Will the advertising industry survive the WFH debate? 4 industry leaders reveal their candid thoughts on WFH
To investigate whether 'productivity' is more important than creativity, if learning by osmosis will be a vestige of the past, and if being in an office really does produce better outcomes for clients, Seja Al Zaidi spoke with Gruen panelist Camey O'Keefe, Havas Media Australia CMO Francis Coady, Head Thinker at Thinkerbell Suzi Williamson, and freelance strategist at Have a Plan, Ben Lucas.
This week, Apple mandated that employees’ time is up for indefinite working from home. Employees have now been ordered to head into the office for at least three days a week.
A sizeable portion of people will argue that working from home makes them more productive and eliminates unnecessary time wastage in their workday – but when it comes to the advertising industry, which is founded on creativity, communication, ideas and osmosis, what really is the future of the workplace?
To investigate the impacts WFH has on client outcomes, the future of creatives and whether marketers can really produce their best work while socially atomised, I spoke to four industry leaders with strong opinions on the matter.
Camey O’Keefe, head of brand partnership at Trout Creative Thinking™ and Gruen panelist
Camey O’Keefe
It’s well documented that many employees who WFH are more ‘productive’. By design, WFH eliminates opportunities for nuanced physical interactions at work, and learning by osmosis. Which of these are more important to a manager in this industry – productivity or organic workplace communication and progression?
I guess this depends on whether your burning ambition is to be productive or to develop your craft and do it playfully? This question is equally important to managers and the people they manage.
Cards on the table, I’m Option 2 all the way – seek playful mastery of my craft over busy work any day. WFH tends to generate plenty of busy work, but I’d question the value of much of it. For those of us who work in creative agencies, where our craft is ideas and storytelling, we can’t measure success in ‘units manufactured’ nor should we. Do I want thirty average ideas or two truly brilliant ones?
Our job is to capture attention and move people to action through the power of imagination. And that means coming up with new ideas or a fresh take on existing reality. On the daily.
It’s possible to do this solo but, in my experience, good ideas become great as the result of unexpected collisions and diverse collaboration. This incidental interaction is so much harder to get when WFH. And a lot less fun.
Critics of WFH would say that while efficient, it’s a sanitised, socially atomised, individualistic way to work. Does this matter to marketers? Why/why not?
Yes it matters.
If we take the definition of Marketing as – the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large I suspect the most skilled practitioners are highly engaged with their ‘customers, clients and partners.’ More so than many other professions, Marketing in an inherently social undertaking as we’re seeking to influence customer behaviour. The deeper your understanding of people and all the weird and messy ways they interact with the world around them, the more effective you’re likely to be in this endeavour.
You can easily consume the research and analyse data sets WFH but that’s purely academic, and you risk operating in a vacuum, potentially feeding confirmation bias. Much like Creatives, being around other people to exchange perspectives or engage in healthy debate is essential to broaden understanding. Being challenged encourages us to dig deeper, where we can uncover valuable insight, becoming better marketers in the process. This is far more likely to happen organically during a lull in a meeting with a colleague, or as a corridor chat post that session rather than over a call where 80% of the participants are on mute.
Note: I’d wholeheartedly endorse WFC/ WFP/WFT (cafe/park/ tram) as handy alternatives to WFH for excellent people watching. Timesheet it as audience research.
Where agencies need creativity to differentiate themselves from their competition, how can it be fostered through Zoom meetings and Slack messages?
I think Creativity is differentiated via the quality of the ideas. You stand out based on the work you produce and the thinking behind it. However chemistry and connection (which are equally important in any relationship) – well that’s a whole different beast to tackle well over Zoom and I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say I’m yet to master it. I would say for me personally, without the ability to see everyone in the room it’s much more difficult to read individual energy and foster an easy and inclusive dynamic. As a result the meetings are far less playful or productive. I’m open to advice on this. Seriously – hit me up with your Zoom mastery tips please.
Everyone I speak to experiences the same technical pain points – wobbly wi-fi or the “you’re on mute” moments. And whilst there are plenty of online courses you can attend to nail Miro or boss Zoom ‘warm ups and break-out room exercises’ who really wants to attend yet another online session if you can avoid it? It seems we’re all pretty undifferentiated in our IT angst.
