Working Conditions of an Advertising Industry
Working conditions: what are the working conditions like in your area of specialisation? How does this relate to enterprise and entrepreneurism?
Falling under the umbrella of the media industry, the working conditions of advertising are both interesting and creative. In terms of its creativity, advertising is an industry “which [has] their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent which [has] a potential for job and wealth
creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property” (Hartley, J, Keane, M, Banks, J, Flew, T, Potts, J, Cunningham, S, 2012,). For workers, the environment of the advertising industry is complex and fast-paced. Many factors contribute to this working condition, including “…constantly changing transnational context of ties, relationships, demands, and pressures of colleagues, consumers, employers, and clients. was highly dependent on social networks” (Deuze, M, 2009). In addition to this, a worker can also enjoy a space to explore and produce their creative endeavours. Furthermore, the working conditions in the advertising industry are intense, demanding and involve a high level of interrelationship with fellow colleagues.
In the creative industry there is an emphasis on the “individualistic and idiosyncratic nature
of media workers.” As scholar Mark Deuze writes, this creates a context under which “contemporary trends such as workforce casualisation, technological and cultural convergence, and flexible productivity” can exist and perform (Deuze, M, 2009). However, in a study titled ‘A Very Complicated Version of Freedom”: Conditions and Experiences of Creative Labour in Three Cultural Industries’ high levels of causalisation in the industry can lead “to expressions of victimisation and anger on the part of many workers; a sense of being on the receiving end of harsh and aggressive treatment.” (Hesmondhalgh, D, Baker, S, 2009) In relation to this, the advertising industry also falls under the concept of entrepreneurism regarding the flexibility and free-lance nature of its working hours and conditions. It is therefore understandable that such temporal conditions can exacerbate the high levels of causalisation and stress as aforementioned. This sense of flexibility goes hand in hand with an agreement on the part of employees to take on such long and disjointed working hours. However, it is clear that “some workers highly value the freedom purportedly offered by the cultural industries”as it allows them room to explore their creativity and innovation.
As part of the media industry, advertising has a constant responsibility to be up to date with technology and social networking. Social networking, in particular, is a very potent and important aspect in the advertising field. In relation to this, the study conducted by D. Hesmondhalgh and S. Baker also found that this can burden “those not inclined to the dominant forms of sociality” in relation to age and ethnic dimensions. (Hesmondhalgh, D, Baker, S, 2009) Furthermore, “creative industries policy has strongly suggested that jobs in the cultural industries offer better experiences…through invocation of buzzwords such as ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ and that this partly justifies the use of public support to fund the expansion of these industries” (Hesmondhalgh, D, Baker, S, 2009).
A key factor to the working conditions of an advertising industry is the dominant theory regarding the influence of the working environment to the productions of work. Many companies have transformed their working spaces to allow a creative atmosphere. This was illustrated by the company SwiftKey in their innovation week. SwiftKey transformed their work place in a five-day long hack event with their London HQ “transformed into a fun, colourful, creative office space” (SwiftKey Blog 2015). Their main objectives was to stimulate surroundings. In order to achieve this they added bright colours and fun activities to many meeting rooms. To execute this they had a ball pit room filled with plastic balls, a forrest theme that had green lighting and lots of plants. Their second key factor was concentrated on creativity. Due to the fact that creativity can emerge from anywhere, SwiftKey hoped to encourage workers and spark ideas by allowing spaces to provide inspiration and time set aside for creativity. This method for working environments is becoming increasingly popular as many work spaces are introducing bright colours and fun furniture for a more vibrant and interesting work space with their logic enhance creativity. In relation to the physical space of working environments, a study conducted by …. found that “offices with high creativity potential have lower complexity, more plants, bright lighting conditions, windows, cooler colours, and a computer facility…[suggesting] that a good interior design of manager’s office environment could stimulate a manager’s creativity and could therefore contribute to an organisation’s innovation.” (Caylan, C, Dul, J, Aytac, S, 2008) Take, for example, a standard business office complex. Imagine an office filled with cubicles, desks, fluorescent lights and grey walls. Typically, many of these offices exist to produce work that is menial and repetitive. Advertising does not do this. In juxtaposition, the physical advertising work environment must stimulate and encourage the production of innovative and ground-breaking ideas. Furthermore, the working conditions of advertising are not isolated. Workers must be in constant interaction with one another to bounce of each other for ideas, critique each other and work as a team. To achieve this, many offices and advertising companies will have open spaces with no restrictions on communication.
As Mark Denzue states:
“the creative process of work in the media industries is a fascinating object of study. As the production of culture is in itself a cultural process. This means that neither the individual nor the company completely controls the production of culture. Elements of social structure (organisation of work, parameters set by time, budget and space, media ownership and so on), and the norms, values and ways of doing things of the professionals involved mutually influence each other.” (Deuze, M, 2009,)
It is therefore clear that there is a strong correlation between the physical working conditions within the advertising industry and their production of creative and innovative material. The advertising industry is unique in many aspects in regard to its physical space, working hours, clientele, and objects of production. It is clear that its enterprise illustrates the type of work being produced.
Reference list:
Caylan, C, Dul, J, Aytac, S, 2008, ‘Can the Office Environment Stimulate a Manager’s creativity?’, Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & service industries, Vol. 18, pp. 589–602, < http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hfm.20128/abstract Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing, Vol. 18 (6) 589–602 (2008)>
Deuze, M, 2009, ‘The Media Logic Of Media Work’, Journal Of Media Sociology, Vol. 1, pp. 22–26, < http://www.academia.edu/709282/The_Media_Logic_Of_Media_Work>
Hartley, J, Keane, M, Banks, J, Flew, T, Potts, J, Cunningham, S, 2012, ‘Key Concepts in Creative Industries’, SAGE Key Concepts Series, < http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzk4MDk1M19fQU41?sid=b92f34e8-74e5-4341-9477-b83c0f02d73f@sessionmgr4004&vid=2&format=EB&rid=1>
Hesmondhalgh, D, Baker, S, 2009, ‘A very complicates version of freedom: Conditions and experiences of creative labour in three cultural industries’, Institute of Communications Studies: University of Leeds UK, School of humanities: Griffith University Australia, < https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222825997_A_Very_Complicated_Version_of_Freedom_Conditions_and_Experiences_of_Creative_Labour_in_Three_Cultural_Industries>
SwiftKey Blog 2015, Transform your workplace into a creative office- in a weekend, Swiftly Blog, viewed 30 March 2016, < https://blog.swiftkey.com/transform-your-workplace-into-a-creative-office-in-a-weekend/>