Strategists & Creatives. A Therapy Session

© DDB Group Hong Kong | 1
Strategists & Creatives
A Therapy Session
Andreas Krasser
Chief Strategy Oﬃcer | DDB Group Hong Kong

© DDB Group Hong Kong | 2© DDB Group Hong Kong |
NICE TO MEET YOU!

Do planners and creatives
even need couples therapy?

© DDB Group Hong Kong |Source: The Planner/Creative Relationship (BBH, 2012)
62%
38%
Strategists that feel most of their past
relationships with Creatives had been positive
37%
63%
Creatives that feel most of their past
relationships with Creatives had been positive
4© DDB Group Hong Kong |

Resolving the – sometimes
fraught – relationship between
planner and creative remains a
major challenge in building a
successful strategy team.
© DDB Group Hong Kong |Source: The Future of Strategy Report (WARC, 2017)

A Three-Step Counselling Model
Analyse
the issue
STEP 01.
Focus on
the positives
STEP 02.
Deﬁne an
action plan
STEP 03.

01. Analyse the Issue
© DDB Group Hong Kong |

Planners
want
Creatives
to be more
strategic
Creatives
want
Planners
to be more
creative
Source: The Planner/Creative Relationship (BBH, 2012)
“ “

© DDB Group Hong Kong | 9Source: The Planner/Creative Relationship (BBH, 2012)
It seems as though Planners
and Creatives both want to
work more closely…with
someone like themselves.

“You’ve got one group who have been
told, be as distinctive as possible, and
another who have been told, be as
effective as possible…you could only
manage friction.”
- Stanley Pollitt
Source: Why planners and creatives drifted apart (WARC, 2016)

How
about
Asia?

The Strategist-Creative
Relationship in Asia
A Little Survey

DISCLAIMER
NOT A SCIENTIFIC
SURVEY. INTERPRET
WITH CAUTION.

The Sample: 103 Respondents
Creative
54
Strategy
49
Slightly more skewed towards Regional
Average years of experience for Strategists:
8.9 years
Average years of experience for Creatives:
12.1 years
Regional, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,
Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam
Source: The Strategist-Creative Relationship in Asia Survey (DDB, 2018)

Previous Relationships
0.0% 6.0% 39.4% 48.5% 6.0%
Disappointing Poor Satisfactory Very Good Excellent
Strategists’
View
0.0% 17.0% 46.3% 31.7% 4.8%
Creatives’
View

Real vs. Ideal Partner
Which of the following traits apply most to the creatives you have worked with in the past?
29.4% 23.5%50%
Creative Collaborative Curious
TOP 3 POSITIVE PICKS
17.6% 11.7%23.5%
TOP 3 NEGATIVE PICKS
Defensive Tactical Challenging

Which of the following traits apply most to the creatives you have worked with in the past?
29.4% 23.5%50%
Creative Collaborative Curious
17.6% 11.7%
Tactical Challenging
23.5%
Defensive

“Agencies would greatly beneﬁt
from fast-tracking an overall
attitude towards strategy as
sometimes egos get in the way
of effectiveness. Appreciation of
data and insightful strategy
should be part of the
indoctrination of young creatives
into the advertising world.”
- Anonymous Strategist

Which of the following traits apply most to the strategists you have worked with in the past?
39.0% 29.2%46.3%
Insightful Analytical Collaborative
14.7% 14.7%22%
Theory-led Defensive Tactical

Which of the following traits apply most to the strategists you have worked with in the past?
39.0% 29.2%46.3%
Insightful Analytical Collaborative
14.7%22%
Theory-led Defensive
14.7%
Tactical

“Unfortunately there are more
analysts, or even worse, the ones
coming up with digital tactics
they call "Strat" in Asia. And
many times this is not much help
for Creatives. A good strategist
should be a good creative, and
vice versa."
- Anonymous Creative

Which of the following are the ideal traits you would want a creative/strategist to have?
58.9% 55.8%61.8%
Collaborative Open-minded Creative
STRATEGISTS’ PICKS FOR CREATIVES
48.7% 43.9%75.6%
Insightful Collaborative Strategic
CREATIVES’ PICKS FOR STRATEGISTS

