1. TALENT
FORECAST
2015

2. Ask most advertising and marketing executives
about one of the pressing questions on their minds
and they’ll probably deliver the same answer:
What talent will we need to remain competitive
in the coming years? It’s a good question, and one
we’ll be answering in detail in Talent Forecast
2015, our first-ever report on the hot talent in
demand for the coming year.

3. We’re often asked to make predictions on key
talent trends across our industry. It’s the reason we
decided to publish this forecast, as a tool to help
organizations like yours hire the transformational
creative professionals you need to fuel the growth
of your business in the year ahead.
Our predictions are based on a combination of metrics and observations. First, we’re using our
internal hiring statistics to analyze various recruitment patterns, client talent requests and client-
candidate matches, then using that data to forecast for the year ahead. We’ve coupled that with
the anecdotal research our Nichers have conducted over the past year, including conversations
with clients, candidates, agency heads, CMOs and others at the forefront of the creative industry.
Our team is constantly asking key questions about who creative leaders are hiring, how they’re
leveraging creative talent and what strategic direction their businesses are taking.
From there we’ve conducted a thorough cross-industry analysis to arrive at the predictions
you’ll find in this report. Use it as a tool to chart your own path for success in an increasingly-
competitive global marketplace, where game-changing marketing talent can provide the
competitive advantage you’ve long been seeking.
Mandy Gilbert, CEO
Creative Niche

4. LEADERSHIP
New titles in the C-suite
Chief Brand Officer
Chief Data Officer
Chief Growth Officer
Chief Transformation Officer
Chief Innovation Officer

5. Tomorrow’s leaders will carry many of the
same skills as those of today, but with a twist.
On the agency side, changes are coming thanks
to pricing pressure and the growing number of
competitors. Marketing organizations, on the
other hand, are grappling with the integration
of technology and metrics, while still trying to
attract and retain the very best and brightest
in the industry. Where they share similarities
is in the need to differentiate their products
and services from competitors—and constantly
bolster profitability. Here are the leadership
trends we’re seeing emerge for both agencies
and marketing organizations:

6. AGENCIES ARE BEING FORCED TO
JUSTIFY THE VALUE THEY BRING TO
CLIENTS LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
In turn, this is forcing agencies to become
more flexible and transparent with their fee
structures, while embracing a lean business
model to maintain cost control. Agencies that
have already begun to move in this direction
are slowly re-establishing trust with clients by
providing them with greater control over costs,
timelines and marketing priorities. At the
same time, agencies are beginning to demand
greater transparency from their clients. That’s
because many have been burned when parts of
major projects have been transferred to other,
competing firms, making it nearly impossible
for them to not only stabilize their bottom
line, but also maintain the kind of creative
teams needed to produce transformative work.
Doing so will help boost agencies’ sense of
financial security and promote the improved
fee transparency and focused service levels that
clients are demanding.
We believe the lean approach will effectively
weed out antiquated agencies and raise
everyone’s game. This change is already taking
hold in key markets across the U.S. and Europe.
A STRONGER RELIANCE ON ANALYTICS
Because agencies are being forced to
demonstrate value to clients, many are making
unprecedented investments in analytics. That
data is allowing them to show the return on
investment their work delivers, while possibly
highlighting opportunities to further expand
their service offering. Those agencies that
invest in forming data departments will also
have the ability of build out management-
consulting practices. They can turn these
insights into client-focused solutions that
generate new revenue streams and help
improve profitability—both of which are key
leadership priorities for the coming year.
PRESSURE MOUNTS TO ACQUIRE
NEW CLIENTS
A key focus for agency leaders will be firm-
wide growth and business development. Since
agency-of-record opportunities are dwindling
due to the emerging strength of in-house
creative departments, agencies are shifting their
sales strategies from long-term accounts to
shorter-term projects. Gone are the days when
they relied on large accounts to fuel their sales
pipeline. That’s why we’re seeing a renewed
focus on developing sales teams that can deliver
a constant stream of new client leads. Another
interesting trend: an increasing number of
marketing teams are engaging specialist firms
for project work. They might turn to an agency
for its cool factor, brand awareness or social
media outreach capabilities.
Agencies - A new emphasis on running lean.
As agencies encounter growing competition from
both existing and emerging rivals, they’re also
finding that marketing in major organizations
is bringing creative services—including digital,
social media and even video production—in-
house. Why? It’s largely due to the demand for
transparency.

