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EACA targets professional standards through new International School of Advertising and Communications

Brussels, 2 April 2009: The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) has announced the launch of a new initiative to help raise professional standards across the communications industry by training and developing the skills and talents of its agency practitioners.

Starting in April 2009, the EACA International School of Advertising and Communications will focus on running high-quality training courses for agency employees in markets across Europe. The long term planning behind the curriculum will allow individuals to follow a development path throughout their career as well as offer a menu of courses to enable agency managers to select specific courses for their employees and thus maximise the return on their overall training budgets.

The EACA believes that it is only by raising their members’ professional standards that communication agencies will increase both their real and perceived value in the eyes of their clients and thereby ensure that their long term contribution is more highly valued and, ultimately, that they become more profitable.

The School curriculum has been planned around the three key skill areas required by practitioners throughout the industry:

· Craft Skills - the specific skills that individuals in the different communication disciplines require to do their jobs; these will range from creative, media and strategic skills to finance, production and writing/presentation skills.

· Business Skills - the skills needed to understand business, looking at how client companies work, the roles and interaction of the different departments and the role of marketing, sales, communication and procurement and the central roles of finance and operations.

· People Skills - the softer skills needed to work in, and manage, teams and ultimately run agencies. They include skills such as team building, leadership, negotiation, feedback and coaching.

Seven courses have been developed for 2009: Understanding client business, Effective digital communication, Account handling skills/Running international business, Creative idea generation and judgment, New business skills, CEO and senior management development and leadership skills & Marketing through the recession.

According to Micky Denehy, Founding Principal of the EACA International School: "The delivery of the courses will be aimed at engaging and inspiring our delegates. Our courses will be run with energy, passion and a focus placed on learning by doing, rather than relying on pure lecture-focused content. The School will commit itself to helping every delegate who enrols in one of its courses; the School aims from the outset to help improve the performance of individuals and through them raise the levels of professionalism across the industry."

Each course is a full two day programme and all the courses will be delivered by experienced practitioners who are also proven trainers in their own right, including Paul Burns, Stephen Greensted, Scott Paton and Steve Henry. The vision for the EACA International School is to become the premier pan-European training and education partner for the communications industry.

Gary Leih, Chairman & CEO Ogilvy Group UK and President of EACA underlines EACA’s commitment to helping its members establish training at the heart of the industry’s future. "We are very aware of the harsh economic climate facing agencies today, but research and experience has consistently shown that those who invest in training during an economic downturn are those best placed not only to survive but also to recover fastest and win the lion's share of new business when recovery is in sight," he said. "I urge agency managers across Europe to support the School in their local markets and, through developing our talent today, help secure a profitable future for our industry"."

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For more information please contact:

Dominic Lyle
EACA
152 Boulevard Brand Whitlock
1200 Brussels
Belgium

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) is a Brussels-based organisation whose mission is to represent full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe.

EACA aims to promote honest, effective advertising, high professional standards, and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies.

Direct: ++32 (0)2 740 0711
Mobile: ++32 (0)475 703 183
www.eaca.eu

The European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) is a Brussels-based organisation whose mission is to represent full-service advertising and media agencies and agency associations in Europe. EACA aims to promote honest, effective advertising, high professional standards, and awareness of the contribution of advertising in a free market economy and to encourage close co-operation between agencies, advertisers and media in European advertising bodies.