Expert calls for innovation in marketing

The advertising industry needs to adopt a more innovative approach to marketing recruitment and management, according to a media expert.

Though the advertising and marketing service sectors "is still one of the most creative sectors you'll find", Chris Ingram believes that "the ad industry needs to be selling 'innovation' not 'creativity'", as "everyone wants innovation".

Advertising agencies have market capitalisation of less than £10 billion, despite playing a key role in the knowledge economy and Mr Ingram writes in Marketing Week that the agency model needs to adapt to changing markets.

Marketing senior executives are urged to turn creativity into a process in order to be successful and create teams that feature "varied talents and disciplines", giving them time to succeed and altering reward systems.

The government's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform claims on its Innovation Home Page that innovation is "the successful exploitation of new ideas" and "the key business process that enables UK businesses to compete effectively in the increasingly competitive global environment".