• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 31, 2011

In a bid to address the shortage of advertising and marketing talent in China, WPP, the Dublin-based ad holding company, has teamed with the Shanghai Art & Design Academy (SADA) to establish of the WPP School of Marketing and Communications, the organizations confirmed today.

A 2010 McKinsey Global Survey found that senior executives in China ranked marketing among the top four disciplines where they expect to find difficulty recruiting talent. An earlier 2008 McKinsey study reported that 44% of executives at Chinese companies said insufficient talent was the biggest barrier to their global ambitions. 

The WPP marketing school, which opened its doors in September, is located on SADA’s 218-acre campus in Shanghai. According to WPP and SADA, it is China’s first professional marketing and communications three-year diploma program, bringing together what they stated was “a strong academic and creative curriculum combined with practical application.”

The inaugural class has 50 students selected from a pool of 1,358 SADA candidates. SADA is part of the Shanghai Guosheng Group, a state-owned investment holding company.

“China is currently facing a shortage of talent, particularly in the fields of marketing and communications, which is expected to become more acute in coming years,” stated WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell.  As the largest marketing group by revenue (approximately $15 billion), Sorrell added, “WPP is committed to helping China to develop a professional, and creatively talented workforce in this sector.” 

It is in WPP’s interests to address the shortage of Chinese marketing professionals. The company has repeatedly said that China and the entire Asia Pacific region are top priorities for expansion and revenue growth.

Currently, Greater China is the company’s fourth-largest market, with revenues surpassing $1 billion, per WPP, which employees 13,000 people at various agencies and marketing firms there. According to ad spend tracker RECMA, GroupM, WPP’s media arm, was the top agency network in the Asia Pacific region in 2010 with $13.6 billion in billings.

WPP will work with SADA to develop the school’s curriculum and hire full-time faculty. TB Song, chairman of both WPP Greater China and Ogilvy Greater China, will serve as dean and will lead the school’s board of directors. Senior staff from WPP companies will serve as part-time faculty. WPP will also provide internship opportunities to students.