Today, companies need to go digital to survive – and creative teams are under increasing pressure to innovate despite myriad business roadblocks. Get a look at the results of a new digital benchmarking survey of nearly 600 industry practitioners and learn how forward-thinking companies are trailblazing in this space. You'll also find out what skills and positions employers are willing to pay a premium for, and methods of recruiting and retaining hard-to-find creative talent.

1. © 2017 The Creativ e Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity EmployerM/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.

2. The state of digital by the numbers
Stepping up your digital game: lessons from industry leaders
Current hiring trends
Recruiting and retaining top talent
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.

3. Which departments are
responsible for digital marketing
initiativesfor your company?*
How would you rate your
organization’sdigital
marketingstrategy?
Marketing
Creative
Dedicated digital team
Outside agency/vendor
Technology
Source: The Creative Group survey of nearly 600 creative and marketing professionals with hiring authority. *Multiple responses permitted.
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Fair Good
Poor
Excellent

4. Source: The Creative Group survey of nearly 600 creative and marketing professionals with hiring authority
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
partner with external agencies
on digital marketing projects
TOP AREAS ASSIGNED TO AGENCIES:
Video production and photography
Web design and production
Mobile design and development
Information architecture and web development
Digital marketing strategy

5. Source: The Creative Group survey of nearly 600 creative and marketing professionals with hiring authority
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
work 50+
hours a week
think they work more hours
than colleagues in other
departments

6. Source: The Creative Group survey of nearly 600 creative and marketing professionals with hiring authority
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
TOP AREAS TO HIRE:
of creative teams
are understaffed
Web design and production
Print design and production
Project management
Video production and photography
Creative and art direction

7. Source: The Creative Group survey of nearly 600 creative and marketing professionals with hiring authority
© 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
TECHNICAL SKILLS MOST LACKING ON TEAMS:
say it’s challenging to find talent
with up-to-date digital skills
Data science, data analysis and A/B testing
Web and UX design
Content creation and content marketing
SEO, SEM and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing

8. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.

9. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
CollaborateAcross and Outside the Organization
General Electric Co.’s creative team:
Embraces cross-departmental collaboration
Reaches out to other business divisions to find GE’s most
compelling stories
Partners with agencies to bring stories to life
You often find the biggest insights from
people who are not in your walled garden.
– Andy Goldberg, chief creative officer

10. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Develop Agile, Cross-Functional Teams
A+E Networks’ designers:
Work on the digital side of the business (versus one brand)
Are part of Agile-focused teams that include product owners,
developers and QA professionals
Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to gather real-world
feedback to iterate
The digital industry changes so fast that
you need a team mindset that’s very
open to change and transition.
– Bob Calvano, vice president of design

11. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Structure In Time for Innovation
Microsoft’s creative team:
Tackles projects with three time frames to manage and plan for
current, near-term and future business requirements:
The next few weeks
The next six months
The next three years
Innovation is more rewarding — and a
lot more fun — when we design for real
customer problems.
– Joe Hallock, principal design manager

12. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Hire “T-Shaped Individuals”
IBM Watson’s designers:
Each bring a different skill set to the table
Work on small, cross-disciplinary teams that include front-end
developers, back-end developers and project managers
Plan work around their resources and talents
It’s extremely rare to find people who are
good at everything.
– Carol J. Smith, senior design manager

13. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
EncourageOngoing Communication Among
Creative, Marketing and IT
Hire someone with a digital-first mindset who can think through
issues and talk through technical details
Learn to speak the same language
We’d love the design, marketing would
love the design, but then the digital
team would say, ‘It doesn’t work.’
– J. Dontrese Brown, chief creative officer

14. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.

15. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Technology,
design and
marketing
are going through
a profound
change
Unemployment
rates are low and
hiring competition
is intense

16. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Drivers of the
Digital Revolution
Social
Technologies
Internet of
Things
Mobile
Technology
Robotic
Automation
Blockchain &
Virtual Currencies
Biometrics &
Voice Recognition
Drones
FinTech &
RegTech
Big Data &
Decision
Science
Cloud
Computing

17. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Unemployment
rates are low and
hiring competition
is intense
Technology,
design and
marketing
are going through
a profound
change
Hard and soft
skills carry equal
weight

18. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
HARD SKILLS:
Design tools
Video production/motion graphics
UX/UI
Programming languages
Content management systems
Customer experience
Digital strategy
Project management

19. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
SOFT SKILLS:
Communication
Collaboration
Empathy
Problem solving
Creative thinking/innovation
Power of influence
Ability to attract and retain top talent

20. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Unemployment
rates are low and
hiring competition
is intense
Technology,
design and
marketing
are going through
a profound
change
Hard and soft
skills carry equal
weight
Compensation for
in-demand skills
is rising

21. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.

22. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
of workers plan to
ask for a raise this
year
say they have
never checked their
salary against the
going market rate
would look for a
new job if their
request for a raise
was declined
Source: Robert Half survey of morethan 1,000U.S. workers employedfull-timein office environments

23. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Unemployment
rates are low and
hiring competition
is intense
Technology,
design and
marketing
are going through
a profound
change
Hard and soft
skills carry equal
weight
Compensation for
in-demand skills
is rising
Retention is top
of mind

24. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Limited opportunities
for career growth
Job boredom Inadequate
compensation
and benefits
Excessive work Unhappiness with
management
Lack of recognition
Source: The Creative Group survey of more than 400 advertisingand marketingexecutives

25. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Devise a
marketing
plan
Refine your
pitch
Conduct
situational
interviews
Move quickly

26. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
Create a sense of purpose
Recognize individual differences
Have career path discussions
Support professional development
Pay competitively

27. © 2017 The Creative Group. A Robert Half Company. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/Disability/Veterans. All rights reserved.
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