The advertising industry and academics have teamed up for a White Paper marking 50 years of advertising education in Australia.
The State of the Australian Advertising Industry and the Role of Education draws from secondary and primary research, as well as the insight of the industry’s top leaders, and provides an important benchmark for the industry and advertising education as well as developing several predictions.
Adam Ferrier, chief thinker, Thinkerbell, Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia and Leigh Terry, APAC CEO of IPG Mediabrands, shared their industry insights and experience.
While in the academics, Gayle Kerr, professor in Advertising and IMC, QUT, David Waller A/Prof UTS Business School and Steven Bellman, MediaScience research professor, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, share their knowledge outlooks.
Ferrier said: “Advertising has a profound impact on our culture, reflecting our dreams and aspirations. We shouldn’t be leaving the advertising we get to chance. It’s vital that we are constantly studying how it works, getting educated on how to make it better and being curious about its impact.”
The researchers drew from secondary research and conducted new primary research to examine the current state, and imagine the future, of the advertising industry and the role of advertising education.
For example, using Australian Census data to map growth since 2011, and project into the future to 2036, the paper predicts advertising employment from the Professional Services industries should continue to grow at an average of 28% per year.
Focusing on education, text-mining software is used to visualize the key themes of university education and show a direct connection between the strategy of the university and its evolution into units and areas of study like marketing and advertising. These require skills and integration to be effective.
Terry concurred and said: “Recognising the crucial role of advertising education in this country over the last 50 years is important. Not just its role in the helping drive the wider economy, but creating and celebrating Australian culture, and finally highlighting social campaigns that don’t have a voice. 50 years of helping the industry create work that works and work that matters.”
The White Paper also included insights from interviews with industry leaders and soon-to-graduate advertising students. It suggests that perhaps, we have all become “paid, owned and earned mediated communicators with an identifiable brand.”
The paper concludes that “Advertising has lost its USP. No one knows what advertising is any more. Yet increasingly, they spend their days doing advertising-like tasks.”
Le Roy added: “Defining ‘what is advertising’ continues to be a fascinating almost philosophical challenge but we do know that the more the market evolves the need for top quality education will remain.”
The White Paper provides an important benchmark and develops a number of predictions for the industry and advertising education.
Kerr, a Professor in Advertising and IMC at QUT, said: “The catalyst for the White Paper was our celebration of 50 Years of Advertising Education in Australia. We thought it would be good to know if there would be something to celebrate in another 50 years’ time.”
“While there was a lot of research involved, just as important was the learning from each other. Brainstorming what the research really meant. How it applied to the advertising industry. And how we should align our advertising university programs to ensure the continuance of a wonderful profession.”
Waller from UTS added: “This is a unique document that brings together leaders in the advertising industry and academic education to discuss past, current and future ideas to present valuable insights and predictions for advertising education for the years to come. I expect that this is not the end of the industry/education conversation on the future of advertising but just the beginning.”