Mediaboss Marketing

What stage do you think North America is in right now?

Gurnani: North America is in the oh my god is this going to be a Lord of the Flies situation stage. On the verge of the maybe I should have joined that underground bunker cult stage. But things are going to get better. Itll just take some time for society as a whole to get on the same page, accept where we are and settle in until things settle down. The level of uncertainty isnt changing for any of us across the world, but the level of acceptance does change.

Pearce: It was frightening and fascinating at the same time. We were working in China in December so started hearing about it from January, all the way up to now where a number of markets we operate in are within lockdowns. Communicationwas key, both with team members and client partners.

Gurnani: You start to see the patterns, and you start to see where people will go, what people will feel next. Leading creative work for these different markets reminds us that there is a tomorrow.

Pearce: This situation for many people and businesses is pushing them to a place they should have been going to anyway, just much faster than they may have chosen themselves. It has and will force businesses and marketers to stand up and be brave, both through the COVID period and into the new normal. Be more like Ryan Reynolds: bold, quick, calculated and always entertaining.

Gurnani: If there was ever a time to be escapist, silly, hopeful, joyful or purely entertaining, now is it.

Pearce: Full-time doesnt have to be five days a week. You dont have to sit in a major city to be good at your job. Digital make-up and virtual fashion make getting ready to work-from-home much quicker, and better for the environment. Borderless working encourages and creates true diversity of thinking. Creatives are going to want to move west to east, rather than historically east to west.

Gurnani: I believe many more creative leaders will learn to have greater trust in the creatives who work for them. At the end of this, more of us executive creative directors and chief creative officers will be in control of our need for control. Its harder now for us to give clear feedback. Its harder now to help our teams concept. Its harder now for us to jump in and fill the gaps. Were all going to come out of this with a little more let it go in our step.

Thats kind of a nice thing, yeah?

Sir Martin Sorrelljoined Ad Age Senior editor Jeanine Poggi on an episode of Virtual Pages to discuss how S4 Capital is weathering the global crisis. During the conversation, the media mogultells Poggi that he recently discussedwith Cannes Lions organizersthe possibility of the event going virtual. Parentcompany Ascential made the recent decision to cancel outright the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity afterholding companies and agencies cut award show costs and began pulling attendance and submissions for the Lions as financial pressures mounted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sorrell, who built and formerlyled conglomerate WPP, also offered his opinion of how holding companies are handling the pandemic, namely on their decisions to reduce staff. Sorrell says,"to fire 10 percent of your workforce, or whatever it is, is not the answer." He says holding companies that are cutting staff are"taking out the people on the front line, who interface with clients, are good with clients," and that's only going to cause more problems going forward.

The ANDY Awards, hosted by the AD Club, has decided to keep chugging along, virtually. The Ad Club says it will still be judging standout work from the past year, with jurors doing so remotely. It also introduced a new category, the "Pop Choice" award, which will be decided by the general public via Instagram. Beginning April 24, anyone can vote for their favorite work through Instagram Stories. That voting period will remain open for 24 hours. All ANDYs winners will be announced during a live virtual event on April 27.

Creative agency Arnold and Havas Mediaannounced a new integrated leadership team in Boston. Comprised of talent across both creative and media, the Havas-owned agencies say they will create a unified strategic offering and share resources for clients going forward. As part of this, Scott Stedman, former MDC Media Partners chief marketing officer, will join Arnold + Havas Media Boston as chief growth and product officer. The following executives were promoted under the new agency: Gabrielle Rossetti, executive VP of strategy at Havas Media has become chief strategy officer; Vallerie Bettini, executive VP and marketing director, is now chief client officer; Julianna Akuamoah, senior VP of human resources, was named chief talent officer; and Cass Taylor, executive VP and client lead, has become chief operating officer. Rounding out the leadership team for Arnold + Havas Media Boston (pictured below) are CEO George Sargent, Chief Creative Officer Sean McBride, and Chief Financial Officer Lucia Ferrante.

The core of this Arnold + Havas Media Boston leadership team has been winning with our clients for years. We already know each other well, and our shorthand allows us to be tightly focused on executing on our shared vision of integrated thinking for all clients, Sargent says.

Read the original here:
Agency brief: Vice, Virtue APAC bosses share experiences of leading regional offices through the pandemic - AdAge.com