Lance Koenig’s Post

Time flies, it has been a year in dentsu for me. While tomorrow marks the official end of my rotation in Media Investment, it will also be my first day to start in the Strategic and Planning team. The past 6 months of working with the new biz team in Investment has been amazing. Taking on responsibility of day to day effectiveness and efficiency tracking, with the opportunities to participate in various pitch pricing exercises. As fun as it seems, I am embracing the chance of making mistakes during the process, and learn from them while having a great team to guide and help me. One year of working experience changed my perception on a lot of things, especially on how to balance your work and life, but at the same time, be who you are. Realizing these answers will not come in one night, I guess I need to stay calm and patience, however the eager of wanting to solve those are still there, ughhh. Thinking about the next six months, it will be an absolutely fun opportunity, as I’m able to see a bigger picture of what we do by heading into strategy. Same as before, wish myself a “stay motivated” and keep going!

Calm is contagious. At BBDO we had four forecast sessions every year, with the managing directors of every agency meeting with the CEO and finance director to go over P&L, projections and the strategy. Before my very first forecast, I had zero clue what to expect. Is it gonna be nerve-wracking? Will I get the support I need? My agency was the youngest in the group, a small underdog going after big and bold projects. Long story short - since my first forecast meeting, I participated in many more. We had groundbreaking success stories, we suffered losses, we gained talent, we lost talent. It was a classic agency life roller coaster. And every single time I walked into my CEO's office, I felt this sense of calm coming from Ella, our long-time CEO. The moral of the story - your team members will mimic your behavior. It's a guarantee. So keep calm.

I have a love-hate relationship with advertising and marketing. That feeling about Commercial Creativity is never closer to the surface than at this time of the year, when Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity comes around again. By Commercial Creativity I mean the loosely defined name given to a group of activities from the marketing function in a business, to those who help those marketers do what they need to do, the advertising, media and branding agencies and everything in between. I was for a long time of this world: Chief Strategy Officer of EMEA, Global EXCO, Global Creative Council for the then named Y&R - VMLY&R (and now VML!) and then Chief Marketing Officer for the United Nations World Food Programme. I did lots of things in those roles, some of those are still part of my life, but they are no longer all of my life. This is an exploration of the good, bad and ugly of the industry, the importance of metas and what you might do if you want to try something different. (A shorter version of this was first published by my friends and colleagues at BeenThereDoneThat - thank you. David Alberts, Nikki Crumpton and Marielle Kouroushi-Phillips). Saïd Business School, University of Oxford #marketing #branding #advertising #careers #personaldevelopment #growth

🤩 What a beautiful mess. 🏆 Saatchi & Saatchi's "You're Gonna Need More Tide" campaign for Procter & Gamble will be winning plenty of awards this year. And Catch+Release helped Saatchi curate and license the perfect UGC for the campaign. ✏ Want to learn how to get started with UGC 2.0? Check out the step-by-step guide included in this article from the Telly Awards. ➕ You're Gonna Need More Catch+Release. #UGC2dot0 #FoundContent #authenticity Link: https://lnkd.in/emyS3T4g

How do you sustain a long career in advertising when the majority have left by the time they reach 34? And should you?, Group ECD Kim Pick, VMLY&R NZ shared secrets to a sustainable career and past fears of hitting 40. "I asked myself, what will life be like for me? I have kids. How do I strike a balance and not forfeit my family or career?" Kim talked about taking a break to be a parent, working part-time for 10 years, sharing responsibility at home and not commuting. "Give yourself permission to walk away from your desk. Ideas come when you're doing your own thing instead of forcing your brain to come up with the answer." She believes there's a role for the industry to help build sustainable careers in advertising, enabling people to stay or return. #ThisWayUP #creativity #advertisingcareers

