Marketers are likely seeing more job opportunities in the United States with the recovering economic climate, but those with a penchant for travel may find that work comes easily in the Far East. In light of reports of increased ad spending, many marketers are finding big jobs in Asia with some of America’s leading firms.
American markets are seeing a robust recovery when it comes to ad spend, with an eMarketer report indicating that U.S. marketing budgets will show a 1.6-percent increase over pre-recession budgets in 2011. While this bodes well for new national marketing positions, growth in Asian ad spend is even more impressive. Asia-Pacific advertising budgets will increase by 6.6 percent in 2011 (10.1 percent excluding Japan). Asian countries except for Japan are predicted to demonstrate a 10.9 percent growth in marketing dollars by 2012.
Many marketers have already reaped the benefits of these growing budgets. The New York Times reports that international firms are increasingly shifting their budgets to Asia and hiring abundantly. For instance, the newspaper reports that marketer Shazrad Moaven recently left a job in London to take a position in Hong Kong with the Chinese-based international jeweler Carnet.
Moaven told the Times her new job is not only profitable, but it also offers a fast-paced, stimulating environment. “Things are just so much more dynamic [in Hong Kong]. Here, everyone is expanding and spending on marketing activities. That makes my job here a lot more interesting.”
Reports suggest there are plenty more jobs like Moaven’s to be had in Asia. Nirvik Singh, CEO of ad agency Grey Group Asia-Pacific, told the Wall Street Journal that China will drive a third of the growth in the world’s media marketing this year, and he says more companies are hiring top talent for Asian markets.
One such company is Google. Trading Markets reports that Google is recruiting global talent for its latest push in China following its loss of a significant share of the search market to China’s homegrown Baidu. Positions will span several divisions, including marketing, to help the firm focus on boosting its search services in China’s mainland. With this in mind, search marketers may want to conduct a few searches of their own about Asian cultures to see if life in China could suit them.
