4As to raise the skill bar
Association banks on Boomerang scheme to boost ad industry
PUTTING the adage “you reap what you sow” into practice, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) is striving to improve a glaring issue plaguing the ad industry – talent shortage and retention.
One of the ways, is to make it mandatory for all agencies and their staff to attend training sessions – formal and informal – to reap the benefits of innovation, quality work, productivity and clients faith in the agency and ad industry on the whole.
By banking on the Boomerang Membership Accreditation Programme (BMAP), the association aims to raise the bar in professionalism and improve the above issue to strengthen the industry in years to come.
Under the programme, BBDO Malaysia general manager Farrah Harith McPherson tells StarBizWeek that an agency, depending on its size, is mandated to send staff for continuous training every year to attain minimum accreditation points to be an eligible member of 4As.
“It’s not a one-size-fit-all type of training under the BMAP. A smaller agency needs only to send one or two staff per year for training while the bigger ones will need to send more.
“The programme encompasses formal and in-house training. The former is arranged by the association, for example, the UK-based Chartered Institute for Practitioners of Advertising (IPA) qualifications.
“The latter is arranged by the agency itself but it must inform 4As the subject matter of the training and the profile of the speaker(s) before attending the training to secure accreditation points.
Agencies who apply to participate in awards like the Effies and Kancil can also secure points for accreditation under the BMAP, as it is seen as an act of doing beyond their existing scope of work, Farrah, who is also the 4As’ council member, says.
On the programme’s effectiveness on talent retention in the industry, she adds it is an effective way as high calibre talents always seeks training and learning opportunities in any agencies they are hired to further beef up their knowledge and relevant skills in the industry.
“So, if an agency lacks good quality training, they will lose out in attracting capable and calibre talents that will benefit the agency and the industry going forward,’’ Farrah notes.
The IPA programme is for young ad executives right up to senior managers, planners and account directors. For example, the IPA Foundation Certificate qualification, provides an essen- tial overview of the brand communications process. Knowledge that could take several years to acquire is now available through 35-hour online course.
While the IPA Commercial Certificate programme teaches future agency leaders the big picture of agency finance and everything from KPIs to contracts and fee structures. This will help open doors to leadership roles.
Ask whether 4As is looking to enhance and make BMAP more attractive, Farrah says agencies firstly need to be creative in solving training issues.
“Creativity is all about what you know and how one can bring it alive. The more you see and learn, the more creative you become and clients at the end will benefit from quality work from your insights and creativeness. There will also be higher retention of talents in a highly creative agency.
“The association is ever willing to help member agencies in facilitate their training needs. We are flexible in that regard and even though some agencies may have a restricted budget for training, we are there to help them resolve this issue and structure reward points for them under the Boomerang programme.
“Agencies can even conduct in-house courses and mentor-mentee training which the 4As will recognise and award Boomerang points,’’ she says.