In what is being called a sign the advertising industry is recovering from the recession (hasn’t it been for a while now?), initial results of a new study from recruiting firm 24 Seven on the state of employment in the advertising/marketing sector found salaries overall increased 31 percent from 2009 to 2011 across the industry. The average industry salary for 2011 is $107,356, up from $81,989 in 2009.
The rise in industry pay was also came with increases is bonuses and commissions. The study claims the increases are expected to continue with 60 percent of respondents indicating they anticipate salary increases in 2011.
Of the finding, 24 Seven President Celeste Gudad said, “While pay is up, all is not equal in the marketing sector. As corporate clients press agencies on fees and compensation, salaries for corporate marketers are outpacing their agency counterparts by seven-percent.” Well that’s not news. We’ve always know the money is on the brand side.
On the corporate side, the study found salary increases from 2009 to 2011 of 29 percent with the average marketer’s pay rising to $104,304 from $80,826. On the agency side, salary increases of 24% were seen going from $78,123 in 2009 to $97,175 in 2011, while those in digital/interactive had gains of 14 percent increasing to an average of $93,147 from $81,930. The smallest increases were in creative with increases of 8 percent, yielding an average salary of $85,960 from $79,660. Hmm. Pity the poor creative and the Big Idea wanes in favor of work that actually, well, works.
In explaining the results, Ms. Gudas said, “There is a talent shortage at the senior most levels on the agency side and these jobs are realizing significant salary and bonus increases. To manage the new economic reality of project driven client assignments, agencies are paying more for proven leaders in management, creative and strategy while turning to freelance talent for execution.”
With higher salaries, job satisfaction appears to be on the rebound with 68 percent saying they were satisfied in their current positions versus 56 percent in 2009. Despite the increased satisfaction, more than half those surveyed said they were considering a career move in the next 12 – 24 months which Ms. Gudas attributes to greater opportunities in the job market.
In May, 24 Seven will release a detailed report and full findings, including a breakdown of differences across demographics and job categories. The survey was conducted across 3,000 respondents nationwide and was fielded from March 28 until April 11th by research company Inavero. The report will be available here.
