February 2008 - Posts

• Philadelphia: ‘Home to the Country’s Most Talented Communications and Marketing Professionals’

  The Philadelphia Region's communications and marketing industry sector’s economic impact on the Philadelphia Region is $5.4 billion annually. Communications and marketing is the largest for-profit, creative industry in the Philadelphia Region, employing 67,300 workers with average annual wages of $55,800. Communications and marketing firms comprise nearly 25% of all creative industry employment in the Philadelphia Region. The Philadelphia Region's communications and marketing industry - defined in Creative Footprint as all industries/occupations relating to fields such as journalism, advertising, public relations, broadcasting, publishing, promotion, marketing and consulting - houses impressive highly-skilled employees. From 2003-2005, communications and marketing occupational employment grew by 19.7%. The region's communications and marketing employment growth in recent years sets the stage to enhance Philadelphia's reputation as a hub for communications and marketing. Notable Assets “Philly is a hip, progressive city that is home to some of the country’s most talented communications and marketing professionals.  It’s a competitive market, one of the places where the best can work with and compete with the best,” says Marisa Sharkey, President of Philadelphia Chapter of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Sharkey also notes how the communications and marketing industry in Philadelphia has grown more competitive in recent years.  “As more communications and marketing professionals are calling Philadelphia home, clients have a larger pool of talent for hire.” Peter Madden, President of local public relations and marketing company AgileCat, also praises that the Philadelphia Region has a real energy and authenticity to it that breeds creativity. “There are lots of young business owners in Philadelphia and this is a very interconnected city. I love that I can walk down the street and see seven or eight familiar faces in a row.  It is nice to see so many familiar faces in a big city,” said Brett Silver, Founder of Silver Marketing Group and SocialPhilly.com. According to the 2007 Philadelphia Business Journal's "Book of Lists", the region's largest communications and marketing firms, by number of local employees, include advertising agencies such as Star Group, Dorland Global Corp., and Cadient Group Inc., and public relations firms such as Dorland Global Public Relations, Vox Media Health-Care Public Relations Group and Gregory FCA. The top six advertising and top six public relations firms in the Philadelphia Region combined employ over 1,270 communications and marketing professionals, working for local and national accounts, such as Comcast, Saladworks, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, Wawa and many more. Industry Growth Monster reported that Philadelphia showed 63% growth within advertising/marketing/public relation’s jobs in 2007. Since late 2004, the index for marketing-oriented occupations has registered sturdy growth amid sharply rising help-wanted advertising for professionals throughout the industry. According to a recent Monster recruiter survey, companies are working harder to find qualified marketing professionals and over 70% of recruiters felt their need for marketing and creative professionals will increase this year. “[Philadelphia has] become more of an independent consultant’s market.  It seems that numerous practitioners are branching out on their own, and doing very well as organizations of all sizes are finding that they can contract experienced talent without the corporate overhead,” Sharkey says. To note, Creative Footprint reports 17.7%, or 6,500 individuals, of self-employed professionals within the creative industry sectors are communications and marketing professionals. A Creative Industry Sector on the Rise Creative Footprint reports the communications and marketing industry sector in the Philadelphia Region is 18% higher than the national average. At the national level, communications and marketing continues to grow in popularity as a high value employment industry. Sharkey says that sharing Philadelphia’s strengths and successes – the amazing work that comes from our talented arts and communications professionals needs to be seen by our peers in other markets - will help attract more young professionals to the Philadelphia Region. Marketing Philadelphia’s thriving arts and culture scene and gourmet restaurants may attract more professionals to the region as well.  Tell us what you think...   Posted Feb 27 2008, 04:36 PM by blogadmin with no comments

• Software Development, 'Philadelphia Puts a Premium on Superstar Talent'

