(l-r) Zac Kelly and Greg Graham.
The Experience Advocacy Taskforce (EAT) and freelance marketplace Unjumble are partnering to connect experienced advertising and marketing talent with Australia's 2.6 million small and medium businesses, as more than $183 million a year is estimated to leave the country on offshore freelance spend.
The partnership follows EAT's research, The Silent Exit, which found more than half of exits from Australia's advertising and media industry occur between the ages of 45 and 54, with involuntary redundancy the leading reason people leave.
The research found many experienced professionals remain willing to contribute through full-time, part-time, freelance and flexible work.
Greg "Sparrow" Graham, founder of the Experience Advocacy Taskforce, said the industry had been too quick to write off experienced talent.
"Advertising and media are losing too much experience too early,” he said.
“But the skills built in this industry don't disappear when someone leaves an agency role. Strategy, brand thinking, commercial judgement, marketing problem-solving, media, social and more are incredibly valuable to Australian businesses.
"At the same time, we're seeing an estimated $183 million a year flow offshore for freelance work. That's an extraordinary disconnect. There is experienced Australian marketing talent looking for meaningful work, and there are Australian businesses looking for marketing expertise; we need to do a better job of connecting the two.”
Zac Kelly, founder of Unjumble, said the partnership with EAT connects two sides of the Australian market.
"There's a huge amount of experience sitting within Australia's advertising and marketing community, and there are millions of small businesses that need exactly that expertise,” he said.
Graham said the opportunity extended beyond freelance work.
"We need to stop thinking about experienced people as yesterday's workforce. Their experience is an asset and Australian businesses need it,” he said.
"Whether it's a brand strategy, a go-to-market plan, a media strategy, a social campaign or simply helping an owner work out what their marketing should actually be doing, there are thousands of businesses that can benefit from the knowledge sitting within our industry.”
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