How to traverse a non-linear career in media - with TheZoo.London's Rachel Forde and Marco Bertozzi

This week, The Media Leader is running a week in focus centred on talent and leadership. For years, industry leaders have warned media and marketing is facing a talent crisis. Mental health struggles and burn out was common especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, and rounds of consolidation and layoffs have taken a toll on everyone from senior leaders to junior hires. Rachel Forde and Marco Bertozzi are co-founders of TheZoo.London, a talent solutions agency that operates a consultant collective and executive search function for individuals with strong experience in the industry seeking to offer their services in an independent or fractional capacity. Both Forde and Bertozzi are veterans of the media industry themselves, with Forde previously working as CEO of Spark Foundry and later UM, and Bertozzi a former EMEA president at Whalar, former EMEA sales VP at Spotify, and former global CEO of performance marketing at Starcom. The pair returned to The Media Leader Podcast to speak with host Jack Benjamin about how agency consolidation and AI has impacted talent this year and offer advice to leaders navigating job loss and uncertainty. While they argued it's not "all doom and gloom" in the media industry right now, they acknowledged pickings are slim for junior talent while senior talent "are not being treated well by companies, by headhunters, by processes on LinkedIn." Highlights: 5:21: Why Forde and Bertozzi founded TheZoo.London and how they manage self-employment 8:37: Agency restrctures, 'deep cuts', and AI efficiencies 14:03: Advice for senior leaders versus junior staff 21:26: How changing agency remuneration models will impact talent 28:24: Is the industry socialising enough? Advice for networking and meeting face-to-face 'with no agenda' 36:41: Takeaways from interviews with senior industry leaders Related articles: Strategic thinking is biggest skills gap in marketing, WFA-Mediasense report finds The media industry needs to open doors, not just talk about inspiring talent Why is marketing and media’s talent problem following us into the AI era? Why talent needs mentors, not machines