Career wisdom from BT's Gavin Patterson; a host of creatives, including Trevor Robinson OBE, talk boundary-pushing work; Allied World's Yvette Templar, Mercedes-Benz's Peter Larko and Kyndal Group's Push Banerji share leaders they love, and Giles Lury tells us a brand story
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BT's CEO, Gavin Patterson, gives us ten key learnings for those looking to make the jump to the top job. (5 MINS)
Creatives we love, such as Quiet Storm's Trevor Robinson OBE and JWT's Jo Wallace, tell us the boundary-pushing work that first inspired them to pursue their careers. (5 MINS)
Allied World's Yvette Templar, Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong's Peter Larko, and Kyndal's Push Banerji tell us leaders in life they love. (2 MINS)
Author Giles Lury, tells us the tale of inventor, Elisha Otis, and how his demonstration at the 1854 World's Fair made people stand up and take notice. (5 MINS)
In the days since our CMO to CEO breakfast with Gavin Patterson and our partners Spencer Stuart, my fellow attendees and I have greeted each other like people who share a secret. It seems everyone took something significant away, but we are united in feeling very lucky to have been present.
If I sound a little star struck, I am, but don’t let that give the impression that Gavin was anything less than open, honest and deeply human. Perhaps it was because he’s coming to the end of his time as CEO of BT, but I certainly got the sense that Gavin is an authentically decent guy.
For anyone interested in going for the top job, or just looking for an insight into their own boss, this was an incredibly useful morning.
Below are ten things that will help you if you want to move into the top job:
Although the main thing to be prepared for is that you can’t prepare, 75% of the things Gavin dealt with from day one as a CEO he had never dealt with before
Sometimes marketing is not the most popular discipline at board level. Listen to investor calls, befriend the CFO, and learn to express ideas in terms that will resonate with your fellow board members.
The unglamorous jobs can teach you vital skills and demonstrate you have a broader understanding of business than your own function. Take on a role or even a project in other parts of the business, and, even better, endear yourself to the CEO by fixing something.
Even if you’re not going for a global CEO role, working in a foreign market can provide vital insight. At home you are the consumer, you know the market. Learning to operate in a foreign country will boost your critical faculties and force you to alter your perspective.
By becoming the link between sales, HR, IT and other departments, being the owner of the customer view, supported by data, the marketing and the Marketing Director can become the lynchpin of the organisation. Take on projects that allow you to become that integrator.
It is most likely you will be promoted from within, rather than moving “out and up”, so it is vital that your former colleagues support your move from “colleague” to “boss”.
You will have to make tough calls often with less information than you're used to. One of those calls may be to very swiftly rearrange your team, involving some difficult conversations with former colleagues. Especially those who also had designs on the top job.
Although you will receive a huge amount of advice, it often comes with an ulterior motive. You must be comfortable in trusting your instincts, something marketers have spent years honing. Decisions can often be “51% one way and 49% the other”, so hesitation is fatal.
Make sure there is a clear divide between your public persona and your private life. Protect your health and the relationships that matter to you, this will help build your resilience.
There’s no going back once you make the jump, and it really isn’t for everyone.
This insight was put together by Marketing Society Head of Membership, Alex Ricketts, and taken from our CMO to CEO event series.
To find out more about attending these events please contact us. Back to contents
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In 1992 I was just a teenager, yearning for a perm. I didn’t know you could be a ‘creative’ in advertising. Then, the orange Tango ‘slap’ ad hit my youthful retinas. Even on my parents’ boxy, 4:3 TV I could tell it was something special. Something different. Something exciting. I remember sending off for a Tango doll at some point. When the boggle-eyed, big-bellied, plastic guy plopped onto the doormat I put it on a shelf and felt cool. Little did I know that my second job would be with Trevor Robinson (one of the creatives behind the Tango ad) at his agency, Quiet Storm. For 6 years. We remain firm friends.
Levi’s Laundrette at the time was awe inspiring because it was pioneering in every sense. From the music to the casting, (making Nick Kamen into an overnight star) everyone was talking about it. Even now, if I hear that music I don’t think about the wonderful Marvin Gaye, I think about Levi’s 501’s! Probably my favourite ad of all time is The Guardian “Points of View”. It was so ahead of its time, even the structure of the commercial was original by going back and showing the same action, with everything it’s saying it always feels way bigger than an advert.’
It wasn’t the love of a particular ad or campaign that inspired me to get into advertising. In fact, it was the opposite. When I was a kid in the '70s there were plenty of ads that I loved, most memorably the Humphrey campaign for Unigate Milk. But as an adult in the '90s I was frustrated by the lack of ads that I related to.
Women were either overtly sexualised or mumsy or roller-skating in white trousers because they had their period. So, I figured the best way to change the ads I saw was to make them myself.
One piece of work I vividly remember as a kid was Playstation ‘Double Life’. The year was 1999, and not only did the idea of a double life feel fresh, it completely broke apart our stereotypical view of the ‘gamer’. People’s perceptions of the gaming type were indoorsy weirdos who resided in their parents' basements, or young kids.
But the reality was very different. In this wonderfully crafted spot, we saw a mother with her baby, a black wheelchair user, a cross-dresser and many more. It is one of the many ads that inspired me to pursue a career in advertising.
In New York in 2007 I visited Droga’s offices where David introduced his latest work for UNICEF, the ‘Tap Water Project’. No print ads, no tv spot, just a 2-minute case study. I was blown away. Using a brand to change the world for the better.
Growing up I discovered Grafik magazine where British illustrator Anthony Burrill was the star. In one issue his work with Diesel used iconic typography next to powerful black and white photos of rebellious empowerment. This was unique. Graphic design pushing the boundaries of advertising. This was my early inspiration.