Perhaps one way to differentiate is by being more intentional with our meetings. Get super considered in how we approach booking people’s time online – ask ourselves the question, does this really need to be a Zoom call? Then only book those that truly help generate impact for the attendees. Pretty sure you’d soon stand out for all the right reasons.
In 10 years’ time, how different will the industry be to how it was 10 years ago, thanks to the WFH divide?
WFH has been positive in tipping the balance towards greater flexibility. And in our industry this is a welcome change, one that I hope continues to shape our organisational practices ongoing in the coming years. Allowing people to find a way to better integrate their work and home lives can only be a good thing.
However, regardless of technological advancements or how many of us end up living our best lives in the metaverse, at our core we’re innately social creatures who crave connection.
We’re hardwired for play. It fuels our creativity. It’s how we learn and grow – personally and professionally.
Great work happens when we come together and experiment in a safe space. I don’t see that changing in the next decade… or well beyond.
Francis Coady, chief marketing officer at Havas Media Australia
Francis Coady
It’s well documented that many employees who WFH are more ‘productive’. By design, WFH eliminates opportunities for nuanced physical interactions at work and learning by osmosis. Which are more critical to a manager in this industry – productivity or organic workplace communication and progression?
1981 ended with a unique moment in time. Union campaign-led metal workers won the right to work a 38-hour week, becoming law across all industries. One of the silver linings of COVID is that we have finally all stopped to take a deep breath and analyse what our working week could look like. Sadly, it took a global pandemic to focus all our attention on an activity that will take up approximately ninety thousand hours in our lifetime, yes 90,000.
I’m very nervous about using the word productive as its formal meaning is defined as one’s ability to produce large amounts of goods, crops, or other commodities. I’m not sure of many advertising agencies engaged in crop development; others would argue, let alone using our hands to build goods. The advertising industry is a unique melting pot of creative energy, big thinking, grinding work, poor old excel, and everything in between. Due to this variety, we have woken up to the fact that certain environments provide optimum output for specific types of work. Undoubtedly, being in close physical proximity leads to a powerful connection between humans and often results in work with passion at its core. This osmosis is amplified in a safe, beautiful, visually appealing environment. Developing this passion is at the heart of any company culture and should be fostered at all costs, or those ninety thousand hours will feel double.
Back to excel. Focusing on line H17 and ensuring what you input into that cell does not destroy your day requires a calming, focused relationship with you and your computer. One could argue that this could be done in the confines of your home if the distractions at home don’t outweigh the distractions in that beautiful open-plan office.
As managers in this industry, we need to listen, trust, and respond to what team members say: the environment where they do their best work and not force an ancient confining ideal.
Critics of WFH would say that while efficient, it’s a sanitised, socially atomised, individualistic way to work. Does this matter to marketers? Why/why not?
As mentioned in the previous question, the advertising industry has diverse output work streams and reflects various individuals who drive that work. Should we do the work in the environment that best helps one do the best possible version of that work? The marketer must ask this question and be open and truthful to their manager. Hopefully, that manager can support their best interests and the company they work for.
Where agencies need creativity to differentiate themselves from their competition, how can it be fostered through Zoom meetings and Slack messages?
In short, I think it is challenging to “read a room” when you’re not in one. Zoom meetings and slack should be used for functional information transfer purposes, not the development of unified creative thinking. Thank you, Zoom and Slack, for helping us through the pandemic.
In 10 years, how different will the industry be from how it was ten years ago, thanks to the WFH divide?
WFH should not be seen as a divide. Rather a moment of learning. Suppose trust can be maintained between management and their respective teams. In that case, we will continue to build on the silver lining of COVID, which is one big deep breath and exhale around how we make work more meaningful, sustainable, and enjoyable.
Suzi Williamson, head thinker (GAD) at Thinkerbell
Suzi Williamson
It’s well documented that many employees who WFH are more ‘productive’. By design, WFH eliminates opportunities for nuanced physical interactions at work, and learning by osmosis. Which of these are more important to a manager in this industry – productivity or organic workplace communication and progression?
