Adland is investing deep into digital and it's not just boosting its own bottom line. Multichannel graphic designers have seen a major boost in revenue as a result of carving out a niche in this speciality advertising area, according to a report from Ibisworld.
The report is forecasting growth from Australian advertising agencies will flow into specialised design services, resulting in a boost of 4% revenue growth over 2014/2015.
Much of this is based on the adoption of digital technology, which has led to bigger multichannel advertising and wider branding strategies, all of which require strong design.
Ideaworks executive creative director Tom Hoskins told AdNews the increased demand is “absolutely” something it has seen in its business. The GPY&R agency specialises in shopper and retail executions and Hoskins said the business has a specialised team which works on graphic messaging.
“Smart brands realise that they need to invest in graphic design or tangible experiences,” Hoskin said.
“Brands are investing in design much more than just a simple veneer of experience and the digital explosion has helped that become much deeper. So design has now almost permeated the whole way through from start to finish.”
Bloke creative partner Mike O'Rouke said his agency brings in graphic designers on a freelance basis when they are needed rather than outsourcing the skills, so he hasn’t seen this trend in his own business.
However he said design overall was starting to play a bigger role for marketers and brands.
“Design is solving a lot of people’s marketing problems because it goes across so many different channels. So you have to nail that first,” O'Rouke said.
“So many of our clients are coming to us and having a design problem first and then wee flesh it out into a whole look and feel. I think it's absolutely integral to advertising.”
The Monkeys is an agency that has invested heavily into design, with the acquisition of creative design studio Maud. But partner Mark Green said Maud exists in a very different arena to the designers who work within the creative team at The Monkeys.
“Branding is probably one of the first conversations that a business has in terms of how it communicates. That's a highly strategic and creative discipline that has its own skills,” Green said.
“That's why we have Maud as a business in its own right, because that’s something that marketers seek out in many instances before they even start talking about doing communicators.”
“I think businesses are putting more into how they communicate digitally and design is a big part of that. You can really tell, when you see great design in the digital realm, just how much it can impact experience,” he said.
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