  Innovation Philadelphia's new study Creative Footprint, has uncovered particular strengths within the following industry sectors: Software Development; Communications and Marketing; Architecture, Engineering and Planning; Graphic and Visual Arts and Multimedia Design; Product and Merchandising Design; and Information Technology. Over the next six issues, Innovation Matters is taking an in-depth look at the big six…and here’s what we’ve found about software development: The Philadelphia Region's software development industry sector economic impact on the Philadelphia Region is $5.9 billion annually. Software development, as an industry, employs 64,600 workers with average annual wages of $77,500. Software development firms comprise 21% of all creative industry employment in the Philadelphia Region. The Philadelphia Region's software development industry – defined in Creative Footprint as all industries/occupations impacting computer system and software production and service – boasts impressive highly-skilled employees. From 2003-2005, occupational employment grew by 12.4%. The region’s software development employment growth in recent years sets the stage to enhance Philadelphia’s reputation as a software development hub. Notable Assets "Philadelphia puts a premium on superstar talent," said Anthony Gold, Vice President & General Manager of Open Source Business, Unisys Corporation, and panelist at this year’s Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference in Philadelphia. The region’s software development industry includes firms, start-up businesses, strong employment and firms in other industries that utilize software developers. According to the 2007 Philadelphia Business Journal’s "Book of Lists", the region’s largest software development firms, by number of local employees, include CAI (Computer Aid Inc.), SunGard Higher Education, Bentley Systems Inc., Primavera Systems Inc., MEDecision Inc and Analytical Graphics Inc (AGI). Combined, these firms employ more than 2,500 locally and more than 8,500 nationally. There have also been many successful startups that built their business leveraging software development including CDNow, eCount,and SilverStorm, added Gold. To note, Creative Footprint reports 18.7% of self-employed professionals within the creative industry sectors are software development professionals. Other companies like Chariot Solutions, Mindbridge, Healthy Humans, Upstreme, Slamm Creative, Liquidhub, EnterpriseDB, and so many other hot companies in the region are replete with superstar software developers. “The obvious common thread amongst all these firms is their use of software developers to carve out a value-add differentiation in the market,” said Gold. Gold notes that the Philadelphia Region has a number of companies, large and small, in all industries that utilize software developers. “Giant firms like Unisys, Rohm & Haas, Lockheed Martin, Comcast, Vanguard, Sunoco, QVC, SAP and others – all which call the Philadelphia Region home – are dependent upon software development for the core of much of their business.” Strengths in Career Development Along with numerous career opportunities, the region boats many excellent institutions that develop a highly-skilled software development workforce.  Clifford R. Stevens, President of MyOwnITGuy, Inc. - The IT Staffing Company, touts the region’s strong education institutions, such as Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania, etc., and active software developer organizations, such as Philly Dot Net, Philadelphia Area Java Users Group, etc., that train highly-skilled software developers. Many software professors in the region are noted for their numerous publications and industry clout.  And, with cooperative education a regular staple in Philadelphia, students learn hands-on practical skills alongside their first-rate education, noted Gold. Robert Cheetham, President and CEO of Avencia Incorporated, a software development firm in the Philadelphia Region, encourages young professionals interested in software development as a career to read broadly, both inside and outside the software world to gain the knowledge necessary to advance in the industry. A Creative Industry Sector on the Rise Creative Footprint reports the software development industry sector in the Philadelphia Region is 40% higher than the national average. At the national level, software development continues to grow in popularity as a high value employment industry. As reported in MyPartTimePRO.com, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides a longer range projection that within the next eight years, wide-spread employment growth is forecast computer science professional-level occupations by nearly 25%. Computerworld.com recently named the "Hottest Skills for '08," with programming/application development, project management and technical support topping the list. As companies are continuing to Web-enable their existing applications there is a demand for people with AJAX, .Net and PHP skills. And with more and more organizations adopting Microsoft Corp's Silverlight 1.0 rich media software tools, this demand isn't going to end anytime soon. Creative Footprint illustrate the enormous potential the for-profit, creative economy, in particular the software development industry sector, holds in forming a new identity for the Philadelphia Region. Made a reality, this industry will offer economic benefits in the form of new jobs and new businesses and will increase the region’s competitiveness across the nation. This new identity will make the region a destination for all businesses thirsty for creative talent. Tell us what you think... Posted Feb 13 2008, 08:39 PM by blogadmin with 2 comment(s)

• Innovation Obstacles in the Workplace

  At Mythology LLC, our #10 pillar is Innovation, defined as "the next surprise designed to feed the addiction of being delighted with new value." One of our favorite thought leaders on the subject of innovation is Clayton Christensen of Harvard University. His book, The Innovator's Dilemma, took a groundbreaking look into how successful companies reach a peak and forget how to innovate. Why? Because their very success inhibits them from taking the risks necessary to render their current profitable products obsolete. The executives sitting on top of the cash cow will fight tooth and nail to protect their baby instead of supporting innovative new offerings that may challenge it. The result? An upstart competitor seizes the opportunity and does to them what they were unwilling to do to themselves in order to maintain leadership after a paradigm-shifting technology advance. One reason innovation declines over time in an organization is that the skills required by managers to run a company smoothly are very different from those of an innovative entrepreneur. We've all heard examples of the start-up executive who launched a successful venture only to get booted out later for being a poor manager once the business required more operational skills. What is a company to do? Here are just a few suggestions: Commit to innovation - Even though the executive team or board of directors may not be made up of innovators, they can make the smart business choice to affirm a culture of innovation and support a strategic plan to nurture it.  Recruit innovators - Talent is the oxygen of innovation; find people whose job it is to stay ahead of the curve, develop prototypes and connect future dots. Protect innovators - Most experts agree that setting aside a small group to develop the next wave of products or services is critical. At some point these ideas need integrated into the business, but an executive with a vested interest in protecting a cash cow is typically not the best person to be assigned the role of innovator. The pilot group should be a cross-disciplined team protected from the critical glare of the rest of the company, at least in the early stages. Align incentives - This is a challenging one, but also crucial. If your incentive structure inhibits risk-taking, then you get what you ask for. We want to hear from you! How innovative is your organization? How can a workplace foster innovation? Posted by Jeff James, Mythology Marketing Jeff is a 14-year veteran of Microsoft Corporation with deep experience in sales/marketing management to enterprise, small business, channel and consumer audiences. Jeff has led Microsoft’s Executive Circle relationship marketing program, developed national integrated demand generation programs, and lead numerous innovative marketing initiatives for Microsoft. Mythology is a marketing management services company partnering with senior executives to improve revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Based in beautiful Charleston, WV, with talented team members located from Philadelphia to Seattle, Mythology has the experience, vision and energy to build belief in your business. Posted Feb 05 2008, 01:48 PM by blogadmin with 2 comment(s)