot economy means less corporate dollars are going to advertising agencies. Less business for the agency means less hiring and more firing, all of which translate into a tougher job market in the ad world than college students graduating with degrees in the field have been faced with in the past booming years.
Especially noticeable is the disappointment in dot-com ad funding. Whereas Superbowl XXXIV was characterized by Monster.com, E*Trades and other Internet interests, this year’s game saw a return to majority rule by mainstream, blue-chip ad-buyers: Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, FedEx, Visa.
“About five years back, there was a great deal of interest in dot-com and technology,” said Stephen Gray, a senior vice-president of marketing services at DRK, a Boston-area advertising firm specializing in high technology and Internet work. “People wanted to know, ‘how do we get in on this.’ Two or three years ago, that optimism turned into frenzy.”
DRK avoided putting too much faith in what Gray calls the “reckless spending” associated with dot-coms.
The young and enthusiastic image portrayed by the crop of start-ups encouraged agencies to pick up equally young and hip employees.
“There was definitely a new emphasis on bringing technical skills on board, looking for the creative who could work with the html jockeying and the traditional graphics work,” Gray said.
Gray said other advertising is also expected to show a slump.
“If you look at the projections for print, they are not high,” he said. “Everyone is being cautious.”
According to the March 27 issue of the Wall Street Journal, business clients last year put up $4.8 billion in advance sales of cable TV advertising. Forecasts from the media-buying industry indicate cable buyers will be a lot less enthusiastic in the coming advance-purchase season, beginning in April.
Broadcast advertising is expensive, and with corporations tightening belts, no one is willing to pay for airtime consumers may just as easily spend channel-surfing.
The survivors of the dot-com die-off are searching for ways to return profit to investors. Variety magazine is just one of many firms with a Web counterpart that will start charging for online services. The implication here is that if consumers subscribe to online content and services, they will have a stronger reason to return to a site, which means more opportunities to be exposed to that site’s ads.
Another factor in the ad-job crunch is the competitive business strategies that come into play when a “recession” is almost reality. When stock is down and sales are slow, ad agencies are vulnerable to acquisition by competitors who buy cheap in the hopes of an industry turnaround. This consolidation means job cuts.
According to Competitive Media Reporting, a market information group, national advertising for computer and computer-related products and services showed an increase of 73 percent over 1999.
Estimates for growth from 2000-01 are only 30 percent in comparison, a step down due to more realistic profit expectations from Internet and technology companies.
Gray offers advice to those who might be worrying about their future careers.
“For college kids looking for a job, it is going to be more work than they realized, and lower pay than they deserve, but it is an occupation you can easily fall in love with.”
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