1.
16 campaign Advertising Supplement published for 13 April 2012
Sapientnitro
You don’t need to be big to come up with a great creative idea – but its delivery requires scale
G
oogle employs 32,467 peo-
colinstout
ple. The headcount at Apple
is 60,400. Facebook, a rela-
tive minnow, numbers 3,000-
plus. But, like Amazon, with
its 50,000 staff, it is double
the size that it was two years ago.These
companies, among the principal archi-
tects of the digitally enabled world we
all now live in, are big and getting big-
ger. That should come as no surprise.
What is a surprise is that the idea that
scale is the enemy of innovation still
finds support in parts of our industry.
When Jay Chiat famously asked of
his (growing) agency Chiat/Day “How
big can we get before we get bad?”, he
was laying himself a trap into which
traditional agencies and their leaders
continue to fall. Implicit in the ques-
tion is the belief that, at some unspeci-
fied point on their growth curve, the
innovation and inspiration that once
made them great simply dies away.
There are echoes of Chiat’s self-
limiting “smaller is better” ethos still
reverberating around agencies today.
They recognise that the proliferation
of technology is leading to a wholesale
transformation of the way in which Poynton and Vaz…‘Our culture is designed to facilitate a perpetual evolution, constantly learning from each other and our clients’
consumers interact with brands, and
that, with it, the traditional agency the obvious. Consumers now expect ences across online, mobile and in- ‘We are growing, tioning it. SapientNitro is built this
model is challenged – yet they won’t traditional advertising to be con- store. The advertising we are creating and plan to way to necessarily redefine how
transform themselves to keep pace. verged with customer service, sales reflects that knowledge, of the right keep growing, brands connect with consumers, to re-
They think small. They think “silo”. and product development, as they see consumers across the right channels, because clients flect the contemporary structures of
They set up “labs” or, worse, bring on all of these as manifestations of the connecting it all to make Ladbrokes come to us our clients and the demands of their
board a creative technologist – a unit brand. They want to be heard and an engaging, listening and responsive looking for consumers.This is not an experiment.
of one. Then they wait with wide-eyed engaged with. They want the brands brand that moves seamlessly between creative Digital is making horizontal connec-
expectancy for these future-gazers to they choose to fit with their lives, not conversation, sales and service. solutions to tions across client companies and
unravel the mystery of the consumer- to be a series of interruptions and dis- When Marks & Spencer appointed their business organisational silos are being disman-
technology relationship. connected interactions. SapientNitro us for nothing less than the develop- challenges that tled as businesses transform for a
It’s only a mystery if you treat it as a believes the brand is the experience ment of its first wholly owned multi- go far beyond digital world.At many clients, the mar-
mystery. When a consumer rips open and the experience is the brand. channel retail platform, it was because the obvious’ keting function now touches on retail
the packaging of their new smart- For Ladbrokes, SapientNitro is a of our strong understanding of its in-store and online, customer service,
phone or tablet, it is only a matter of business and technology, creative and brand and the way in which consumers communications, consumer feedback,
time before they bend that technology experience partner, and last year was experience it across channels, as well innovation and product development.
to their own needs and behaviours. asked to create all of its advertising. as our capability to deliver the tech- The nature of change is reflected in
Theodore Levitt once said “People We won the business away from the nology that will drive it. the inputs, outputs and requirements
don’t want a quarter-inch drill; they traditional ad agency because we have Our capability is possible because of that companies, their marketing and
want a quarter-inch hole” to illustrate the capability to be better at each our size, not in spite of it. Every one of their IT functions must now address.
the idea that companies tend to focus individual element, but also because the talented individuals that make up Data and analytics, multichannel
on the wrong things. At SapientNitro, we could connect them to the benefit SapientNitro is an idea engineer, an commerce, logistics, communications,
we go one better – people don’t want a of the consumer and, ultimately, the innovator, a creator. We don’t sideline mobile, social, content and the media
quarter-inch hole; they want to hang a brand. We helped to build the trading or compartmentalise innovation. The that carry them – everything is bigger
picture, or make an improvement that platform that is the Ladbrokes prod- whole of SapientNitro is one giant and more expansive.
will enhance their lives. We won’t set uct, and created commerce experi- lab, structured to understand consum- Clients want agency partners that
up a lab to explore and experiment er behaviours and to create construc- are big on capability and big on ambi-
with the technology. SapientNitro is tive interactions between brands tion. Conversely, they are not served
structured to ensure that the entire At a glance and customers at the intersection of well by an agency that treats digital
business is focused on the experience Founded 1998 commerce and communication. Our technology as a novel experiment and
and the benefits of the most relevant, Principals Nigel Vaz, senior vice- culture is designed to facilitate a per- which, when asked for a marketing
innovative and rewarding consumer president and managing director; petual evolution, constantly learning solution that goes beyond advertising
interaction with brands. Malcolm Poynton, chief creative officer from each other and our clients. and its digital derivatives, takes a
SapientNitro employs 6,000-plus. Staff 815 in London; 6,000-plus globally That’s why, at SapientNitro, you “bought media” approach.
Yes, we’re counting – not because size Locations London – as well as 34
will find strategists, planners, anthro- The question is not how big is too big.
matters, but because it doesn’t. Good offices around the globe, including pologists, data analysts, technologists, The question is not even what are the
is good. Quality does not come with Amsterdam, Delhi, Dubai, Los Angeles, experience designers, information next big technological leaps.The ques-
size restrictions. It is true that you Melbourne, Miami, Moscow, Munich, architects, writers, art directors, web tion is how do we stay relevant and add
don’t need to be big to have a big crea- New York, San Francisco, Shanghai, designers, social and cultural junkies, value to businesses and to consumers
tive idea. You need to be big to deliver Stockholm, Sydney, Toronto, Zurich producers and project managers all when the time and distance between
one, particularly in the digitally ena- What is the future for pureplay digital working in cross-functional and non- interactions are being compressed.
bled, global economy we exist in today. agencies? They will always exist, but will hierarchical teams. This is not “inte-
We are growing, and plan to keep be niche and struggle to influence grated” – that flawed and forced Malcolm Poynton is the chief creative
growing, because clients come to us What movie title best describes your concept peddled by parts of our indus- officer, and Nigel Vaz is the senior
looking for creative solutions to their agency? The Pixar Story try. This is converged thinking, where vice-president and managing director
business challenges that go far beyond collaboration happens without men- at SapientNitro