Insights

Carmen Love—Founder, Creative Director at Love Collective— has 17+ years of agency experience working for some of the most influential brands in the world. Here’s a glimpse of her mindset when it comes to talent, leadership and lessons the pandemic has taught. What is the number one quality you look for in talent? A mix of integrity and curiosity. Most skills can be trained but the way a person sees the world—the degree to which they’re true to themselves, and their level of interest in the unknown—speaks volumes about their creative character. These are people who are intrinsically motivated to…

Noel Hamilton—Executive Creative Director at neverland—shares some interesting personal and industry related facts in this Q&A. What is something the industry isn’t paying attention to that they should? This isn’t anything revolutionary, but our industry’s burnout rate is alarming. Good talent is going client side for the better work/life balance or leaving the industry altogether. Souls are being crushed. The fun is being sucked out of what we do. If you’re killing yourself for a 15-second ad that took a year to get approved that no one will see or care about, we’re all doing something wrong. In my experience,…

With many agencies working towards sustainable remote structures, ad industry talent has never had more flexibility. Some leaders are still scratching their heads, however, as to how to accomplish successful work streams with agency talent is scattered across different locations. In speaking with agencies grappling with the challenges of dispersed talent, I’ve found a few key practices that work well for all involved.   Set clear expectations.  Now that you’ve got a new hire “in the door” and up-to-speed, the onboarding process is still far from done. Even with the best talent on your roster, employees can’t be expected to generate…

Sasha the Mensch is growing internationally with the appointment of creative recruiter, Ro Martese. Ro, a psychologist with a background in human resources, previously held the role of experience manager at Ernst & Young, one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Prior to EY, Ro was a talent connector for Accenture, where she coordinated candidates, leaders and clients to build better teams and help people fulfill their career and personal aspirations. In her new role, she will connect award-winning candidates with top advertising agencies around the world.  “Helping people achieve their career goals while assisting our clients…

Meet Tricia Ting Lee, a creative leader, artist & art director who—after working many years in US—currently leads a team of 20+ creatives at ViewSonic in Taiwan. Her point of view is sure to inspire. If you could attribute one other person or life event to your success, who or what would it be and why? If I were to go all the way back to the beginning of my career, my dad was the first person to encourage me to follow my passion. When my dad asked what I wanted to major in during my freshman year of college,…

The future of work continues to evolve as the pandemic sprints into its third calendar year, keeping people and organizations in flux. Covid-19 brought many major shifts in our day-to-day work and turned the practice of recruiting talent completely on its head. In 2021, we saw many people changing jobs, but these changes were all done remotely, often with the understanding that as things improved, folks would relocate. Only, they didn’t. And as the year wore on, companies relied on hard dates for the return to the office. We are now in a much different situation as candidates are either…

Argentina-based recruiter, Brenna Ferguson, shares her insights on what talent and employers can do to level up their search. What would you say to companies who are looking for fresh perspective and new talent right now as many industries are facing the war for talent? Diversity is an ever present topic for companies right now. It’s been proven that teams of people with more diverse backgrounds get better creative results. Yet many agencies still stick to what they know because of tight timelines, budgets, or frankly because of who you know. Advertising agencies notoriously hire within their “agency experience” world.…

Dany Minaker and Patán Tarazaga have been creative partners for over 14 years, working hand-in-hand on regional, national and global campaigns. We recently had the opportunity to ask them some insightful questions, their answers here. Do you think the pandemic has made Argentina a bigger location for international creative work?  Paradoxically, the pandemic situation was a period of great growth for Wunderman Thompson in the region. Not only for Argentina but also for many WT offices. There was a growth in our business, our capabilities, our processes and our talents. I believe that this is mainly due to three important factors;…

We are happy to share with you some key takeaways from our chat with Polina Zabrodskaya, Creative Director for AMV BBDO. What was the biggest adjustment for you working outside your home country for the first time? Every market has its own set of “it has to be this way” mantras. In Russia, those things mostly have to do with censorship. But when it comes to production — anything is possible. If you wanted to make an app to analyse dog farts, rate them on their artistic merits and sell them as NFTs— there would be someone somewhere in Tver…

Andrea Siqueira, SVP Executive Creative Director for FCB Chicago, has been awarded for her work at Cannes, D&AD, Clio, Clio Sports, FIAP, NY Festival and more. We spoke to her about what’s next in the ad industry. If you could attribute one other person or life event to your success, who or what would it be and why? The fact that I was born in Salvador, Bahia, a very creative but small advertising market in Brazil. From my hometown, I’ve learned the creative spirit of carnival, one of the most diverse and democratic street parties in the world. Today, besides…

Congratulations. An ad agency or company has hired you, your visa has been approved and it’s official: you’re coming to America. Now comes the tough part… and I don’t mean starting your new job. Rather, you’re going to be facing an array of bureaucratic challenges as you get settled, and these can add to the natural stress you feel from the move. For a smoother transition to life in the U.S. of A., I recommend the following steps: 1. Apply for a social security number You can do this once your visa has been approved, even from your home country;…

  A big thanks to Sean Donovan, President of TBWA Asia for sharing his best advice on leadership. What is the number one quality you look for in talent? Over and above the technical ability to thrive at the role in question, there are two qualities I look for that jointly top my list – Empathy and Curiosity. As a talent business, we thrive when our teammates are in an environment where they are dealt with as humans beings and not units of labour. And as humans, our colleagues check in as their workselves showing just part of the picture.…