Ogilvy EMEA CEO Patou Nuytemans: Creating impact is my ultimate objective

Image suplied. Ogilvy EMEA CEO Patou Nuytemans says creating impact is her ultimate objective

Impact requires that creativity has an environment in which it can thrive. "I would recommend that any team or brand looking to embed creativity further into their organisation create a culture where creativity is nurtured.

"It starts with creating a culture that enables people to thrive and be at their best so that they can deliver their most impactful and meaningful work," she says.

While culture may be hard to define, she says, it is the underlying ingredient that enables success to be sustained and repeated.

"The secret to our success at Ogilvy, when it comes to a creative perspective is ensuring that we have the right culture and strategic minds in place.

"It is when strategic insights combined with creativity collaborate, that we can create award-winning work like we have seen from the African teams in recent years."

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Lesso Lessons: culture and creativity meet

A great example on the continent of this is the Ogilvy Africa team's Lesso Lessons campaign.

The campaign, which gave the African agency its first gold at Cannes last year, was developed by the Ogilvy Africa team in partnership with Roto Tanks, the Ministry of Health Kenya, and aimed at educating young mothers in rural parts of East Africa on how to combat malnutrition in children two years and under.

Lesso Lessons used traditionally patterned fabric garments called "lessos", commonly used as slings by women to carry their babies on their backs as they work, to educate young Kenyan mothers in rural areas on postnatal nutritional care.

The campaign uses creativity to tackle this issue in a way that seamlessly fits into Kenyan women’s lives.

"This is a great example of how creativity can be used to solve or support a challenge. Creativity is something that companies and brands should continue to reappraise; it can have a very real impact on people and the planet," says Nuytemans.

Borderless creativity

Overall it has been an incredible year for all the Ogilvy offices across the continent. Very recently the Warc ranking for Africa had representation from three of its offices – Johannesburg, Cape Town and Africa all featured within the top 10.

Nuytemans says this is a testament to one of Ogilvy’s biggest assets, the creative bench strength across its network.

"Something that I am incredibly passionate about is borderless creativity and what I mean by this is creativity and ideas that happen at the intersection of capabilities, culture and innovation," explains Nuytemans.

She adds that borderless creativity enables the agency's active network, in the region and across the world, with the offices in Africa playing a huge part in that network.

"It’s a network that truly connects, collaborates and congregates around meaningful work for big brands. We are incredibly fortunate to have been able to also mobilise so many of our people, with representation of talent from South Africa moving into senior roles across EMEA."

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SA a thriving business

South Africa is a key pillar of the region, and she calls it a "thriving business that delivers some exceptional work".

Not only that, she says, "But also in terms of excellence, creativity and capability expansion. Our C2 studio, which is a global service centre set up to support client content needs from across the globe, is a best-in-class example of this and a thriving part of our business."

As part of Ogilvy's commitment to attracting, recruiting and growing young talent, it has established the O25 graduate programme within Ogilvy South Africa specifically.

"The programme gives graduates the opportunity to work across all disciplines within Ogilvy and has since been adopted by many of the markets across EMEA."

And really all of this connects back to Nuytemans' ultimate objective to create impact.