Mumbrella: Train agency staff out of their comfort zone, says webinar panellist Jules Hall
On Wednesday, November 14, Mumbrella and Deltek presented a special APAC webinar investigating the changing ways agencies are working in response to 2018’s brutal multi-channel pressures.
The Hallway founder Jules Hall and Ogilvy Hong Kong’s Brian Riedlinger shared first-hand anecdotes and answered questions from the audience. The webcast was simulcast live and also available on catch-up shortly afterwards.
Presenter Jules Hall was part of an earlier session on the same topic at Mumbrella360.
The founder of The Hallway argues businesses should give their teams more help to adapt to today's multi-channel pressures.
Mumbrella presents some of the insights he gave the audience.
To watch the webinar, simply click here and complete our short registration form.
Marketing complexity will increase, and this will continue the ongoing debate between specialist vs generalist agencies. Ten years ago, the industry shifted toward specialised agencies. But clients are now finding they have too many suppliers to manage. Every agency has a strategy, creative and account management team, so the result is a duplication of cost and a fragmentation of thinking. That is neither effective nor efficient. Today, there’s a general trend towards grouping more skill sets in one agency, resulting in one group of people looking holistically at the brand and customer experience.
It’s important for agencies to invest in training, in particular, skills outside of an employee’s primary role. Traditionally, agencies have not been great at making those investments but I think that’s changing.
The world has changed a lot, and that’s influenced changes to our business. The big shift over the past 10 years has been the growth of data, and of the role data plays in the communications we’re creating. We talk a lot at The Hallway about the need for T-shaped people.
If you’re a purely siloed thinker, you can’t understand and appreciate what others are talking about. T-shaped people have a deep understanding of one area, but they have an appreciation and an understanding across other disciplines. In this increasingly complex world, we find that very important.
Time is important, but I refute the notion we sell time. We sell outcomes for our clients – commercial results and growth. The client doesn’t care if work takes 12 or 312 hours. They care if you get the results you said you were going to deliver.
Today, collaboration is a reality. That means internally, with other agencies and with your clients. Every time a new group comes together to collaborate, a new ‘team’ is formed. Except, I don’t think our industry always thinks that way. Too often ‘collaborating’ is a thing you do, not a way of being. When one builds an internal team, you work hard on the culture and rules of engagement for that team. The same needs to happen with external collaborations if they are to succeed.
Google has commissioned some very in-depth studies on team dynamics to understand what makes teams successful. The number one criteria for success is psychological safety – the comfort to express ideas and thoughts without fear of judgment. It’s worth really understanding this concept.
We’ve got to shift to a place where data is on the same pedestal as creativity if we are to thrive. How do you do that? Cultural change. It’s about people being enlightened enough to understand this is the new reality and working together to embrace it. One of the biggest challenges that quickly ensues is getting different types of people, with very different skill sets, to work together to achieve new and better outcomes. The problem with different types of people is they have different ways of communicating. Once you understand that, and you have a framework for effective communications that works for all of them, you’re set up for the next stage of what’s happening.
