Taking media strategy in-house key for future of ad agencies says 180 Amsterdam creative head
Creative agencies having media strategy in-house is key says Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer of 180 Amsterdam.
Speaking to Mumbrella at Spikes Asia in Singapore where he was presenting on why creative people should lead companies, Moseley said the future full-service model is unclear, however in-house media strategy will be an important element for how it will look.
“When we talk about full service we talk about going back to a model that’s already existed and I wonder if there’s a different type of model,” he said. “We work with media strategy in-house and we find that is essential for us with certain clients and for other clients we work with the media company very closely.
“Again, it’s going to be central to creating ideas that are potent and provocative in nature to connect with audiences and creating the right type of creative ideas, going back to what it was isn’t the right way forward.
“I don’t know what the new landscape is going to look like, but having media strategy in house is key now.”
Focusing in on the state of the Asian creative industry, Moseley described it as “quite buoyant”.
“Asian creativity is in a good shape,” he said. “There’s great opportunities here, great companies here that are actually now developing their businesses around the world.
“There have been eastern companies moving west and that creates more opportunities for creativity and creative thinking,” he added.
On whether 180 Amsterdam, which has clients including Playstation, DHL, Asics and Diageo, has plans to open offices in Asia or Australia he said there was “nothing concrete”.
“I’d love to open offices in Asia and Australia,” he said.
“I suppose it’s making sure we do it the right way and it’s something we’ve talked about because like any micro-network you want to expand and bring people in, maybe in the future.”
For Moseley it would be about finding the right talent in the region.
“It’s all about the talent, you have to go where the talent is, you have to make sure you have the right people.”
On if this is a difficult task faced by agencies Moseley was coy, saying “there’s lots of choice if you’re talented”.
“You can go to lots of different creative companies and you now have the tech companies that are now hiring a lot of people out of advertising. There are more places for talented people to go.
“It’s not harder but as a company you want to be focused on being a company where people can succeed,” he added.
On other challenges faced by agencies in the current market space, Moseley said he prefers to think of them as “opportunities”.
“There are more opportunities now to change behaviour of consumers then ever before and I think its more complex because of the different types of medias you can work in,” he said.
“I find it incredibly exciting, we’re living in this non-linear world where people can choose what they can consume. It’s one of the biggest step changes of media consumption than ever before and that’s a huge opportunity to create things that people want to look at.”
Moseley, who prior to working with 180 was the ECD of Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, credited Amsterdam’s reputation as a “creative hotbed” to the city’s historical past as a trading hub.
“It’s a place that people from all over the world gather,” he said.
“When you bring people from all over the world into one building you get lots of different points of view and that helps create a rich culture and that leads to creative thinking.”
Of the creative thinking that’s been reflected in campaigns this year, Moseley, who was also a juror at this year’s Cannes Lions festival of creativity, named recent work by Honda and Volvo as some of his favourites.
“There’s always great work coming out of the Latin markets, because they have a very strong culture. They always create really funny and creative work,” he said.
“A lot of the integrated work coming out of the US is also nice.”
Moving onto how agencies are paid, Moseley said he would like to see a performance-based model introduced.
“More and more agencies are working on a project by project basis,” he said.
“I would like to see a performance based model, I would like performance factored into our business now. I believe we need to be responsible for creating change for our clients.”
On what occassions such as Spikes Asia and its sister-conference Cannes Lions offer creatives, Moseley said they allow the industry to pause and reflect on what they’re doing.
“They’re a great forum for discussion and coming together, we allow ourselves to take a moment to pause and then question what we’re doing and then try at working to make ourselves better.
“I actually think you do the best work when you’re paused, it’s a moment of reflection,” he added.
On the decline in entries to traditional categories at this year’s Spikes, Moseley did not feel it suggested the industry was fragmenting.
“Maybe the work hasn’t been as notable in those areas as previously,” he mused. “Or maybe people don’t value it as much as previously.
“I don’t see it as fragmenting. Every brand operates in every medium.”
Miranda Ward at Spikes Asia
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Dear Mr 180
Trust me doing media strategy in house without doing the buying as well is very, very difficult.
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Crowd-sourcing creative key for future of media agencies says 360 Sydney media agency shit-stirrer. Probably a piece of piss really.
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