'Advertising’s at a crossroads
The big Hollywood studios fell because they couldn’t adapt. Sound familiar? Rigid structures, tired hierarchies, creativity strangled by rules and roles…
Jon talked to Yahoo Finance UK recently to share his thoughts about where we're headed. And why doing things differently is good news for creativity. Check out the video here.
(A quick read and a 5-mins video with a mug of tea and rhubarb shortbread)
'There is rot in the ad agency world - we need to pay creatives for ideas'
Advertising stalwart Jon Williams, CEO and founder of creative community The Liberty Guild, grew up in Stretford “50 doors down from Morrissey”.
However, it is when Williams speaks about the impact of Tony Wilson, the late owner of Manchester’s pioneering Factory Records, who gave creative talents the platform and freedom they didn’t have previously on labels that resonates the most as a Mancunian and now entrepreneur.
“It was about doing things differently,” says Williams.
The Liberty Guild, he says, is a beacon of hope in an otherwise drab agency landscape. A fully distributed international advertising agency, it has a global talent platform numbering 450 across nearly 30 countries after sourcing what Williams says is “the best creative department in the world”.
Williams has picked up a mountain of Cannes, D&AD and Effies awards over the years, having helped develop the first interactive TV ad, the first mobile-enabled posters, and created the iPint, a first in branded application for the iPhone.
“I love 'firsts', always been interested in the new and got bored with the status quo,” he says. “At the time digital was fascinating and it allowed you to create an idea you could immerse yourself in, interact with and get under the skin of a brand platform.”
Spooling back to Manchester, Williams recalls sharing accommodation in Wythenshawe with a jobless flatmate who returned home one day with a new Audi and a role in advertising. “If he could do it, anyone can,” thought Williams.
A product design degree at Sheffield Hallam University didn’t yield early results for Williams, who began to ask himself, "What can I do to be the most creative I possibly can be and get paid well?"
He was able to attend London’s School of Communication Arts through some life insurance he received following his father's death.
Williams, a Creative UK council member, is not short of ideas and it is an attribute he puts down to the influence of his teacher John Gillard. He says: “He made you think about ideas differently. People fall in love with execution but that’s not ideas.”
His experiences of being able to afford the course is one of the reasons why Liberty Guild today supports D&AD’s Shift school, which gives creators from minority backgrounds the chance to excel and work on the firm’s client briefs.
“I am conscious of how hard it is for people to get into the business,” says Williams. “There are many things that are wrong in what we do and many things we need to address.”
He started this during the mid-2000s when he became chief creative officer at advertising giant Grey London and also helped build a 2000-strong pan-EMEA platform for its best talent.
It was a transformation which also shaped Williams' understanding of how high-performance teams operate in a distributed way and without time limitations.
When a client makes contact, The Liberty Guild opens up its platform to select the best specialists and creatives who match the brief.
“You don’t get that in an agency where you will get whoever’s free in a meeting on a Monday morning,” says Williams. “With us, the client is involved in the choice.”
The Drum, when awarding The Liberty Guild the Grand Prix for Business Transformation, described the firm as like an agency, but digitally transformed to be “a creative business for our new world.”
Williams also notes that his company doesn’t track hours. He says: “No one knows how long it takes to have a good idea. We put a structure in place to make sure we get good ideas but we pay creatives for these ideas, not the hours.
“It’s amazing how fast you can be when you’re not charging by the hour. There are some fundamentals which are wrong with the ad agency world, but at the heart there is rot.
“You put the value on the ideas and the entirety of the ad business is barking up the wrong tree by going for the hours.”
He highlights a Times newspaper survey last month, which indicated that only 10% of Generation Z wants to work in the office full-time.
“That’s pretty eye opening,” admits Williams. “An answer? To work the way that people want to work. My clients don’t care where the creatives are sitting, they care about the quality of work.”
First published by yahoo!finance
Image: yahoo!finance ‘CEO says’ still - watch the full video here
