Tuesday, 14 April 2009 00:00

Dumbing Down

For years there's been a lot of worry in adland that the cleverest graduates don't choose advertising as a career, pressure on margins means agencies are cutting back on training, the industry's going to hell in a handcart.

I don't agree.

Partly thanks to the plannersphere we have a generation of (self) trained brand communications professionals that are smarter than ever.

The IPA Diploma supplement is out with Campaign today. I am a judge on the awards and set some of the delegate reading list. The essays were fantastic. It's a cliché but the standard was so high it was hard to find a winner.

My personal favourite essay was 'The Age of Osmosis by Alex Dunsdon'. I love Alex' analysis of the primacy of Instinctive learning and that brands should focus less on the Idea and more on the notion of associations.

Have a read, be impressed and feel optimistic about the business.

Chris.