The dusty trail

Well, here we are again! Another occasional post on an occasional blog. Oh, how once this style of communique seemed so lightening fast and zeitgeisty... and is now probably as old fashioned as faxes. Anyway, here's a quick update on what's been happening.

I have enjoyed three and a half years working full-time remote at an Employer Branding agency as a creative copywriter. Some things I've learned:

• Remote working comes with a range of new challenges.

  • I think there is a large part of the creative's role which functions perfectly in this environment (the peace, the space... the quiet). It works for creative people because we've had to develop the self-discipline to work and self-start. Not having a boss watching what time you come into the office can be a struggle for some. Inexperienced Client Services can suffer in a remote model. An office culture, while expensive, can add plenty and can make relationship management much easier. Producers and PMs have to be on the ball, making regular calls to ensure progress without the opportunity to drop by someone's desk.

  • Not having a creative partner across the desk from you means you need a good relationship and readiness to adapt that art/copy banter to messenger platforms. Getting those big ideas up to scratch takes more work and does force you to polish things up sooner. Maybe that's no bad thing.

• Following the Great Resignation of the pandemic, Employer Branding got supercharged as a sector. Maybe a bit over inflated, tbh. There have been several big agencies fall by the wayside. The survivors are the ones who have either merged with another specialist, got themselves acquired by (or were already a part of) a network. Or they've pivoted with an agile team to appeal outside their traditional clients...

• An EB agency's biggest successes come about when they are able to empower their clients. Whereas the majority of agencies deal with Marketing professionals, EB is often working with the HR department. And unless the agency is able to guide the inexperienced client through development, there will very often come a hurdle or an impasse that's too great to get around. This can often be the aforementioned marketing department (who having not initiated the work can take a dim view of concepts they've not signed off and which don't fit their 5 year plan). Or it might be a senior stakeholder who doesn't see the need to spend money on promoting the business to itself. (Newsflash - today's job market is a pretty different to the place your current Boss-Class Stakeholder started out in.)

• What I really liked about EB was the broad range of disciplines you get to work in. I've written and conceived scripts, social ads, brand guidelines, messaging toolkits, pitch decks, headlines, blogs, billboards, graduate fair booths.

• AI. That's just a ubiquitous mention for the skimmers and recruiting engines.

There may be more added to this list of insights, but for now, might I merely encourage you to have a leaf through the folio and consider getting in touch.

Cheerio!

marc