How Agencies Are Fighting Back Against Talent Raids by Tech Firms

Tech and marketing firms are hiring creative talent from agencies. Here’s how the agencies are winning them back. 

- Katie Richards

Never in her wildest dreams did Helen Pak think she would leave the advertising industry to do creative work for a technology company. Then, three years ago, while on set filming a big-budget commercial, the evp and co-executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi got a phone call out of the blue. It was Facebook, wooing her for its Creative Shop—a group of creative experts and digital natives charged with developing marketing campaigns for brands within the Facebook platform—as a creative strategist.

Pak was skeptical at first, but ultimately agreed to join the team after seeing some of Facebook’s most recent hires. Creative Shop’s chief creative officer, Mark D’Arcy, promised Pak the chance to work with top agencies and brands. “The cultural perks and the employee benefits were miles and miles ahead of the ad industry,” says Pak.

But despite all that, Pak, after just a year with Facebook, got an even more enticing offer from Havas Worldwide Canada: CEO and CCO. She simply couldn’t turn it down.

Pak is far from the first agency executive tempted to cross over to tech-dom. “You’re seeing more client-side companies hire more people from integrated or traditional agencies to go into management positions,” says Andrew Benett, global CEO, Havas Creative Group. Recent examples include Tor Myhren, former global chief creative officer at Grey, who joined Apple as vp, marketing communications; former Crispin Porter + Bogusky CEO Andrew Keller, who took on the role of global creative director of Facebook’s Creative Shop; TBWA executive creative director Rudi Anggono, who left for Google’s in-house agency; and Lars Bastholm, former CCO at Cheil USA and Rosetta, who landed at Google’s Zoo as global CCO.