by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) LONDON: “Collaborate until it hurts,” says Robert Senior, recently appointed global chief of Saatchi & Saatchi and long-term proponent of great creative work in the industry. One of the highlights of the first day (15 April 2015) of the AdForum Worldwide Summit London was our visit to the offices of Saatchi & Saatchi in Charlotte Street in London — birthplace of one of the most famous names in advertising.
Interestingly, the agency will be moving offices later this year and taking up a new home close by, so it was our last visit as AdForum to that address.
Senior outlined his plans for the agency group and what is happening — with a flatter structure and centres of excellence, including our own Saatchi & Saatchi Synergise, which is the Centre of Excellence for Search in the global network.
A new confidence for Saatchi & Saatchi
We experienced a new confidence at the agency as it rejuvenates its brand — as Paul Philips of the AAR Group UK (our partners) said, “ When Saatchi & Saatchi is confident, the ad industry is confident.”
An excellent start to our three days of AdForum, where we will visit 12 agencies, meet 62 people and work alongside 40 consultants such as IAS.
Next up was Facebook in London — not an agency but much more than a media channel, with huge influence within the marketing industry. Facebook’s mantra is all about share, connect, discover. And the CEO’s mission is to have the world all connected to the internet — where only one-third of the world currently has access. A noble task.
Facebook much more than one brand
Facebook is much more now than one brand; what with its several acquisitions and sub-brands, it is a business like no other — 1.39 billion users!
The most important growth area is the use of video views on Facebook and the impact that this has upon commercials. Facebook talks about the “three-second audition”, which is the time a commercial has on FB to attract viewers to watch more before they might move on.
Also, FM is tracking the widening gap between content creation and content consumption; people are just not viewing everything.
Lots of important statistics which will have a key influence on selection in future times — and the role of the creative agencies in collaborating with Facebook is crucial to the success of the ultimate content put out for brands.
HAVAS also looking at different structuring
Our third visit yesterday was to the HAVAS Village in London — currently in different places but shortly to move into its own new building in Kings Cross. HAVAS as a group is experiencing a good start to 2015, after a record growth year in 2014. As a group, it, too, is looking at different structuring, in order to be nimble in today’s world.
An interesting fact from HAVAS Media was that, in a recent survey, the majority of people commented that they would not care if 74% of brands disappeared.
AdForum has always been very important to HAVAS and once again we were asked to judge the Creative Business Awards, which is its own network awards recognising results and creativity.
Most-successful to date
All in all, a wonderful first day on AdForum’s most-successful summit to date, what with agencies having to be turned away as the agenda is so full over the three days.
And so to bed.
Looking forward to day two — five agencies to visit!
Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell @agencyselection
#adforumsummit
Johanna McDowell is managing director of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), which stands at the forefront of the complex world of agency selection in South Africa, and she is one of the few experts driving this mediation and advisory service in SA and globally. Twice a year she attends AdForum Worldwide Summits as an international consultant, which helps her lead the SA advertising industry forward to keep in line with international trends and remain competitive. Follow her on Twitter at @jomcdowell.
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