A return to full service? What is M&C Saatchi’s plan in supercharging its strategy unit?
M&C Saatchi now has one of the biggest strategy departments in Australia as it moves to a more ‘full service’ approach for brands. Miranda Ward sat down with the agency’s head of strategy Justin Graham to talk through the strategy behind it.
M&C Saatchi has made no secret of the fact it has been beefing up its strategy and planning department over the last 12 months, however many in the industry were surprised to hear the agency’s latest hire, Ross Berthinussen as group strategy director, had swelled the ranks of the team to 35. It’s a move which has many wondering whether the agency is looking to put the genie back in the bottle and go ‘full service’.
“If clients are coming to us to solve business problems we want to be able to solve whatever problem that may be through the lens of creativity,” said department head Justin Graham.
If you’re having strategy problems I feel bad for you son
You got 35 strategists but a good idea ain’t come from one.
I don’t think there is a lack of strategic ability (and perceived recognition of such) across the agency landscape, rather an unsophisticated market of clients to whom the term strategy often means everything that it isn’t, and nothing that it is. Therefore, knowing how to judge it’s robustness as a means to an end is simply too hard…afterall, they can’t ‘see’ it in the first instance, and struggle to differentiate it from tactics. But that doesn’t stop the criticism that the agencies can’t deliver it.
I applaud the above.
M&C need to brush the dirt off their shoulder and come back with a riposte…
#damnson
M&C have just won B&T & Campaign APac agency of the year plus a truckload or creative & innovation awards in recent weeks so don’t think they’re doing too bad
“For us, we have one very simple tool that we work with from a strategy point of view and that’s getting down to a brutal, simplicity of truth.”
I hope their new strategy is to stop talking in riddles.
M&C is a great agency.
It has ever base covered from ads to analytics.
It has managed the leadership transition brilliantly
Its worst work is never bad
Its made CommBank, Optus and NRMA synonymous with Can, Yes and Better
In other words, it doesn’t just claim Brutally Simple, it delivers on it.
It makes money
It treats its staff well
It’s a credit to our industry and deserves all the success that comes its way.
What’s the best thing to say to who, where, when and how often?
Does finding that out really require spending millions on stupid salaries?
The strategy industry is the biggest con in advertising.
an observation….
subtlety is clearly not your strong point. when you work with or for a company on improving their reputation via online comments and other activities…you’re not supposed to make it so obvious
I don’t work for M&C in any form and never have.
I’m actually a competitor. Trust me, I’d pay good
money to be up against anyone but M&C in a pitch.
They are a grown-up, ad business.
this is an anon message board so we have to take people at their word….but it’s pretty rich a competitor thinking they’ve made NRMA synonymous with Better when the campaign has been out there for about five minutes
and there are at least two others on (fairly certain the post would get blocked) there that I won’t post on that are pretty much polar opposites to what people in the know would claim
Simply making a brand synonymous with one word through disrupting our lives ad infinitum doesn’t solve any actually problems.
Yes, Can, Love and Better are not brand positionings, they’re merely devices that enable a whole bunch of rational messages to look and feel similar. They don’t make people trust or remember these messages any better than they would the average toothpaste or shampoo ad.
The success of Optus and Commbank come from great improvements in service and has little to do with the ad campaigns.
It seems to be only this market where “brutal simplicity of thought” translates to meaningless one word tag lines that do nothing but make people hate advertising that little bit more than they did before.
The success of the M&C factory is merely a sad reflection on the quality of Australian marketers.
A few points:
• A good brief is only good if it delivers a good ad.
• Stop using creative departments to work out what your brief is.
• A good brief is only good if it delivers a good ad.
Just got around to reading this. Congratulations Justin – taking strategy seriously is a great step towards ensuring your agency has a great future.
I couldn’t agree more, the amount clients spend on “strategy” telling them how to think and plan, add the magic of Pitch Doctors who tell them which agencies to like, plus “relationship management” like Appraise telling them whether or not they “get on” with said agency and to top it off – research upon research to tell them what creative to go with.
It makes me wonder what the F@#! clients actually do themselves these days.
However, “planning” has replaced creative as one of the few billable profit-makers left for agencies nowadays, so no wonder they’re all pumping it up.
Kudos, Juz.