Think of all the extra people we’ve opened the door to by integrating more WFH; people who live regionally, neurodivergent people who can only manage fewer or shorter days in office environments, people with caring responsibilities, people with disabilities, and the list goes on. Now consider the many benefits to teams working in the same room that can’t fully be replicated through technology. The random chats over the toaster with people you’d usually never work with that give a different perspective. The opportunity to address tension head on when you accidentally catch the eye of someone you’re beefing with over email. And yes, learning by osmosis (including, listening in to other people’s calls and meetings to learn how they deal with difficult conversations). We should encourage people to harness the pros of both options, more people we can bring in through flexible work conditions, and then spending as much time together as feasible.
Critics of WFH would say that while efficient, it’s a sanitised, socially atomised, individualistic way to work. Does this matter to marketers? Why/why not?
I don’t think WFH is necessarily always frictionless and sanitised. People with kids/pets/parents at home might be cleaning up poo or vomit between meetings, having real life interactions with real people in their life (not just people in the advertising/marketing bubble). WFH is often messier and more real life than WFO.
Where agencies need creativity to differentiate themselves from their competition, how can it be fostered through Zoom meetings and Slack messages?
We all learned from lockdown times, if we didn’t already know, that online collaboration tools are fundamental in tackling massive complex problems and it would be impossible to do it without them even if we were all in the same building. While Zoom and Slack aren’t always ideal for in-depth discussions or for building strong interpersonal relationships, it’s flat out wrong to say they can’t foster or facilitate creativity and collaboration.
In 10 years’ time, how different will the industry be to how it was 10 years ago, thanks to the WFH divide?
I hope it will be more diverse because it’s more inclusive (more parents, regionally based people, older people, people with disabilities etc.), retention will be higher (again because it’s more inclusive), more people will be living where they want to for their lifestyle, and that the darker side of our industry – where sexual harrassment, bullying, and toxic culture has been able to bubble along – will be gone as people have more ability to choose employers with safe and supportive work environments and we all value the time we have physically together.
Ben Lucas, strategist at Have a Plan and founder of 2 Minute Mates
Ben Lucas
It’s well documented that many employees who WFH are more ‘productive’. By design, WFH eliminates opportunities for nuanced physical interactions at work, and learning by osmosis. Which of these are more important to a manager in this industry – productivity or organic workplace communication and progression?
We work in a communication based industry, there’s so much good that comes from workplace interactions. I don’t think there’s a clear cut winner when it comes to WFH yet, but there are some important trends to address. If we look at agencies (for example) that may be struggling with staff retention – whether you want to call it the Great Resignation or something else, a lot of the ‘perks’ of working in an agency environment have been stripped away. Particularly for younger staff who aren’t getting the mentoring, social interactions and all the fun stuff that existing pre-COVID.
People are pissed off when they commute in for a sanctioned office day just to spend it on calls with other people who wouldn’t make the trip, or work remotely. The first step is to separate the idea that productivity is linked to screen time. That’s what most people think this argument is about.
Critics of WFH would say that while efficient, it’s a sanitised, socially atomised, individualistic way to work. Does this matter to marketers? Why/why not?
I think it should matter to marketers. All these factors point towards a risk-averse, formulaic and mundane output if we’re not careful. There’s already trend reports that suggest clients are making more conservative decisions, coupled with an economic downturn this spells for a pretty dull time.
If we want to push the industry to be bolder, braver and be more creative (which I’d assume everyone would consider a good thing) then we need people to collaborate. That’s how sparks fly. Siloed creativity turns ‘creative’ into this thing that’s owned by a department or by individuals which absolutely should not be the case. We’re so individualised and isolated these days as humans but by nature, humans are social beings. Especially after covid where our social interactions were stripped away and limited I think we should be fighting harder than ever to come together whenever possible. To get really futuristic, if you can do your job in isolation you’re at greater risk of being replaced by a robot. Creative collaboration is what makes us inherently human.
Where agencies need creativity to differentiate themselves from their competition, how can it be fostered through Zoom meetings and Slack messages?
Creative stimulus. There’s a high propensity that your amazing idea has been done before and if it’s not been done, it’s probably been pitched.
