The first monthly print edition of the iconic Campaign magazine hit the desks of the marketing, advertising and media communities this week. To mark the change from a weekly to monthly the magazine explored aspects of business and brand ‘Transformation’.
Trends Editor, Nicola Kemp, spoke to industry leaders about the challenges of Transformation and ‘change management’ programmes, including Edelman UK’s COO, Matt Hurst. Matt has extensive experience optimising teams and advising clients through change management and cultural transformation programmes from his time as Edelman’s Global VP for culture. You can read Campaign’s feature via this link as well as Matt’s full quote below.
Congratulations to Campaign for a great launch!
“Clients need trusted agency partners where the idea of rapid, continual change has been normalised. In many ways that is the brave thing to do, adapt to the new reality. It’s no longer a surprise that many changes in business are taking place at unprecedented rates, that’s been known for a while now. From our position as creative partners, it can be all too easy to label everything as transformation and hide the myriad of examples where change isn’t being experienced for many in society in the way it should. Equally, it’s easy to presume that’s always a problem for people.
In business, in a context where much becomes contingent and likely to change, you have to place greater emphasis on the mindset we all need to deal with it. You need a strong team culture in your creative agency that can deal with ambiguity and a dynamic business and societal environment. Rapid change exposes in agencies any cultural problems as old structures resist change. You need a team culture which is open, genuinely curious and ready to keep learning. That kind of agile mindset helps you navigate continual change rather than be surprised by it, or think it is novel. It also means you stay open to where transformation and change isn’t being experienced in society and business in ways it could positively.
In a creative agency, you need an ability to pilot new options and possibilities so you can identify where you can do things differently or pursue growth. All without disrupting everything prematurely. You need people who understand the day-to-day reality of change management and driving through business transformation initiatives which takes consistency and discipline, with a willingness to adapt approaches as new data becomes available. You end up with a healthy contradiction of needing both deep consistency and great flexibility, in equal measure, to be successful.” Matt Hurst, Chief Operating Officer, UK & Ireland Edelman