Close-Up: Live Issue - Is there a dearth of senior planners?(Industry overview)

Why are agencies in the UK finding it difficult to fill their top planning positions, Noel Bussey asks.

For the past six months, JWT has had the unenviable task of finding a head of planning.

After meeting numerous pros-pects, the agency settled on Hugh Duthie, a talented Canadian planner who has spent his entire advertising career working on the other side of the Atlantic.

While there is nothing approaching a crisis in senior planner recruitment, Duthie's hiring could be seen as indicative of a shrinking pool of UK senior planners in which to fish.

The head of strategy role places huge demands on individuals. Not only do they need to be able to create strategies for clients, they also have to run a big department and help senior management steer the agency Even if someone is a brilliant planner, they may not be suited to higher management roles.

Russ Lidstone, the chief strategy officer and managing partner at Euro RSCG London, says: 'This is known as the Peter Principle. Planners often feel uncomfortable running departments because it's not what they were trained for.'

The talent pool is being further drained by the demand for planners in other disciplines. As well as being tapped up for jobs in foreign markets, planners who started their careers on the creative side of the business don't generally feel the need or desire to stay in the industry when faced with senior management positions.