Mediaweek held its inaugural Power Lunch in October, celebrating the successes of the media industry and the people who make it.
Nick Keenan, CEO of Starcom, made the Agency 50 list at #16. He spoke to Mediaweek about his leadership style, Starcom’s achievements in 2022 and the road ahead, as well as his hopes for the industry in 2023.
Mediaweek: Congratulations on making #16 spot on our Mediaweek Agency 50 list. What was your reaction to your placement?
Nick Keenan: I always react to any recognition with surprise. Of course I am delighted and flattered all at the same time. No doubt the collection of talent that was recognised on that list is an incredible bunch of talented media professionals, so to be in such wonderful company of people is a real honour.
They are all really into what they are doing, pushing new boundaries to grow their businesses, their teams’ careers and are working around the clock to deliver best in market media comms for their clients, which means the inclusion on that list means a lot.
MW: How does your position on the list reflect the achievements made by Starcom?
NK: It is a team sport, always. So there is no way I could have been included on that list without the talent and dedication from the Starcom team. As a team, we have rebuilt Starcom’s positioning, its product and enabled group marketing platform that is best in market.
We still have a lot to do and a long way to go but the foundations have been put in place. It is never a straight line to success, so we continue to agitate internally for what the best Media Agency communications is and needs to be in the future.
So yes, the achievements of our team which include the seven new business wins, the only cultural positioning in market and group marketing solution at our core offering has a lot to do with being included on the list.
MW: How would you describe your leadership style and work with your team?
NK: I am a transformational leader at heart. I like to build things, make them efficient and always ensure we are better today than we were yesterday.
I always continue to push for better ways of working but that is always delivered by giving my team autonomy in their role and enabling them to problem solve and come up with better ways of doing something through their own smarts, proactivity, and engagement in their craft.
All the while having some fun and enjoying the journey so that we all contribute and enable a high-performance culture that we can all be proud of.
MW: What are three industry issues on your mind, and in your opinion, how can they be solved or achieved?
1. Labour market: it is the worst I have seen and there is no short-term fix. So, we are continuing to build in our training and developing programs, doubling down on HX academy to ensure more cross-functional skills training – while offering a contemporary best in market agency to work for. One that will build your talents and skills, provide experience on the leading brands and businesses locally and globally, and ultimately provide a platform for all talent to grow their careers.
2. The balance of media generalists and specialists: constant rebalance to grow specialists and generalists. Specialists are practitioners; their value is from deep domain know-how. The value of the generalist is of organisation and management horizontally and vertically. Media used to be the domain of specialists and is evolving into one of the generalists. It requires different training and thinking and robust systems and processes to ensure the specialist craft is not lost in the change.
3. Getting the team sport physically operating together again. Flexibility is a gift, and it has a permanent place in our new ways of working, but it is not for spending the majority of time at home leaving agency’s trying to build high-performance cultures with people sitting behind a laptop. We need teams to be collaborating in person again, developing the culture, problem-solving together and building up loyalty amongst ourselves.
MW: What is your outlook for Starcom in 2023?
NK: Sustainable growth building on the wonderful foundations we have put in place. We have an exciting position and ways of working in ‘People Powered Growth’ (PPG). We plan to own PPG more in market, develop the product further and implement that fantastic framework into the work in market with great campaigns.
Campaigns that grow our clients’ business through market leading media communications. We have so many exciting campaigns hitting market, so a little industry recognition is also on the cards.
Mediaweek: What are your hopes for the industry in 2023?
NK: I hope that as an industry, we are able solve the labour challenges so we that there is no raiding each other’s talent base in an unsustainable way.
It doesn’t help our industry to operate on such short-termism and it creates too much of a transient workforce that is missing out on critical skill development by not remaining loyal and stable, putting the required time in with a team to be a better professional.
The rules have not changed in how and what is needed on a CV that will become an industry leader – and unfortunately if we encourage people to be too opportunistic, this will come at a price to them down the road.
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Top image: Nick Keenan