Ad Week: Human Relationships Still A Priority In Digital World

Dixons Carphone’s services business CEO is not a fan of “macho cultures,” IBM’s U.K. & Ireland chief marketer votes for candour, and RBS CMO revisits the issue of transparency.

It is easy to forget about the human touch when all things digital dominate the marketing conversation. However, on the third day of Advertising Week Europe 2017, there was much discussion about building strong and diverse teams and maintaining healthy relationships between clients and agencies.

Avoid Macho Cultures And Foster Diversity

Feilim Mackle, the chief executive of Dixons Carphone’s services business, revealed his “anathema” to male-dominated environments during a session on business transformation.

“I don’t like macho cultures at all,” said Mackle. “I like to have fun in life, and work hard, and create a team that is very diverse because you end up making better decisions.”

To illustrate his point, he highlighted how during his time at O2 the board had three women on it, which led to a “complete change” in the conversation.

He added: “It is proven beyond any reasonable doubt that diversity in any leadership team or organisation improves the quality of the outcome, the conversation, and decision making.”

Mackle also believes the “older style of command and control does not work for the modern workforce.” He advised the audience to create a sense of purpose in order to bind together an organisation.

Employees should be given space to develop because “they are people in their own right with their unique qualities, and they want the work to mean something to them,” said Mackle.

He concluded that the shift in attitudes within today’s workforce was the consequence of a gradual change over one or two decades rather than a sudden fundamental shift.

Do Not Shy Away From Candour

Avoiding a macho culture can cut out needless confrontation, but, at the same time, people should not be afraid to embrace candour.

During a panel discussion on “elephants in the room,” IBM U.K. & Ireland CMO Lisa Gilbert advocated the need for straight-talking.

She said if a business was going through a transformation—as IBM currently is—then time could be an enemy, and “the art of straight-talk or candour is something that is absolutely a must have.”

Gilbert believes candour “gets rid of ambiguity and cuts to the truth,” but she admitted it could have negative connotations and, as a result, advised it should be “used respectfully and with true care.”

In the same vein, notoriously outspoken creative director Dave Trott argued the issue with advertising was “the sole job of an ad agency is keep a client happy.”

“Nowadays the consumer gets lip service, but that is all it is,” said Trott. “It is nothing to do with the consumer any more, it is to do with profits, and holding onto that account, or winning that account. Clients call this collaboration, but it is obsequiousness.”

He called for a return to a time when good agencies would do work that enriches the consumer and goes viral by entering “into the language” rather than through “some dozy social media gimmick.”

Trott believes clients can help by involving the most senior marketer in the early stages of pitches to ensure the most radical ideas are not cut out at the early stage.

However, RBS CMO David Wheldon countered Trott’s argument by stating that, to train and develop his staff, they need to be involved throughout the process.

Wheldon’s elephant in the room was transparency, a topic that has loomed large over Advertising Week due to the backlash against Google over brands’ adverts appearing alongside extremist videos.

“I find digital to not be transparent enough about how our data is being used, how our money is used, and not to be open to challenge, and, boy, have they got one now,” said Wheldon. “As a bank, we are held to account, and we would like to see other bits of this ecosystem held to account in a similar fashion.”

Returning to the topic of agency and client relations, BT chief brand & marketing officer Zaid Al-Qassab concluded: “I want agencies that challenge us rather than do what we expected, otherwise we may as well bring the work in-house.”

The Rise Of The In-House Agency

Bringing work in-house is exactly what is happening across a number of brands.

The IPA industry body presented research in collaboration with Oliver Marketing and Future Thinking about the trend, which found 39% of respondents were already using in-house teams to take on tasks that were previously given to external agencies.

Decisions to bring the work in-house are being driven by the desire for agility and cost-efficiencies, and the most popular type of work to insource is creative for digital media activity, according to the research.

However, brands are still keen to employ external agencies for strategic thinking and their overall creative expertise.

This is being borne out at Sky, and Emmerson Thaine, head of design and production at Sky, said his company’s in-house agency was now very large and focused on print and digital, while leaving the more strategic work such as TV and traditional above-the-line areas to agencies.

“Sky is a very big advertiser, so we have to go about it very sensitively,” said Thaine. “We have been working with agencies for a very long time, so we had to think about the impact on those guys as well and how the processes will be managed. It is not just about saving money, but influencing a new way of working.”

Putting People First

At a time of great soul-searching for the industry, there was a strong sense on the third day of Advertising Week that personal relationships both with colleagues and business partners must be prioritised. After all, marketing is a business built on talent, and that should not be forgotten.