Page 43 - AdNews Magazine Jul-Aug 2020

Justin Graham
and innovation
from adversity
Justin Graham is only the third person to be CEO of M&C Saatchi in Australia.
WORDS BY
CHRIS PASH
Aconfession.
“I can’t stop listening to Neil Young. Not sure how my Apple music algorithm threw me into this world, but fair to say it’s a world I have gone deep into.”
Justin Graham, the new Group CEO of M&C Saatchi, sends an email to staff every week, called The Talk. He started it around two years ago because he felt the busi- nesses weren’t talking enough.
He often shares anecdotes from his personal life.
“It’s intentionally disarming coming from manage- ment,” he says. “The focus of the email is commentary on what’s happening in the world that relates to us as well as a celebration of the work that’s coming out of our business in all its forms,” he tells AdNews soon after his appointment, replacing Jaimes Leggett.
“We’re a broad communications business, so it allows me to stay in touch with the entire group, to be able to hear what people are working on, and are proud of, and share it with everyone.
We’re in a creative business and the idea of fin- ishing up on a Friday with a personal note from the CEO is a real connector for everyone. It also allows me to publicly celebrate our people, so everyone can be proud of the exceptional team they work with, as well as the outputs.”
Graham’s Friday note continues on the Neil Young theme:
“He (Neil Young) openly talks about a work ethic and philosophy of reinvention ‘the need to keep planting new seeds, you just can’t eat everything you have already grown.”
“It’s a brilliant message for us as a business. To run at putting down new roots, innovate always, experi- ment with new ideas, new ways of working, and go again. Last year the Fin Review named M&C Saatchi the Most Innovative Media and Marketing business in Australia. We need to always be pushing...”
“This thought of planting, not just eating, is a theme that I observed across parts of the business this week and one we will need to continue pushing on and be open too.”
Profile
The Talk is just one channel which helped general communication during the move to working from home during the coronavirus crisis.
Graham notes a monotony to lockdown. “It is chal- lenging but everyone’s in that space.”
However, his relative newness in the job, coupled with the social restrictions of the pandemic, has also helped form closer relationships with clients
“Isolation has proven to be a circuit breaker from a more corporate way of engaging with clients,” he says. “Less ceremonial and more outcome-based is certainly an approach that I prefer and the feedback has been positive.
“I would say that that’s been the experience right through the teams. There’s a rawer engagement.
“When you see your clients with their kids walking past them in the background, and not in their suited and booted armour for the day in the fancy offices, then naturally there is going to be more of a connec- tion. And I think that’s a great thing.”
“This connection and a more constant, fluid way of engaging has created even deeper levels of trust in our teams. And indeed, in the brands we work with. Some of our largest clients, Woolworths, Optus, CommBank and TAB, have had to pivot their busi- nesses to reflect the changing needs of their custom- ers, and we’ve had to too.”
One of the biggest shifts, short term, was moving to a seven-day roster to service some clients. It ena- bled M&C Saatchi to deliver on the immediate and more functional needs of some brands, “Hey, we’ve got hand sanitiser in store, and we’re open these hours and. yes, we can deliver in that timeframe.”
Innovation
Graham is seeing fast-paced innovation among clients.
“Projects that would normally be on an 18-month plan have gone to market in three to six weeks,” he says. “And that’s because everyone is acting more iteratively, becoming more comfortable going live with a minimum viable product.
Ahead, Graham sees a soft market. “And that will be challenging because, as the government benefits dry up and as the mortgages have to start being repaid, there’s going to be some real financial strain on many Australians,” he says.
But Graham thinks a renaissance of creativity and innovation is coming as Australia moves into 2021.
“The challenge for the ad industry in Australia is to be a bigger part of that, to be leading,” he says. “That’s certainly something that we will be focused on. Clients are giving us the opportunity to partner like never before and drive the creative agenda.”
Graham describes himself as an optimistic per- son, seeing opportunity ahead, new ways to deliver brand experiences.
“But I am under no illusion that it’s going to be a difficult time ahead,” he says. “The economy will take a while to rebound, for many its the unknown, our first recession since 1991”
Justin Graham