The final day of the Creative Liaisons Program organised by the London International Awards saw Ali Rez, CCO, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, Impact BBDO; Kate Stanners, chairperson and global chief creative officer, Saatchi & Saatchi; Liz Taylor, chief creative officer, Ogilvy, and Matt Murphy, global chief creative officer and partner, 72and Sunny, answer ‘everything young creatives wanted to ask a CCO but were afraid to’.

The panel saw questions from the attendees and kicked off with one about the hardest part of being a chief creative officer.

Rez kicked it off by stating how it’s balancing everything.

“You have to see good work, keep clients happy, and make everyone you work with happy. Among these, the last part is the most important. I find myself doing less work and talking to people more to get the work done and that’s again about finding the balance,” he stated.

Rez also spoke about the importance of ensuring no one on the team is burnt out by being overworked.

Stanners spoke about the importance of creating the best environment within the agency.

“This leads to creating the best work to happen. It would help if you left stuff behind. You might go to the places you love a little more and know your routine and team but small shifts can help create that environment,” said Stanners.

Murphy added, “We are in a relationship business – both internally at the agency and with the clients. So, you are a chief relationship officer too. Sometimes people say ‘trust me – I know what I’m doing’. I say trust is earned and relationships are built over time.”

He also urged young creatives to not be afraid to ask for what they want.

“You can get anything you want if you can articulate it. It won’t happen immediately, but will happen soon,” he shared.

Adding to the chief relationship officer bit, Taylor said, “A CCO wears a lot of hats – including part-time therapist, mom, craftsperson, and inspiring the team. When I first became a CCO, the hardest part is that nobody teaches you these roles.”

She added that sometimes the best creatives may not be the best chief creative officers because they may not want to lead a team.

“My husband is a creative and doesn’t want to manage a team. He’s not a chief creative officer, yet he finds joy in what he does. Honestly, not everyone is cut out to be a CCO,” shared Taylor.

Importance of awards

Responding to a question about the importance of awards, Taylor shared how it shouldn’t be the sole focus for a creative.

“Awards are a byproduct of what we do. Creativity is a business multiplier – it’s the secret sauce to what drives business. Awards are a good marker and it’s good to set the bar for where we should all head. It’s a good way to test how your creative culture is doing. Don’t be award-hungry and solely focus on them,” she said before admitting how she loves awards herself.

Echoing Taylor’s view, Rez added, “How else will you know which agency is doing the best stuff? A group of peers judging you helps establish that. It’s great for recognition. There’s value in getting your work recognised and adding your name to a piece of work.”

Sharing a conflicting view, Stanners said, “Awards are a complex reality. One agency founded recently had principles that they didn’t want to enter awards. They didn’t want to look the same as other agencies. Sometimes awards can create a divide in culture and projects that teams work on. Clients are seeing the work that’s awarded is often very small. The big issues are not awarded.”

However, Rez stated that marketers are getting onto the awards bandwagon themselves.

“A few years ago, if someone said ‘you have created this to win an award’ – it was almost seen as an insult. Now, award shows are tilting towards brands and clients participating in them. They are saying they want to win awards too and want to be on stage. We are seeing this across industries and regions,” he said.

Taylor stated that awards have a direct correlation to business results.

“When the work is doing well and winning awards, stock prices are high. That’s proof that awards are a business multiplier,” she said.

Darkest moments

Discussing the ‘dark moments’ during their careers, Stanners went first talking about how a piece of work released lost her agency a client.

“I made a film that managed to lose a client. We were trying to inject fuel into a brand because it was dying. The client decided that it wasn’t the right time to release this film and consequently, we parted ways with it. However, I thought the film was brilliant,” she said.

Rez’s darkest moments were times when he felt helpless and couldn’t help team members.

“When you come from the Middle East – the darkest days can go very dark. A team member went to South Lebanon recently and was stuck. She told us about a building in the neighbourhood getting bombed. We tried to help her get out – but were helpless.”

Taylor shared two failures.

“I don’t talk about it often but I was laid off during my career. It felt like the worst thing ever. It was a blow to my ego among other things. Then, later I was told I wasn’t cut out to be a CCO. They are hard personal moments. It’s about how one responds to them. People will question you in your career and that will determine how long a career goes.”

Murphy’s darkest day came on the day he was promoted.

“It was during Covid and a client called. I thought the call was made to congratulate me. But the dude wanted to yell and state how things were going wrong on a shoot. This just proved how a CCO is also the chief problem officer and chief responsibility officer. These roles can humble you. Every day you must assume 10 things can go wrong – if they don’t, it’s a great day,” he said.

Adding to Taylor’s point of the layoff, Rez shared, “I have been through the same. When you look back at it, it can be the best thing that can happen to you. I wouldn’t have moved on from the job for five years if I wasn’t laid off and done the same mediocre job.”

He also spoke about how being part of a cricket team helped him take on the role of a leader.

“I was handed the captaincy of the team because nobody else got along (with each other). They were very good players. What I learnt from this was understanding why everyone wasn’t getting along was important. So I would drive two people together to practice to understand their issues. It took a couple of months to achieve it, but we got to a place where people started getting along,” shared Rez.

He added, “You need to have a leader that understands what your problem is. If someone is unreasonable – you tell the person. Be their friend and help them succeed. I wanted to care about the happiness level in the agency. Struggle does feed your heart – but keeping people happy and the general environment of feeling good helps. I worked at a couple of places where it wasn’t important. One will only get to the top if you have happy people around you.”

Adding to Rez’s point, Taylor said, “When I first became a CCO, I had an ECD who didn’t want to listen to feedback. I had to adjust my style of talking to the ECD to make sure my advice was taken seriously.”

Stanners added the importance of collaboration.

“We see a lack of collaboration around. The idea of finding people around is important and fostering an environment for this is required.”

Adding to the collaboration point, Murphy said, “I made a conscious decision as a CCO – it wasn’t about me or my stamp on the work. It’s about pulling people and supporting their unique voices. Sometimes in a competitive environment, some people have stronger voices than others. CCOs need to make time to listen and that’s creating a safe space.”

Salary transparency

The talk ended with the quartet discussing salary transparency.

Taylor said, “It’s so fascinating to me. When I was rising up the ladder, people didn’t talk about salaries at all. It’s a different generation now – they are very open; they share and talk about it. We have salary brackets for roles so that it’s fair for everyone. It depends on where you live – NYC could be very different from Brazil. We are open and transparent about the ranges.”

Rez added, “The ranges are pretty well known – which part of the range one fits in is about the work being done and the clients one is working on. Gender or which country one comes from doesn’t matter.”

He advised young talent to learn negotiating skills.

“Do learn negotiating skills. You might want to work four days a week or you might get to do better work at a lower band at a different agency. You can ask for what you think fits you better,” he shared.

Murphy surmised, “We are living in an area of transparency – so agencies need to make pay bands public. Everyone talks in any case. It comes back to the value equation. Young creatives need to feel valued. You can’t create bad work. If your manager is looking at your value equation – that creates a successful track to keep growing.”