7. Marketing - Fourth best is no longer good enough.
The era when marketing leaders could expect
long and virtually uninterrupted tenure is over.
Leaders who fail to help their organizations gain
market share or earn top-three category status
should either develop a turnaround plan or start
the countdown to their dismissal. Those who
do reach this goal should be ready to focus on
another major priority: retaining and engaging
their top talent.
USING DATA AS A TOOL OF CHANGE
With the increased collection of data, it’s becoming more important for businesses to turn
that information into actionable tactics that can facilitate meaningful change. Of course, that
requires strong leadership, likely in the form of a Chief Transformation Officer who can use
the data to break down organizational silos make necessary operational shifts.
That brings us back to the relationship between agencies and marketing organizations. We
believe the recent trend of creative services being brought in-house to maintain cost control
will continue. That is, of course, unless agencies become more transparent and offer stronger
data to quantify their successes, or if another tough recession puts pressure on departments to
downsize and eliminate headcount.

8. DATA
What you can expect to pay:
Data Scientist $110,000 - $250,000
Data Architect $125,000 - $250,000
Information Designer $85,000 - $130,000
*based on geographic location and years of experience

9. The challenge for organizations of all sizes is
determining how best to collect, analyze and
interpret that data, then use it to develop a
coherent marketing strategy. It’s the reason
why marketing and data departments are
working closely together to leverage that data
and use it to market to their target audiences
or clientele. Marketers of the future will be part
traditionalists, part data specialists and part
tech specialists—or, at the very least, creative
departments will consist of specialists who
work in these respective fields.
THE DATA CRUNCHERS YOU NEED NOW
To build out your data department, you’ll need
to hire some key people. The first will be the
Data Strategist, a professional who determines
what data your organization needs to collect.
Next, you’ll need a Data Scientist capable of
mining data from multiple sources such as
social media platforms or credit card databases,
then defining clear, actionable patterns. The
scientist will then create an algorithm that
produces simulations which can be used to
optimize marketing strategy. How? By enabling
the market to choose the best possible outcome
using predictions based on those patterns,
all of which can be put to work in honing the
organization’s marketing strategy. The Data
Architect will work closely with the Data
Scientist to design the database that will house
the terabytes of data sources and algorithms to
produce those simulations. After all is said and
done, these results need to be communicated
to the rest of the organization and the most
effective way to do that is through data
visualizations.
Enter the Information or Data Visualization
Designer. They’re the ones who articulate
data and make it understandable for average
marketers and others across the organization
using tools such as infographics or the Java
Script library D3.
The key point is this: if data isn’t a major
component of your strategic marketing
approach, it should be. That means you’ll need
the right professionals to produce, organize and
determine exactly what that information means
for your clients—then use it to produce game-
changing marketing campaigns.
Marketing’s latest revolution is being driven by
data. Advanced analytics tools are providing
marketing, creative, advertising and media
agencies with reams of information they could
once have only dreamed of acquiring. In many
cases they now know what, when, how, where
and even why their target audiences or clientele
are interacting with their content or platforms.
Depending on the organization, this information
is being used to achieve everything from improved
operational efficiencies and risk management
strategies, to improved productivity and more
targeted marketing to consumers.

