Graeme Anthony, Executive Creative Director at Axicom, recently caught up with our Principal Consultant and Consumer Lead, Helena Ranger, to share his perspective on what it takes to be a creative leader today.
Together, they unpacked the importance of nurturing creativity across agencies, how to remain creative through industry changes, and the impact of economic uncertainty on creativity more broadly.
Read the full interview below:
Being curious really is the driving power of any creative today. It’s about having an always-on mindset. You’ve got to make sure you never stop exploring – never stop noticing and experiencing everything around you.
Exposure is also crucial – not so much from the experience side of things, but exposure to all parts of the business, or agency, or the process. Even if it feels like something you’re not really interested in, it’s important to dip your toes into whether that’s data, insight, strategy, even finance. Go on that journey, find out how everyone involved in a project is thinking working, because that’ll improve the end result.
There also needs to be an emphasis on self-development. It’s about having a ‘never stop learning’ mentality. You should want to be the absolute best you can be – and want your team to be the same. If you can instil that mentality into every single person across an agency, then you create an army motivated to drive success for themselves and for the agency.
The first half of this year was an absolute killer – I think it’s the most paralysis I’ve ever seen in the industry. The whole thing just shut down. When that happens, you know what’s coming, and you’ve just got to batten down the hatches to weather the storm.
Thankfully, the second half has been a lot better. It’s important to go and speak to other agencies. It’s quite a small industry, and it’s good to be able to grab a coffee and get it all out on the table. What are they experiencing? Can you find some commonalities, some advice, some guidance?
I’ve got a bit of a beef with the idea of having separate creative roles or departments. I think we need to be careful – I think we need to re-democratise creativity. When I started out in the industry back in 2010, we didn’t have any specialist creatives in PR. The beauty of the PR practitioner is that we wear so many different hats and we’re so multi-skilled and multi-talented, we are all creative.
I worry that by making creativity siloed, we’re removing it from the integral infrastructure of the agency. That sends the wrong signal. I would never want an Account Executive or Manager to think “it’s not my job to be creative, we’ve got a creative department.”
The job of those creative roles is to allow the people who need to be the most creative the freedom, time, and capacity to think freely. But that doesn’t mean they should be the sole creative output.
There are four key things on my agenda. First, is Gen Z. They’re becoming the primary consumer, and the oldest among them are now 27, and entering the C-suite. This means we need to adapt our corporate communications to reach them through new channels.
Second, we’re in the age of post-truth 2.0 with the rise of AI. The real battleground now is disinformation, and as an industry, we’ve got a responsibility to try and audit it and bring some control to it.
Third, we’re dealing with a polarised society. Brands are stuck in the middle – do they try to mediate and unite their audiences, knowing it’s very hard to find common ground? Do they pick a side, knowing companies like Disney and Coors have lost significant market share because they did it wrong?
Finally, AI is going to turn every business into a tech company. Just like how the internet made every business a digital business, technology is going to be inside the infrastructure, at the heart of your organisation. A lot of companies have never had these conversations before, but investors want to hear about their plans for AI, how they’re going to make it profitable, how it’s going to change the game for them.
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