#BehindtheSelfie with... Nic Simmonds

Simmonds behind the wheel (probably of a fast car).

1. Where do you live, work and play?

Simmonds: I live and work in Bryanston, and mostly play in Joburg’s central suburbs.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

Simmonds: Last year I spent a few hours hanging out with Kit Harrington (Jon Snow – Game of Thrones) at a picnic in London Fields, and I have Instagram evidence to prove it.

3. Describe your career so far.

Simmonds: Exciting, hard, fun, terrifying.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

Simmonds: I love travelling, red wine, fast cars (never after red wine though), music, startup culture, podcasts, armchair philosophy, books that teach me, and humans.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Simmonds: The people are rad. We’re in an industry that basically sells the product of creative peoples’ energy, so you tend to work with a lot of interesting folk. I also find immense satisfaction in helping businesses grow.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

Simmonds: 7:30: Wake up, coffee.
8:30: Leave for work.
8:45 – 12:30: Second coffee, meetings, interviews, strategy sessions, email, etc.
12:30 – 13:00: Lunch.
13:00 – 17:30: Meetings, business strategy stuff, general management stuff.
17:30 – 19:00: Gym.
19:30 – 20:30: Dinner, chill stuff.
21:00 – 22:30: Emails, work that requires undisturbed quiet.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

Simmonds: A data analyst friend who works for a very prestigious wealth bank told me that while they use a wide variety of really complex, custom software packages, the one tool which they simply could not function without is Microsoft Excel. This is probably the only thing our jobs have in common.

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

Simmonds: They’re not a traditional agency, but I really look up to Vice Media. They have their critics, but overall I love that they’re getting brands to produce and sponsor legitimately awesome content. For me they are the antithesis of traditional “big-man”, instructional advertising. They’re making stuff that is actually cool to watch/read, and the brands that work with them are benefiting from it.

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

Simmonds: I’ll go with one, and it’s my biggest one: Selling hours, it needs to stop. Charging clients for the time it takes to make something rather than the quality or efficacy of the thing being created is fundamentally warped. I’m not saying I have the answer right now – we sell hours. But I’m hoping to change that in the next two years.

10. What are you working on right now?

Simmonds: I’m busy overhauling our client onboarding process, and working on a new flexitime policy for staff that kicks off in 2017.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

Simmonds: I think a lot of people are talking about “content strategy”, but at the same time there seems to be a bit of a gap when it comes to understanding what it actually is.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Simmonds: My best ideas seem to pop into my head when I’m well rested and doing something completely menial. A lot of the thoughts that have shaped the internal structure and policies that drive Clockwork Media have come to me in the shower, or while sitting in an airplane.

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

Simmonds: After a couple of beers you might find me at the bar speaking to a complete stranger in an extremely convincing Scottish accent.

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Simmonds: My first job was an unpaid internship at PC Format magazine. That should give you some idea of how I feel about technology.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Simmonds: All the usual stuff. The apps I use most are email, Instagram, Bacon Reader (Reddit), Headspace (meditation), Pocketcasts (podcasts), Kayak (flights), Audible (audio books).

16.What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Simmonds: Get started and be consistent. If things get hard – breathe, they’re supposed to. If they don’t, you’re doing it wrong. Always be learning something, even if it’s not directly related to advertising or marketing. The biggest thinkers in our space have been highly knowledgeable in complementary disciplines, like psychology, sociology and anthropology.

Simple as that. Contact Simmonds on LinkedIn, where he willingly accepts requests as he doesn’t really use Twitter anymore, and most of his other profiles are private. Alternatively, click here for more on Clockwork Media or follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.