10. MARKETING
& STRATEGY
+5% (2012 to 2014)
One of the fastest growing marketing
hiring categories is content
development, as organizations
continue to invest in improving
everything from SEO to blogging.
*based on Creative Niche’s internal data

11. The result: marketers are having to work harder
to connect with consumers, and in turn are
working more closely with their media agencies
to develop the tools and strategies to achieve
those goals.
DATA REVOLUTION
TRANSFORMING MARKETING
That’s why marketing is working hard to
bridge gaps in areas such as technology,
finance and sales—to name just a few.
Marketers will increasingly be asked to work
with professionals experienced in mining
and manipulating prescriptive data who can
help drive strategic decisions—as well as find
creative new ways to work with the data itself.
To complicate matters further, the pressure to
justify marketing budgets is greater than ever.
That’s the reason why key metrics have become
a critical tool for analyzing the success of a
marketing campaign, while Data Analysts and
Analytics Specialists are in increasing demand
across organizations. As such, tomorrow’s
marketers will need to understand branding,
analytics, market augmentation, and still be
able to serve their clients. Those data-focused
specialists are driving home a key message:
gaining a comprehensive and complete
understanding of a client’s business model is a
precursor for success in today’s marketplace.
INTRODUCING THE HYBRID MARKETER
Sought-after marketers will also carry the
strategic and analytical skills to help them
improve return-on-investment from their work,
then leverage new technologies, social media
and the web to find innovative new ways to
drive ROI. They’ll be able to develop campaigns
and use advanced data collection techniques to
track their success, manage client relationships
and act quickly to respond to market changes
and plan their next initiative.
That’s why we’re seeing the emergence of
hybrid leadership roles across marketing
organizations and agencies—where IT
managers move to the marketing department
or agency, for example, or vice versa. Of course,
challenges are emerging for organizations
hoping to find top professionals with these
unique qualifications, not to mention
identifying those capable of making the cross-
discipline leap.
These hybrid roles often mean changes to
structure and that can be disruptive. Senior
leadership will need to support individuals in
these positions by giving them the necessary
autonomy to make changes, manage budgets,
eliminate redundancies and hire new people.
It’s critical, therefore, that the vision and plan
for change is communicated effectively to
employees. Securing their support will be the
key to success for most organizations.
In short, the marketers of tomorrow—even
more so than their colleagues from past
generations—will display uncanny professional
flexibility and a passion for life-long learning.
It should come as no surprise that their
knowledge base will be more in-depth and
diverse than at any time in recent memory.
Changes to marketing and strategy requirements
are being driven almost entirely by the revolution
in digital and other communications technology.
While those transformative technological
developments are proving to be largely positive,
the marketplace has changed dramatically.
Consumers and target clients have become far
savvier and less willing to accept the ‘hard sell’
than they may have in decades past. Reaching a
target demographic is far faster due to technology,
but now those targets have far greater control
over the messages they receive and the platforms
on which they receive them.

12. DIGITAL
& SOCIAL
+6%
Increase in hires year-over-year in
the digital and social media space.
*based on Creative Niche’s internal data