Sport. Excellence. Disabled people. Sex. What do those words have in common? Three Maltesers commercials broadcasted on Channel 4 during the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. In the ads we see disabled people talk about normal life topics: the dog, the night before, the wedding, even sex and masturbation. Yes... even disabled people have sex. Disabled people in ads? Big turning point. Tackling taboos in a safe environment. What inspires me the most in advertising it is the opportunity to be relevant. We can take inspiration from what’s happening around us and give brands a way to be part of socially relevant topics - moving their agenda closer to society.
I fell in love with advertising in 2008, when Dominos.com launched the Pizza Tracker – a tool that tracks, in real time, the progress of your pizza from order to delivery.
That idea showed me that creative minds, when given the right challenge, can impact what brands DO, not just what they say. And it made me want to create things that make people seek us out instead of creating messages that chase them around. I want to live in a world where every brand stops asking, “What do we want people to know about us?” and starts asking “How can we add value to people’s lives?”
It took me 3 minutes and 59 seconds to decide I wanted to work in advertising. I didn’t even realize I was watching an ad when I saw motocross rider Robbie Maddison surfing the waves in Tahiti on a dirt bike. His Pipe Dream film with DC Shoes had me captivated – millennial 6-second attention span, say what? I lapped up every beautiful, considered shot, wondering whether he was going to get pummelled by the waves, or if engineering was on his side. Extreme, yes – but it had everyone talking. Watching it was an experience. I'm sold on dreaming up boundary-pushing and expectation-defying work, be it traditional, digital, purpose-driven or pure entertainment.
We asked three Society board members: which leader(s) in life do you admire and why?
A leader I love would be Angela Brodie. Angela was a tiny woman, with a will of steel and a language of humility.
Pioneering breast cancer research at a time when women in science were rare, she fought gender bias and served to advance young and immigrant female scientists worldwide. As a result of Angela’s brave determination, tens of thousands of lives have been saved today.
Rose Marcario, CEO Patagonia: For tripling the profit responsibly in a decade. Julia Goldin, LEGO CMO: For having the guts to reinvent the agency model and in-sourcing creative. Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft: For reinventing a stale Microsoft to what it is today. Practically no business in the world can live without them.
The leader I admire is not from marketing or business, but an Indian entrepreneur, film director and screenwriter - Zoya Akhtar. Her work has been exemplary, thought-provoking and artistic. She has channelled art-house depth into majorly successful mainstream cinema and has been one of the few directors to understand that the Indian audience has rapidly evolved and there is a need for meaningful cinema. Akhtar’s works capture intricate personal battles and societal pressures.
Given the success rate of new products and services, you might be forgiven for wondering why any sane marketer should attempt such an endeavour. Yet innovators seem to have been born without a fear of failure. They seem to have a natural streak of bravery, perhaps as the famous Apple ad says they are ‘the crazies’.
Would you truly be willing to invite the buyer of Neiman Marcus to come to the bathroom room to see your ‘butt’? Would you stake the whole company on a new line for which predictions were, at best, mixed? Would you be willing to risk your life just to create a publicity stunt for your innovation?
If you’re Sara Blakely and you’ve invested all your savings in your new idea, inviting the Neiman Marcus buyer to accompany you to the bathroom might only seem a little strange. And even less so, when the ensuing ‘before and after’ demonstration of the benefits of a pair of Spanx gets you your first listing.
It’s 1952 and you’re on the board of a large manufacturing brand. Your engineers are excited about a new idea. Your sales force aren’t so convinced. According to them, potential clients in your main geographical markets, the USA and Europe, have expressed only limited interest. The project and the development costs for first prototypes will be three times your average annual profit for the last five years, which equates to about a quarter of total net corporate wealth.
Well, if you’re Boeing and the project is to produce the first large jet aircraft for the commercial market, then you are. You say ‘Yes’ and start the project. It leads to the birth of the Boeing 707 and helps you become the brand leader in this new sector.
So, you might risk the company, particularly if you don’t own it, but are you willing to risk your life just for a publicity stunt?
One young man was willing to take that risk and, moreover, to take it in public, in the main exhibition hall of America’s first World’s Fair in 1854. Standing on top of a hoisting platform, high above the crowds at New York’s Crystal Palace, he called for everyone’s attention. As the heads turned around and people looked up, he swung an axe and cut the rope supporting the platform.
The platform began to drop. Silence fell over the hall. A split second passed. Every breathe was held as the platform dropped. But the platform only dropped a few inches, and then came to a stop.
“All safe, gentlemen!” the young man, Elisha Otis, shouts down to the crowd. Otis’ faith in his own revolutionary safety brake had been vindicated.
Otis hadn’t invented the elevator, but in 1852, two years before this stunt he had solved the problem of rope failure that plagued elevators of that time. He installed his safety brake (the equivalent of the modern safety gear) into the mechanism of the elevator. With it, in the case of rope failure, a spring would force a ratchet to engage saw-tooth iron bars and safely secure the elevator cage.
However, and despite the life-saving potential, throughout the whole of 1853 and early 1854, he had only sold three. He decided he needed to do something to catch people’s attention. His potentially life-threatening show not only demonstrated his faith in his invention but was to kick-start his journey to the commercial rewards he had sought and some say paved the way for the growth of the skyscraper.
So, when thinking about your next innovation and how brave you may need be, consider the words of the poet, Guillaume Apollinaire:
“Come to the edge," he said. "We can't, we're afraid!" they said. "Come to the edge," he said. "We can't, We will fall!" they responded. "Come to the edge," he said. And so they came. And he pushed them. And they flew.
