Jean Michel-Wu, APAC CEO, Grace Blue Partnership presented on 'The Great Talent Shift: How Migration Is Affecting the Marketing Industry'

2. 22

3. Reasons for migrating to in-house
A result of social-cultural evolution
An effect of economic competition

4. Reasons for migrating to in-house
A consequence of resource distribution
Leadership as a strategy

5. 5
A seismic change in consumer behaviour is driving change
A shift in
consumer
behaviour –
fuelled by
technology
Connected
Mobile
consumer
Changing
commercial
habits from
quantity to
quality
Curators of
content
Personal-
isation
Desire to
participate
& engage

6. 6
A lack of
transparency

7. 7
Destabilizing past structures

8. 8
Creative Industry
Consolidation

9. 9
Gig Economy

10. 1010
Migrating to the Gig economy

11. 11
Migration towards the gig economy is well under way on both sides
Gig Economy
9%
19%
48%
2014 2017 2020
GettingTrendy 2017 - How large organizations are driving the growth of the contingentworkforce, Expert 360, 2018
Large companies planning a
+20% contingent workforce
3.2m
Australians doing some form of
freelance work (30%)
1.27mAustralians classed as
independent contractors

12. 12
Democratising how marketing activity is delivered
Brands /
Tech
companies
Agency /
Prod. Co
Freelancer
Agency /
Prod. Co
Freelancer
Brands /
Tech
companies
Agency /
Prod. Co
Freelancer
Agency /
Prod. Co
FreelancerFreelancer Freelancer

13. 13
On the surface, the motivations are aligned
Specialist
projects
Specialist
skills
Flexible
staffing
Flexible
working
Higher day
rates than
salary
Cheaper
than FTE
No
Bureaucracy
Focused
teamsCompanies
Freelancers

14. 14
However, inherent market conditions create the turbulence in this
migration
Company Freelancer
MARKET
CONDITIONS
Scarcity
Competition
Lead times
Availability
Alignment of talent

15. 15
Many companies get caught out when finding freelancers
5 weeks 4 weeks 3 weeks 2 weeks 1 week 2 days tomorrow
Access to good
candidates
Access to ok
candidates
Lucky
dip
% of market
available
Access to best candidates
No timeframe
95% of market
available
Project kick off
Stress, time,
cost & risk
When most companies
start looking

16. 16
Market conditions also vary significantly across skillsets
Design UX/UI Creative Media Delivery

17. 17
Insuring against market conditions requires a different approach
1. Make freelancing planning part of business planning
2. Understand market dynamics before kicking off
3. Make sure needs are realistic to market
4. Start your search before you have an acute need
5. Build a larger bench than you will ever use
6. Give your freelancers early heads up on projects
8
Insuring against market conditions requires a different approach
1. Make freelancing planning part of business planning
2. Understand market dynamics before kicking off
3. Make sure needs are realistic to market
4. Start your search before you have an acute need
5. Build a larger bench than you will ever use
6. Give your freelancers early heads up on projects

18. 1818
Migrating to the Gig economy

19. 19
Migration towards the gig economy is well under way on both sides
Gig Economy
9%
19%
48%
2014 2017 2020
GettingTrendy 2017 - How large organisations are driving the growth of the contingentworkforce, Expert 360, 2018
The Emergence of the Gig Economy • August 2016
Large companies planning a
+20% contingent workforce
3.2m
Australians doing some form of
freelance work (30%)
1.27mAustralians classed as
independent contractors

20. 20
In the US, they predict more Freelancers than full timers by 2027
Freelancingin America: 2017, Upwork
57.3
59.7
62.2
64.8
67.6
70.4
73.3
76.4
79.6
83
86.5
90.1
102.7 101.3 99.7 98.1 96.3 94.5 92.5 90.4
88.2
85.9
83.4
80.8
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028
Freelancers Non-Freelancers
Projected future freelance size (Millions)

21. 21
Freelancing is democratising how marketing activity is delivered
Brands /
Tech
companies
Agencies
Freelancer
Agencies
Freelancer
Brands /
Tech
companies
Agencies
Freelancer
Agencies
FreelancerFreelancer Freelancer

22. 2222
Why does it feel hard then?

23. 23
On the surface, the motivations are aligned
Specialist
projects
Specialist
skills
Flexible
staffing
Flexible
working
Higher day
rates than
salary
Cheaper
than FTE
No
Bureaucracy
Focused
teamsCompanies
Freelancers

24. 24
However, inherent market conditions create the turbulence in this
migration
Company Freelancer
MARKET
CONDITIONS
Lead times
Scarcity
Competition
Availability
Rate variances

25. 25
Short lead times catch most companies out
5 weeks 4 weeks 3 weeks 2 weeks 1 week 2 days tomorrow
Access to good
candidates
Access to ok
candidates
Lucky
dip
% of market
available
Access to best candidates
No timeframe
95% of market
available
Project kick off
Stress, time,
cost & risk
When most companies
start looking

26. 26
‘Hidden’ market conditions often vary significantly across disciplines

27. 27
Freelancers often want different things to companies
Remote
working
Concurrent
projects
The working
week is not 9-5

28. 28
The reality of freelance market conditions
1. Freelancers can increasingly choose the projects they want
2. Longer, better paid, more interesting projects tend to be more attractive
3. The best freelancers are never sitting around waiting for work
4. Competition for talent is broadening
5. It is still hard for most companies to easily access the full scale of the freelance community

29. 29
Insuring against market conditions
Building flexibility and
agility requires planning
• Part of business planning
• Define capacity and
strategic Freelance needs
• Assign responsibility and
KPIs
1
Understand the market
dynamics and make sure
your needs a realistic and
desirable to freelancers
• Demand & supply
dynamics
• Rates
• Gig length
• Types of projects
• Working conditions
(e.g. remote)
2
Build resilience in your
freelance team
• Create an always on
freelance program
• Build a larger bench than
you will ever use
• Give your freelancers early
heads up on projects
3

30. 3030
Key findings

31. Asia Agency Migration at a
glance
How many senior marketers across Australia,
China and Singapore have agency experience?

32. 32
Australia Singapore China

33. 3333
This an Evolution, and not Just the Latest Trend

34. Trends
It’s not just big names and workplace
perks that attract creative talent from
agencies to corporate brands.
More places to work

35. Trends
A bigger picture
Selecting the best place to work

36. Questions to Ask
For Agencies: To attract a new generation of creative
people, agencies need to show what impact their work
will have on the client and on society. In addition to
pure creativity, is the work effective? Does it make
clients more successful? Does it improve the lives of
customers? Does it contribute to society?
For Clients: To develop more holistic creatives,
corporates need to provide a wide variety of problem-
solving opportunities that might be outside of
immediate commercial needs. What kind of operational
challenges can be solved creatively?

37. 3737
Hiring for the Future: Respect & Retention

38. Questions to Ask
For Agencies: How much consideration do you
give to talent development when you make a
new hire? Would your talent development
programme be comparable to that offered by
your biggest client?
For Clients: How much diversity to work across
different problems do you offer to your creative
talents? Does your workplace embrace and
inspire creativity?

39. 3939
Leading During A Migration

40. Six key characteristics
Obtaining support from the top
More places to work
Develop a preventive strategy

41. Six key characteristics
Frame your advantages
Position beacons

42. Six key characteristics
Strengthen the core
Adapting with courage

43. THANK YOU
+65 8499 83959 JEANMICHEL.WU@GRACEBLUE.COM