We’ve all heard about the meteoric rise of Pinterest, the hottest new social network around. We’ve read stories about how it has revitalized entire industries and op-eds commanding every business to start a Pinterest account like, yesterday.

But are marketing and PR professionals listening? Apparently not: A survey developed by The Creative Group found that a whopping 44% of ad/marketing execs have “no current interest in using Pinterest for business purposes”; only 7% have accounts, and only 1 in 10 plan to get involved in the near future. (Here’s a handy infographic!)

Most tellingly, 18% are interested but wary, describing themselves as aware of the service but “still hesitant about using it for business purposes.” Why is this?

Read more

Recruiter The Creative Group surveyed 500 advertising and marketing executives to find out what’s causing the most interruptions to their work throughout the day. The answer: Co-workers popping their heads into your office.

More than a quarter (27 percent) of respondents said these impromptu stopping bys are the biggest distraction. So shut the door, put up a sign, or hang some curtains if you’re sitting in one of those fishbowl-style office spaces. Whatever you do, find a way to (nicely) tell your colleagues to check back later because you’re busy.

The Creative Group Hiring Index for Marketing and Advertising Professionals found that hiring for the second quarter could be at a virtual standstill.

The recruitment firm interviewed 500 pros (375 marketing execs at companies with 100 or more employees, and 125 from ad agencies with 20 or more staffers) and found that 80 percent expect no changes in staff size, up four percent from the previous quarter. Only 13 percent will add full-timers in the next three months.

Read more

The Creative Group, a recruitment firm for marketers and interactive and design pros, has conducted a survey of 500 advertisers and marketers, finding that while there’s a lot of chatter going on at their offices, it’s mostly harmless.

Read more

Public relations is proving to be one of the few bright spots in the current struggling U.S. jobs market. Census data shows that while those who majored in PR (and advertising) are making about the same as those who majored in areas like English and journalism (median earnings at $48,000), unemployment is at 6.1 percent, the lowest of the bunch.

The national unemployment rate in October was 9 percent, down from 9.1 percent. The economy also added 300,000 available jobs last month, showing some improvement.

Read more

National research conducted by The Creative Group (TCG) finds that 22 percent of executives have plans to add full-time staff over the next three months. That percentage is up from the 10 percent who said they planned to hire in the previous quarter.

TCG is a a recruiting firm for PR, marketing, interactive pros, and other in the marcomms industry. The data collected for this study, The Creative Group Hiring Index for Marketing and Advertising Professionals, was collected during 500 phone interviews with 375 marketing execs at firms with 100 or more employees and 125 advertising execs at agencies with 20 or more employees.

When asked which areas they expected to hire, 10 percent of responses were “PR.”

Read more