13. That said, responsive design is now smart
design, so staying a step ahead of the
latest and greatest digital developments is
more important than ever. That’s why it’s
important to note that nothing on the digital
front is possible without skilled developers.
Their talents will be in high demand for the
foreseeable future. But as new developers
enter the marketplace, those with the most
comprehensive and diverse skill sets will
remain the most highly coveted. One of their
enticing qualities will be an inherent ability
to adapt to that fast-shifting landscape, along
with a constant drive to upgrade their skills.
That might also include a desire to learn design
protocols for wearable device interfaces and
apps. Expect to see a surge in demand for
developers (and even digital content producers)
specializing in creating everything from apps
to interfaces for wearable technologies such as
watches and even Google Glass—if the bulky
digital glasses ever manage to shatter their way
into the mainstream marketplace.
A SPOTLIGHT ON USER EXPERIENCE
Making those devices appealing to a wide
range of consumers will mean improving user
engagement, which is why so many agencies
and large organizations are working to build
their user-experience design departments. In
the past, a visual designer may have created
work that would be adapted across platforms,
but digital projects are now being driven
with a primary focus on user-experience and
interactivity. New roles such as that of the UX
Architect and UX Strategist have emerged,
neither of which were in existence just a
decade ago.
At the same time, your next digital hire just
might be a Digital Analytics Analyst, someone
with expertise in collecting and interpreting
the data you’ll be collecting through all of those
digital devices and platforms. And if predictions
are to be believed, a great deal of that content
will come in video form. Organizations will
produce an increasing amount of video content
to appeal to their time-pressed audience or
clientele, whose preference for watching over
reading is only becoming more pronounced. It’s
why you might soon be posting ads for video or
motion graphics specialists who can make that
content as attractive as possible.
A STRATEGIC SHIFT FOR SOCIAL
MEDIA SPECIALISTS
That brings us to social media, which will
continue to be a huge part of our lives and
an integral consideration for any agency or
marketing department. Tomorrow’s social
media specialists will need to to do more than
simply write and post content. They’ll need
to be able to develop strategy, analyze data,
conduct a quantitative analysis of that data,
then deliver a presentation of key findings to
clients. The ability to work with social listening
tools such as Radian6 and Sprinklr will be
a prerequisite for any social media content
specialist or community manager. Your next
social media hire will be able to combine the
media approach of a traditional agency, but
place it into a hybrid content strategy that
maximizes online and social engagement.
And if they’re not already, there’s a very good
chance these digital professionals will became
an essential part of your organization.
While the digital and social media landscape is
in a constant state of flux, one thing remains
the same: the demand for professionals versed
in mobile app development and responsive
design will continue to grow. The reason is that
brands are more eager than ever to connect
with consumers wherever they may be—which
explains why so many are creating native apps
and mobile responsive websites to engage with
target audiences in their own, unique digital
environments, rather than relying solely on a
traditional desktop-optimized website as their
primary point of digital interaction.

14. DESIGN
What you can expect to pay:
Senior Designer $75,000 - $100,000
UX Designer $70,000 - $110,000
Motion GFX Designer $60,000 - $75,000
*based on geographic location and years of experience

15. Great contemporary design has to engage its
target audience across media platforms. A
designer needs to think about user experience,
engagement and interactivity. It’s not just
about look and feel anymore. They need an
understanding of how to translate material
from being one-dimensional, to being viewed
and understood online across the wide array of
touch points at their disposal. They also need
to understand how various designs interact
with each other—think of how retailers are
rebranding themselves with highly immersive
in-store and online experiences that work
together seamlessly. That’s the reason why
we’re also seeing the integration of augmented
reality in print using apps like Layar, for a
entirely new level of interactivity.
New design skills in demand
That brings us to the recruitment process
for hiring designers—particularly the skills
you’ll want to see on their resumes. A major
assessment point for candidates: Can they
create visual representations of data? Taking
the reams of ‘1s’ and ‘0s’ your organization
collects when conducting market research or
interacting with customers, then translating
that information into actionable information
will require the deft hand of a skilled designer
with one foot each in the creative and data
worlds. Another key question: do they have
expertise in product and industrial design?
As most areas of marketing become less
siloed, designers need to be more flexible than
ever. That means being ready to apply their
skills to virtually any medium—sometimes
at a moment’s notice. Tomorrow’s designers,
in other words, will be purists capable of
delivering on multiple mediums and across
different materials.
But what about soft skills? Beyond recruiting
designers willing to do what it takes to please
their clients—a must-have for any employer in
the creative industry—you’ll hire people who
are capable of backing up the value of their
design choices using field research. Then,
they’ll be able to illustrate how their work
might help solve problems for your company
or its clientele. Design, therefore, is now as
much a strategic consideration as it is an
aesthetic one. As such, your next designer
will be capable of justifying design decisions
to clients. They’ll also be flexible and eager
to adapt to emerging trends and technologies,
while leveraging design processes that are
as much about collaboration and a holistic
approach, as they are about inspiration
and creativity.
Despite the seismic shifts across the design
industry in recent years, branding remains
the basis for great design. As a discipline,
design was once primarily about aesthetics.
If a designer was good at alignment, branding
and typography, they were a success.
Now, it is just the beginning.

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*The facts and figures presented in this publication are based on Creative Niche’s proprietary data.
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