Our industry stinks

...and yes a company with high profile clients etc etc and all the other blah blah rubbish that is supposed to make you be able to sell yourself to whatever organization.

I started putting my feelers out to see what was happening and it all went down as follows:

So much to my slight dismay I open up the Wednesday work place and start the process of calling, (even though I know the best jobs are normally not advertised) the first question/barrier I get up against is the fact that I don't have a degree and I ask the "very capable" lady at the recruitment agency why and all I get is a dull silence and the answer "because that is what I need, my client wants someone with a degree".

What the hell is going on with our industry? All we have become are glorified accountants who like to call themselves brand managers. Not that I am God's gift to brands but common history has proved that the infamous degreed individual is not always the best qualified one. I studied and I studied branding at the Vega School and I can honestly say having been in large group type interviews beforehand with the likes of B Com students etc I have the same capabilities and probably a better education.

Surely we want people who "control" our brands to be free thinking, innovative individuals. And yes I know there must be some sort of benchmark, but should that be just a degree?

Lets face it, our industry is run by a bunch of glorified accountants who would hate to hire someone who thought slightly more right of centre than them. There is a chain missing in the link. Agencies are driven by commission (as much as they say they aren't), the brand manager is worrying about distribution and sales. Who is making the brand work? Who is making it innovate, evolve and revolutionize. But all we do is the same old same old, the stuff that worked last year and add 10% on to the budget and pray for the best.

Ultimately who cares when you are a large cellular or soft drink company? You are making billions of Rands profit is there really a need to innovate?

Will the real branding professionals please stand up and please turn your monolithic antiquated company's upside down.