Fresh from a big win at the recently concluded Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity, where it was crowned Agency of the Year, Impact BBDO’s Regional Executive Creative Director Fadi Yaish, is already neck deep in ensuring that his agency continues its path of delivering great work. In a conversation with The Arabian Marketer’s Sana Mahmud, Mr Yaish speaks on his views on the growth of the business and some practices that Impact BBDO is embracing for achieving its next level….
What is the next level of creative growth you are aspiring for?
For me, it is about being among the four or five pieces of work that standout among the many other wins. Our main criterion is to do the best work that is fresh out of the box and surprising. The thing about winning work is that there is no equation to achieve it. There are conversations happening that are getting us to think, and we are making changes that can create expertise without forming silos.
How are you looking to achieve that?
It is the smaller things right now. Everyone has something that stands out. We are changing the conversation internally and shifting focus of certain players to certain dimensions, allowing them to develop expertise and giving them time to learn more. We get so busy in our industry that we stop learning and that automates the work instead of keeping the creative thought process fresh and energized. This helps in not compromising under any kind of pressure and delivering quality to our clients. We are also looking to collaborate with great talent –– think together, write story lines together and work together.
So you are creating experts?
We are creating expertise within teams. The rationale is that no one can do everything and be great at it. We are seeing the adverse effect of specialist, niche companies doing advertising. This is happening not because they can do it but because of financial pressure and it is affecting everyone now. By doing this, we are able to maintain the quality of work even in ideas that will be across all forms of media.
What makes good work standout?
In our business, most of the times we are expected to turn around good work, fast. We end up with great work but it is not necessary that that is always truthful to the brand. To make work surface in all the clutter, it is important to be adamant to create work that is truthful to the brand. And that is not easy.
On global platforms, the region is still struggling to stand out as a creative force. What is holding the agencies in MENA behind?
We are in the top 10 ranking of every global show and report, competing in the presence of networks and agencies that have been there for the past 50-60 years. Everyone cannot be there overnight, but it is happening. The most significant thing for us now is to move on from the number of metals to the quality of the work. If you really think about it, we began to see any recognition or the surfacing of our work only about eight years ago. Competition began to matter to agencies and clients since 2008 onwards. In comparison to some of the other markets, we are very young.
What we should look out for is if there are new people, agencies and countries that are winning. That is when you know we are moving forward. Unlike our peer whose mentors had mentors, we grew up, learning things the hard way. We are hopefully passing on the knowledge and experiences to generations to come. But I am very proud with where we are today as a region.
