How to be network agency of the year

Mike Schalit, CCO for BBDO Africa, explains that their Made of Black campaign has been on a winning streak, picking up global awards as well as Loeries and African Cristals locally, as proof of the correlation between creative and effective work, as well as collaborative campaign work across continents.

That’s important as the annual WARC 100 tracks the world's 100 best marketing campaigns and over 2,000 individual award winners and companies’ campaign rankings, based on their performance in 79 effectiveness and strategy competitions over the past year. The rankings are based on the winners of effectiveness and strategy awards from around the world.

So the focus is on marketing that drives business performance and it is a benchmark for commercial creativity. Narayanan explains the WARC ranking thus reflects the business impact of a campaign and not just its creativity – Made of Black in particular, which came in as 33rd most effective campaign in the world and second highest ranked alcohol campaign according to WARC rankings. It's embedded below for your viewing pleasure, if you've not seen it before:

“BBDO’s consistency, breadth and depth in these rankings mean that creative effectiveness is engrained in our DNA. It’s great for us down South to have been involved, playing our part in both leading teams and supporting them. Winning the WARC 100 completes a neat triple crown for BBDO. Earlier this year, we won The Gunn Report as the most creative agency network in the world for the tenth year in a row. And we also topped the Global Effie Effectiveness Index as the most effective agency in the world for the second year in a row,” says Narayanan. This proves that they don't just talk about producing work that works; they deliver on it.

But how exactly do they do it? Here, Narayanan shares exclusive tips into how agency networks like this get behind creative work that really works for clients…

1. Talk us through the impact of BBDO’s global agency network titles and their impact on the agency’s reputation.

Gau Narayanan, regional director for BBDO Africa

Narayanan: Everyone tends to get a little focused on certain awards shows, but if you look at our performance in the big shows for creativity and effectiveness, our track record is second to none. And it's really pleasing to see that agencies in emerging markets at BBDO are punching above their weight. Our agencies in Dubai, Tunisia, Pakistan and Africa are winning crucial creative and effective points for BBDO. For us in Africa, we’re contributing, which is great. Our Made of Black campaign has swept the board at many awards shows. Hopefully this will help show the industry that there is a strong correlation between creative and effective work. I hope this will inspire all of us to create more work like this from our region. BBDO Africa wants to continually push to compete on a global scale and create world-class work from Africa.

2. What are the benefits of being part of an agency network?

Narayanan: Culture. Talent. Development.

On culture, we work with people who think like us, who are wired like us. The founders and their legacies, whether in London, Melbourne or Johannesburg, are very similar. We want to produce great work and we want to be great to work with. In an era of increased collaboration I believe that agencies with the values set and a collaborative culture like BBDO will thrive.

On talent, there’s a fantastic chance for people to move around the network and make a mark in other regions. BBDO offices get access to great, global talent and great talent gets access to BBDO offices. There is a genuine intellectual and cultural exchange, which benefits both parties. For example, take me – I was at AMVBBDO in London, and worked with Mike Schalit when we pitched for the Guinness Africa business. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Mike – of course, his creativity was a big lure, but his approach, thinking and values really resonated with me. So when he asked me to join him, I jumped at the chance to help grow BBDO within Africa. I know I’m learning every day and I hope I’m helping our agencies and their people grow.

On development – it goes without saying that when you are able to attract great people there’s a responsibility to grow, retain and motivate them. BBDO is fantastic at developing and nurturing its people. Having an aligned belief on what’s important – the work and the people – makes it easier to develop our staff as the objectives, values and outcomes are shared. At BBDO we have access to best practice from around the world and this develops our own people and gives our clients access to thinking and research they may not see. We have BBDO University that trains people from all functions and at all levels, we have just sent eight of our brightest young stars on the IPA Foundation Course (and they all passed with flying colours) and we have weekly all agency training session across our offices in Africa.

When you combine the above, it helps us produce great work that works on a more consistent basis.

3. Let us in on the secret: How do you then create commercially compelling content or ‘work that works for clients’?

Narayanan: Firstly, you need great clients, and we’re lucky in that respect. You also need a relationship based on mutual respect and you need to act in the interest of the brand and not your agency silo.

It also really helps if you understand your clients’ business. Adding value in areas that really matter, is how we create a commercial advantage for our clients, their brands and their businesses. When we develop work, we always start with the business problem. We need to be guided by this and ensure that the marketing we develop with our clients solves more than brand issues.

You also need to be well versed with the latest marketing thinking and understand how brands actually grow and how we make decisions. There are a lot of marketing myths that buying patterns, behavioural economics, neuroscience are debunking and it’s important for us, and our clients, that BBDO is ahead of the curve. This allows us to operate in a sound strategic framework that will drive salience at scale for our clients’ business.

Finally, this is a collaborative process. We will never know our client’s business as well as they do so working with them is key. We need to partner with marketing but also sales, R&D and finance teams. This often unlocks hidden nuggets that can be the springboard for creative and effective work.

Simple as that. For more on BBDO, follow their Twitter feed.