Leverage your communication platforms to create forums for ideas. Create a culture of sharing and democratise creativity in your business. Don’t let pretentious folk with ‘creative’ in their title convince you that only they can come up with pitch winning ideas. Ideas can come from anywhere, but only if they’re given a vessel to exist. When it comes to Zoom meetings, keep them abstract. I mean, always have an agenda, but introduce the element of surprise. If you have meetings every week at the same time to brainstorm ideas, it becomes a chore not a creative task. Even lunch and learns at the same cadence become an obligation.
The only reason we book meetings at the same time every week is because that’s how scheduling programs work, not because that’s what is best for humans. You need to keep the people guessing, mix up the time, the format, share stories you love, show work you admire. Host a mystery meeting with a guest to inspire your staff.
The author Nir Eyal calls this variable reward in his ‘hooked model’. It’s the same tactic that social media uses to keep you playing their attention slot machine. If humans get the same result for a repeated action, they get bored and lose interest. Host Zooms with a variable reward.
In 10 years’ time, how different will the industry be to how it was 10 years ago, thanks to the WFH divide?
Firstly, I think the entire business model of an agency will change and the rest will follow. As I mentioned before with a lot of agencies losing their ‘perks’, they start to feel a bit like an indifferent service. How can you talk about the brilliance of your people as a point of difference if the average tenure is dropping and half your staff have worked at each of the major holding groups?
The job market in general is shifting to a value based economy. More skillsets are shifting to become ‘guns for hire’ taking on project work when required. I’m a perfect example, I’ve moved to freelance strategy work so I can work on projects that suit my skill set, experience and interest rather than on whatever brief comes across my desk from the client roster.
I think the midday commute will become more common. People will go to a business ‘hub’ for meetings and collaboration, but we won’t think of work as something that’s either from home or in an office.
Got a tip?
topics
Advertising
ben lucas
camey o'keefe
Francis Coady
Gruen
Havas Australia
have a plan
suzi williamson
Thinkerbell
WFH
working from home
Workplace
Bang ON!
This article is for the time…. and right at the right time!
Such a deeply insightful, incredibly well researched and hugely clever article that addresses one of, if not the most important of topics the creative industry are facing and discussing right now across all leadership levels (actually all industries really).
Seriously well recruited respected industry stand out leaders providing respected real wisdom and insights.
One of, if not the one BEST piece of journalism from Mumbrella this year.
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I work for a remote-only agency and we’ve had a number of get togethers for social interaction and purpose building and it’s been great doing that while enjoying the flex of WFH. It might be different for digital agencies but I don’t agree that we have to come back to the office to get creative. We still need to collaborate but this is nothing new and trust is fundamental to this. Sure there’s challenges with being on mute or wifi issues but you can be just as easily derailed by chats, get caught up and miss meetings, lose people’s voices by loading rooms with big personalities in the room or lose time with picking up the kids from school. My team and I are transforming our business, processes and have great client interaction WFH 100% and it isn’t stifling our success. It’s how we work and I don’t really feel the need to be in the same room to do that. WFH isn’t perfect but neither was WFO. I personally have been drinking significantly less since moving away from the office and I’m feeling much healthier as a result – anyone else feel this way? Are we so eager to put all our eggs back in the office basket and forget the productivity, comfort and agency many of us achieved throughout the pandemic? I don’t like seeing WFH is productive, BUT everywhere. I’m sensing a strong, forceful sentiment the more I read on the topic that senior leaders want nothing more to return to boots of the ground, claiming you can’t do it from home as effectively. But we all got on fine work-wise the last two years didn’t we? Many businesses grew, onboarded many new team members and invested significantly in online onboarding that we now want to discard? It says to me we don’t trust our people, and never did, we just had to these past two years, but now we’re going back to the office because we’ve always done it this way. This is very worrying. The Dutch just voted WFH is a human right and they are some of the most progressive and productive people. Let’s not jump back into the old and work towards a true hybrid piece that isn’t just temporary (like 2 days WFH now but we’ll be back 100% WFO need year). Yes, I appreciate offices and culture are expensive and take a lot of effort or maintain but the purpose of culture is retention. If voices for WFH aren’t heard, I guarantee people will vote with their feet. There are score of WFH/remote-friendly places people can join where they are trusted, respected and not forced to obey dinosaur dogma.
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