Mike Edmonds is coming to ADFEST next month to host a workshop that will equip you with the smarts and confidence you need to take a seat at the boardroom table.
Edmonds is Co-Founder and Chairman of Meerkats in Perth, and his workshop is titled, ‘The New Purpose of Creativity’.
Why shouldn't this workshop be missed? To be honest, I think it should be missed... by some people. If you're happy making ads, being the wackiest, the funniest, the most award-winning, good luck to you. You don't need this workshop.
There's nothing wrong with those ambitions, I am not judging. It's just that this workshop is for those who are not happy; for those who are looking for more than that in their career.
It is for anyone who:
• Works all day in that slightly artificial bubble we call advertising then goes home to their family and friends and feels like they are going back to "the real world" and they don't like how that makes them feel.
• Would love to be alone in a room with the actual owners of their clients' companies and explore some truly monumental creative ideas around products and people and truth.
• Started in advertising a little reluctantly because they were curious or wanted to earn good money but were worried about their ultimate contribution to society, or were worried about whether they would be asked to exaggerate product claims and compromise their own ethics for the commercial gain of their client and agency.
There's only room for 30 so I'm hoping there are 30 people like this at ADFEST this year!
Do you think most agencies are subservient to their clients these days? I firmly believe that if you are anywhere below the point where the ultimate questions are being asked – I'm talking CEO, executive management and board level – then you are already being handed half a solution.
And that is the point in the process that makes our industry vulnerable.
We are less able to provide creative business solutions that will make a real difference. Put simply, if you're not getting your briefs from your clients’ CEO, executive management team or board, then I would say you are in a subservient relationship. My definition.
You talk about the importance of “organisational purpose”. Why is it important that agencies have a sense of purpose? The trouble with the word “purpose” is that too many business people assume it means you have to be doing something worthy; something morally above and beyond your company's current output.
This is total bullshit.
The truth is, organisational purpose is simply the alignment of a company's motive with its behaviour. Because in this always on, super-connected world we now live in, you cannot hide anymore. Your genuine motive always comes out in your behaviour and consumers will share that truth instantly and globally.
As Alex Bogusky says "There is no brand image anymore. Being a good company is the new brand".
"What is our truth? What are we genuinely motivated by?” These are important questions. If the answer is money, or status, or an addiction to winning that might not play well with the people you are most reliant on to achieve those things - your customers.
So what’s your organisational purpose at Meerkats? It is this desire to unlock the authentic potential for our client companies – to not just be commercially successful, but to live more fulfilling lives as humans by embracing truth in business – that forces us to understand our own purpose and behave to it.
In short, the key to future business success in a transparent world is being purpose-driven. Our agency gets the key to our clients' boardrooms because we help them be purpose-driven. To deliver on this authentically, we ourselves must be purpose-driven.
And I urge everyone in our industry – if you want your agency to be successful, if you want to grow and recruit the smartest young minds to do powerful work that makes a difference in society – to do the same.
Is creating advertising a purposeful enough goal, or does an agency’s “organisational purpose” need to go further? Agencies "creating advertising for their clients" is absolutely purposeful enough.
If pursued honestly.
That is, if any agency came right out and told me that was their motive and then behaved to that, I'm totally cool with that. I'd advise them to say that loudly and clearly to the world. I would wish them luck in pursuing that true purpose and advise them to resist lying about it for commercial gain.
I'd also advise them to make sure they recruited honestly too, and would happily lose a hot young candidate to another agency if that person said they really wanted to work for an agency that was moving towards business solutions, not advertising.
You see, what comes with honesty is opportunity by offering customer benefits that nobody can copy because they don’t share your unique truth.
Mind you, ask me if "making ads" is purpose enough for me and I'll say no way.
I believe there is a far more potent organisational purpose an ad agency can pursue than making ads. I believe the most successful purposes are those that involve serving a higher ideal that creates a ripple effect of benefit that goes beyond your business, your staff and your clients to the broader reaches of society and perhaps even the world.
* ‘The New Purpose of Creativity’ takes place on Friday 24th March, 10:45 to 12:15. Spaces are limited to just 30 people. Download this registration form and send to Workshop@ADFEST.com to reserve your place. www.meerkats.com.au