2016 forced network agencies to address ‘softer’ issues ranging from gender sensitivity to diversity hiring. J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was no stranger to that with an incident of its own, with ex-CEO Gustavo Martinez’s allegedly racist, sexist and anti-semitic comments in the public eye. On the upside, the agency performed exceptionally well at Cannes Lions 2016. BrandWagon’s
Shinmin Bali speaks to Matt Eastwood and Senthil Kumar to recap their journey of managing the agency’s creative product, the weight of 80 Lions and more. Excerpts:
What are the changes you have effected at the agency in recent times?
Eastwood: What I try to bring in to the agency is setting creative goals, forming a process and the rigour needed for it. We have recently wrapped up the regional and global creative council meetings, putting in a new scoring process. We have built our global awards programme around how we manage the work. Last year, all the work that was entered into Cannes Lions had to come through me where I was monitoring everything, helping offices with ideas and maybe teaming them up with an office, say, from another country, so that it brings an outside perspective.
Another aspect is talent. The ad industry for many years drew from the same type of schools and universities. We worked quite actively to upend that, particularly, to enable tech. We have tried deliberately to change the demographic of the people that work for us so that they are not just from middle-class, suburban backgrounds. Our CEO, Tamara Ingram, says, “Hire from the street,” and I love that because it means getting different points of view on board. The creative business of advertising is so different now because you can hire somebody who has done say, a scriptwriting course. Of the 80 Lions we picked up, about 75% were enabled by tech, especially the Grand Prix.
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Kumar: When we have the opportunity to come up with something that is beyond advertising, the power of technology lifts the idea. We, from our positions are trying hard to do that. The global creative council is a group of under 30 people handpicked by Matt, as sounding boards or makers. They are the ones who will come up with the technology ideas. Inspired by that we have come up with the South Asia Creative Council as well from across eight offices and diverse backgrounds. There is a reverse churn happening in the industry where people who left the ad industry for tech companies are coming back, which is helping us build a new culture using tech to enable ideas.
The past three-four years has seen a lot of exciting work from JWT. Has that drawn in new clients?
Kumar: We have got new clients but that is not what is driving the change. It’s the shift from creative people being just ideators coming up with an idea and handing it over to somebody else to get it done, versus creative people wanting to do it themselves. That is what has caused ideas like the Blood Banking app, or even the work on Nike.
How important is it for an ad agency to remain politically correct?
Kumar: I don’t think it should be encouraged, this divisive behaviour of what topic you should touch. If we believe the cause and creativity can help in any way to lift the cause or make a big difference in society, then we should go out and do it. Artists like us should not be politically correct. We should be true to the idea and what we want to say. If you can start a conversation about something important, as a creative person, you have done your job.
What defines the image of an agency while addressing a controversy like JWT did in the case of Gustavo Martinez?
Eastwood: In a way we are judged exactly how a brand is judged. We have to actively promote an industry that is diverse and inclusive. Something happens that heightens your awareness of it. And that is what happened to us. Going by the way we responded and the fact that we are trying to build a more diverse and inclusive culture, we are trying to make sure that as an industry we are not made up of people from the same cultural backgrounds. When you bring in those divergent points of views, only then does advertising get really interesting. And that is something we owe to our clients because we are not selling only to middle-aged white people in the suburbs.
Did the issue tangibly affect JWT?
Eastwood: Obviously it had a massive effect on us as a company and made us look inward. From a business point of view, it had a briefer effect on the financials. For a minute, everyone there was just not sure what to do. But I think that went away quite quickly and we got back to doing what we do. Certainly the addition of Tamara as CEO was a very public statement where people could see a corrective strategy in place.
Post the 80 Cannes Lions in 2016, has your approach to business or creative work changed? With what mindset will JWT approach the 2017 awards season?
Eastwood: The great thing is that success encourages more success. If you have stood up on the stage at Cannes, it is something that you want again and again. Of course we all feel the pressure of the wins last year but it is a fantastic ambition to have. I don’t think clients care about awards, they care about buzz. That’s what Cannes Lions did for us. We got new clients approaching us based on things they saw us do at Cannes, particularly around tech. That’s how we got to working with Microsoft in Netherlands, based on them seeing The Next Rembrandt.
Kumar: We topped the Gunn report in 2016. We have been Agency of the Year nationally for three years now; we have got to maintain that. The dream is that soon, we want to be Agency of the Year at Cannes; maybe we can start at Adfest, Spikes then get to Cannes. That’s the ambition.
