SXSW Learnings: PHD'S Stuart Bailey & OMG's Alex Pacey

#ForYou Files asks industry leaders to share recent insights and thought starters which have provoked them into thinking differently about Business, Performance, Social Impact, Creativity and Culture. Here, OMG's Chief Product Officer, Alex Pacey and PHD's Chief Operating Officer, Stuart Bailey, share insights from their recent trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Share with us something you learned from SXSW about business

Alex Pacey highlighted an interview between entrepreneurs Tim Ferriss and Bill Gurley, explaining: “Something Tim Ferriss said which gave me pause to think, was along the lines of ‘If you can find an exception to something, it's not a rule’.

“In advertising, there are established rules that mean most people are doing the same thing. So when something different comes along, it can be swept under the carpet because people assume that's not correct, but it’s actually an exception to the rule. If you can find the exception, it means there isn't a rule yet. It makes me question how I approach problems.”

Stuart Bailey also cited an insight from the same session, saying: “They both approach things quite differently, but they both agreed on one thing - that they now consider face to face meetings a competitive advantage.

“Clients in the pandemic were happy because they felt supported. We've come out of the pandemic and there’s been less face to face than there was previously. I think we've lost some social capital as a result of that.

“If you think in evolutionary terms, we came together as a species by working together. We didn't do that via proxies like screens, so it makes sense that you’ll get a better connection with someone by being face to face.

“We should understand the importance of both being in a service industry and face to face contact, because I'd never thought about it as a competitive advantage. But if you get out there and see your clients more often, you will build better relationships.”

Tell us an interesting insight from SXSW about Performance Marketing

Alex found inspiration from legendary advertising planner turned brand effectiveness guru Les Binet, explaining: “I learnt that attribution modelling grossly overweighs the performance of short term, and undervalues the performance of long term.

"We’re in an era where we measure the things that are easy to measure, rather than necessarily the right things. If you want to be truly clear on what works and what doesn't, you've got to turn things on and off. A lot of people will see this as a reductive approach, like we're going back to 1995.

“But in this world, we're building proxies for measurement that still don't work in the way we need to. Going back to touchstones of what clearly works from a measurement perspective really pricked my ears up.”

Share an insight you gleaned around Social Impact

Stuart points to insights around a major issue affecting every brand - sustainability. He cited an interesting conversation which pointed out the current confusion for consumers around what sustainability actually is.

He adds: “It's in boardrooms the work needs to be done on this, but there's a tenure problem in boardrooms and in marketing. These short tenures make it challenging for initiatives to actually generate results. If we can't get to a situation where, as a consumer, we know what sustainability looks like for business, how are we supposed to vote on them with our purchases?

“The only way sustainability will be taken seriously is if it becomes a key issue in financial markets. They're only going to take it seriously if sustainability is a competitive advantage that can be measured.

“For example, there was a panel which said that when you get something delivered to you, fast tracked from a retailer, there's an equivalent of 300 trees destroyed. If you arm people with a message like, ‘Do you want fast shipping? Or if you wait three or four days, you can save 300 trees?’ most people would wait.

“The point is, nothing's out there because it's a competitive advantage to get stuff quickly. That blew my mind a little bit. It's not easy, and it's never gonna be easy, but saving the planet isn't easy."

Tell us about something that piqued your interest around Creativity

Alex Pacey cited Aussie-expat adman Nick Laws, now the Creative President of Accenture Song, explaining: “What I took most from his conversation was about how processes and relationships within businesses create better work. The idea is that when you look at your process, each link in the chain has got to improve the product for the next link. So strategy has to make your planning better. Whatever your planning approach is, it has to supercharge your trading.“

Stuart also referenced Laws’ urging of simplicity across work. He says: ”I've always thought simplification and translation were incredibly important. Nick’s point of view is you need deep thinking and simplicity at the same time - but are we really putting the two together enough to create solutions for clients?

“I think we can get better at having that deep technical understanding even in the way we visualise what we're going to do, or tell the story or the narrative of the deep thinkers with the people who make it make sense.”

Give us an insight that inspired you which is rooted in Culture

Alex shared an example from a keynote address by British actress Tilda Swinton: "One of the things she talked about was that, as you become more successful you’re asked to break away from the collective that has helped you get where you are.

“Instead, she emphasised the power of the collective rather than the individual - in order to build winning cultures you’ve got to get people to buy into the collective. That's tough with younger people, because there is an emphasis on the individual and it circles back to things like face to face versus flexible working to build a culture. We’re an agency group that lauds the collective, as opposed to the individual, and that's why I felt so comfortable there."

Stuart cited the opening keynote from Simran Jeet Singh, the academic and author, who talked about his experience growing up as a Sikh in Texas. But his lessons were about compassion, as well as learning to see things from other people’s perspectives before rushing to judgement.

He explains: “It's a reminder that we all think very differently, whether it's our spouses, kids, or the people entering the industry. Sometimes it's easy to judge people on our own assumptions.

“But the way that we look at the world is through our feelings. Singh made me think that culture is something that thrives on psychological safety, meaning people should be able to be their true authentic selves in the workplace. It’s also about common purpose - articulating that as a business is essential.”