THE MENTOR GAP

This year, over 100 new writers and art directors will graduate from portfolio schools.

They will spend about three years at their first agency.

And then move on.

When over 250 junior creativesand portfolio students were asked,

“How long will you stayat your first agency?”

here’s how they answered...

6%

82%

12%

<1 year 1-3 years 3+ years

Creative directors havethe same expectationsfor their junior teams.

94%

6%

<1 year 1-3 years 3+ years

That’s an awful wayto run a business.

Imagine running a schoolor a hospital with

that kind of turnover.

Replacing talent can mean:

• Airfare for new interviewees

•Hotels and dining expenses

•Headhunter fees

•Hiring freelancers in the interim

• Time spent bringing new hires up to speed

Every. Three. Years.

But what if juniors stayed longer?

What if they had reason to?

When the same junior creatives andportfolio students were asked,

“What would keep you at an agency longer?”

here’s how they answered...

24%

39%

11%

26%

More money More opportunities to do creative workMore responsibility on accounts More mentoring from creative directors

But here’s howcreative directors answered...

25%

45%

10%

19%

More money More opportunities to do creative workMore responsibility on accounts More mentoring from creative directors

Creative directors undervaluetheir role as mentor.

Are junior creatives likely to get the mentoring, money and

creative opportunities they want?

Juniors and students think so.

6%

27%

58%

8%

Very unlikely Unlikely Likely Very likely

CDs are even more optimistic that juniors will be rewarded.

6%

32%

47%

15%

Very unlikely Unlikely Likely Very likely

But remember, creative directors think juniors want money more

than mentoring.

So juniors will move onin three years...

even if they get more money.

And CDs expect them to leave...

without realizing they’re not getting everything they want.

That’sTHE MENTOR GAP

Giving junior creatives the mentoring they crave

helps retain them.

And that in turn:

• Strengthens the agency’s culture

•Cultivates the agency’s creativity

• Improves the agency’s bottom line

That makes sense to

• Junior creative teams

•Creative directors

• Agency principals

That’sTHE MENTOR EFFECT

VisitMentorEffect.comfor the full report.

Visit www.makinads.comA blog for students of advertising, portfolio school hopefuls,

and anyone else putting their book together.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

© 2010 Greg Christensen