02. Focus on the Positives

Importance of Strategist-Creative Relationship
0.0% 0.0% 2.9% 11.8% 85.3%
0.0% 2.4% 2.4% 26.8% 68.3%
Not Important at All Not Important Somewhat Important Important Very Important
Strategists’
View
Creatives’
View

Importance of Strategist-Creative Relationship
0.0% 0.0% 2.9% 11.8% 85.3%
0.0% 2.4% 2.4% 26.8% 68.3%
Not Important at All Not Important Somewhat Important Important Very Important
Strategists’
View
Creatives’
View
97.1%
95.1%

The most common theme:
we NEED each other…

“Strategy and creative have
always needed one another.
Without good creative,
strategy is nothing more than
words on a Powerpoint chart.
Without good strategy,
creativity is nothing more than
cleverness without context.”
- Gino Borromeo, Chief Strategy Oﬃcer,
McCann Worldgroup Philippines

“A strategist can’t do their job
without a strong relationship with
their creative, just as a Creative
won’t get to the best ideas
without a strategist. The two
should inspire, challenge and
feed off of each other.”
- Rebecca Nadilo, Head of Planning,
BBDO Singapore

“Elves need Hobbits
as much as Hobbits
need Elves.”
- Anonymous Creative

03. Define an Action Plan

Improving the Relationship
14.7% 11.8%38.2%
Relentless
Communication
Creative-
Strategist Hybrid
Roles
Better Agency
Processes
STRATEGISTS’ TOP 3 PICKS
15.0% 12.5%32.5%
Creative-
Strategist Hybrid
Roles
Relentless
Communication
Cross-disciplinary
Training
CREATIVES’ TOP 3 PICKS
What is the best way to improve the relationship between strategists and creatives?

12.5%
Getting drunk
together
Creatives
8.9%
Getting drunk
together
Strategists
5.9%
Cross-disciplinary
training
Strategists

Some other common themes…

Shared goal setting

“Powerful partnerships work
towards a common goal. In
agency dynamics there are
often different incentives
pulling the strategy-creative
team apart. Industry awards
being the main culprit of this.”
- Michiel Cox, Global Digital Brand
Manager, Unilever

Karaoke together

When it came to casting the
future though, there was
one very clear “winner”…

Out of the way, Copy & Art!
Here comes Creative & Strategy!

“Strategy & Creative is the
new art & copy. With the rise
of the renaissance creative
(art, copy, code) and the
importance of creative
effectiveness, the only
constant is the killer insight.”
- Richard Bradley, CCO,
Project Worldwide

“The new partnership
that agencies need is
not of art and copy,
but of Strategists +
Content creators.”
- Sonal Jhuj, Strategy
Director, DDB Mudra Group

PROJECT BIONIC
@DDB Group Hong Kong

The Ultimate
Goal:
Renaissance
Creatives &
Strategists.

StrategyCreative
Strategy
Creative
Creative Strategy
Account Service Account Service Producer
Strategy (CSO) Creative (ECD)
We started off
with a new
seating plan…

StrategyCreative
Strategy
Creative
Creative Strategy
Account Service Account Service Producer
Strategy (CSO) Creative (ECD)
Then this
happened…

We don’t even
have a Creative
Brief template!

But we hang
out and talk
Strategist
Creative
Account Service
Creative
Strategist
Strategist
Strategist
Creative
Creative
Account Service
Producer
Soju Bombs

Our Junior Strategists
started to train in
creativity - not just
concepting, but all the
way through production.

So, here comes the final
relationship advice…

Create a
common
agenda
01.

Mix things
up a bit
02.

Learn each
other’s craft
(not just the Juniors)
03.

And my favourite one…

Don’t take
yourself too
seriously
(it’s only advertising)
04.

“Can we please
have fun again?
Remember fun?”
- Tim Paradise,
Freelance Creative
Director

Happily ever after?
Thank You!
Andreas Krasser
Chief Strategy Oﬃcer | DDB Group Hong Kong

Strategists & Creatives. A Therapy Session

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