Annual lookback 2021
A year of unevenly distributed progress
In May 2021, I started a new job at MRM, leading the business team for the digital engagement with BMW, which felt like an exciting melding of everything I’d learned in my career so far in media planning (with Havas Media), digital marketing (with Dentsu Isobar), and business transformation (with Publicis Sapient).
I inherited a small digital account management team of 3, and took my place alongside the leader of the digital SMEs. I got stuck in, doing my best to achieve results in a loosely organised and fast-changing business context, and in the thick of a cross-agency team designed to shield the client from complexity (but that, like the swan moving gracefully across the lake, requires strenuous effort under the surface).
Little did I know at the time that I would have the opportunity, within just a few months, to lead the whole team. The hundred-plus onshore-offshore team fulfils a broad scope: brand strategy, campaigns, production, digital UX/UI, martech development, martech adoption, reporting & insights, optimisation, across a wide cross-agency team at Interpublic Group (IPG).
I took on the new role in November. I updated my CV.
I’m still learning the ropes of leading such a large team, but I’m relishing the challenge.
On the one hand, my experience in traditional ad agency work is much shorter than my predecessor who boasted decades of experience in managing integrated marketing communications (IMC) accounts. On the other (and I had suspected this) my background working in the specialised areas of digital marketing/CRM, service design and LTV management, community management, digital transformation, operational process design, production, martech, adtech, and even digital media ops have served me well for my current expanded role.
It’s almost as if my varied (some might say patchy) career has been the ideal training ground to become a “connector,” curating highly specialised talent from disparate corners of the agency landscape to solve client needs.
If you want to earn money in marketing, learn tech. If you want to earn money in tech, learn marketing.
Modern marketing is complex and nuanced, and intimately tied to end-to-end journeys, measurement against a multitude of business KPIs, technology, and transformation. I feel vindicated in my career-long approach to T-shape my knowledge and skills.
To bring things full circle, “3rd cultures” simply cannot be ignored in this moment of convergence.
This exciting development hasn’t been without its sacrifices, however.
All of the connecting, the management, the manoeuvring, the coaxing, the goading, the urging people to collaborate when they’re not accustomed (in some cases willing) to do so… it’s been really full-on workload, and my family life has definitely suffered.
The last couple of months has been the longest period of sustained overtime I’ve ever pulled. I have regularly been working until past midnight.
Last week, I enjoyed a weekday lunch with Laura and Lewis for the first time in weeks. Nothing special, just a home cooked meal at the dining table. Lewis was incredibly bubbly and happy. So much so that I had to ask “What’s with him? Why’s he so excited?”
Laura said “he’s excited because you’re eating a meal with him”
Hearing those words, I broke down immediately, as the enormity of what I’ve been missing this year hit me.
This year has been an exciting shift for me professionally. My challenge for 2022 will be to balance that with more effort and time in my personal and family life.