📣 Career Klaxon!! 📣 So some personal news…after a little over two years I have left Thread Innovation and M&C Saatchi Group to embark on a new adventure. It’s been a rollercoaster journey, building a new business with the wonderful Lilian T. and a new capability with the M&C Saatchi leadership team. There’s been long-hours and laughter, pitch wins and WTFs, soul searching and much learning. In short, it’s been a blast and I’m really proud of the fascinating projects we’ve done for large tech companies, global entertainment brands, governments and start-ups across Europe, Asia and Africa. ⚡ I’m now embarking on a new adventure as an independent consultant. Through 2024 I’ll be available for fractional roles and consultancy projects. 🎯 My sweet spot is strategy and innovation to help businesses invent better futures, particularly around gnarly behavioural challenges, new technology and customer experience. I've done this for global brands like Meta, Google, Vodafone, Boots, RBS, BBC, and Toyota as well as start-ups, governments and philanthropic organisations. 📈 My background in consulting, design, advertising and behavioural science means I love connecting the dots between brand, product, technology and human behaviour, leading to solutions that resonate in the boardroom and the living room. 💡 This might mean identifying new propositions and business models for growth, reimagining existing experiences or helping clients understand and tackle complex behavioural challenges. Or it might mean helping internal teams get better at all of the above. By way of example, I’m currently helping a bank develop new propositions and business models at the intersection of sustainability and finance, attempting to shift customer behaviour at scale in a way that is commercially attractive and sustainable. If this sounds like the sort of thing I can support you with, either in a corporate, start-up or consultancy please drop me a line and let’s grab a coffee or hot beverage of your choice. Thanks for stopping by. ❤️

Throwback to 2011, when I started my career in a bit of an unconventional way. While doing my marketing studies, it hit me: strategy wasn’t just interesting, it was where I needed to be. Now it's pretty rare for anyone to jump directly into a strategy role fresh out of school, especially at one of the big agencies. You would usually start off as an 'account executive', slowly climbing the ranks. But I wasn’t about to follow that script 😄 I aimed high, right for a digital strategist slot at one of the top agencies in Brussels. That's when I stumbled upon The Farm by BBDO, an intense 3-week talent program. The selection process was no joke—rigorous tests, endless rounds of interviews by experts and even psychologists, competing with a pool of over 200 fresh marketers. It was challenging, but I absolutely loved every minute of it. To my surprise and delight, I made the cut—one of just 12 chosen. We took over a villa, which became our workshop, our dorm, and the occasional dance floor. We worked hard, played hard, and slept little 😅 It was surreal, feeling both the weight of the opportunity and the excitement of being surrounded by other marketers who were just as driven. That time fueled my ambition and I felt I was in the right environment. While on the talent program, I already landed my job as a strategist at BBDO Belgium , exactly what I wanted! I worked alongside a senior, but he left just months after I got the job. I was asked to step up, and head our department, fresh from school. Managing clients, creating digital strategies—it was quite overwhelming but exhilarating. The agency later morphed, creating Dialog BBDO, to handle the increasing demand for social media strategies. Working alongside Bart Muskala, I mastered the art of storytelling and thought leadership. His mentorship was invaluable as I led a team of five while handling high-stakes strategy work, just months after I had graduated—one of the experiences that shaped me the most and fueled my entrepreneurial side. Just five months later, I was ready to go solo. But I'll keep that story for the next post!

Though it’s not unimaginable for L'Oréal to create an ambient media campaign like this, sadly this example posted by #Loreal is synthetic. It raises a broader question of the tactics brands are deploying to gain the attention of consumers across channels. Should they just post and ride the hype to their benefit, or should they be more responsible in highlighting that the content is fake? Does it even matter for things like this? For years I’ve been telling the #placemaking community they should be aware of these types of tactics and they should protect the rights of a building or space they occupy or at least offering out the rights for usage. Revo - Retail. Property. Community. Ibrahim Ibrahim Nick Peel what are your thoughts? Note, #SamAltman recently said he believes 95% of what marketers will use for campaigns will be created by, or handled by AI tools so expect vast amounts of synthetic media to emerge.

As we get into the rhythm of 2024, Cheil’s driving motto for this year is: Be brave. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Boldness means being unafraid of the unknown. Boldness reaches for greatness, in the midst of ‘good enough’. You’ve seen the TED Talks. You’ve bought the T-shirts. But when does being brave turn from a nice headline into a superpower? It’s when being brave is no longer just the responsibility of business managers and creative directors, but of the whole village. It’s when the account managers are brave. The producers are brave. The animators are brave. The designers are brave. The digital team is brave. The retail team is brave. The interns are brave. It’s earning the trust of clients so that they too can be brave. It’s when boldness is so embedded into the DNA of the agency that it spills into every piece of design, headline, idea, brief, document, email and conversation held inside an agency’s walls. Being brave is hard, but being brave is what separates the good and the great. So, here’s to aiming for great in 2024.

Today marks 17 years working in the media industry. The media landscape has changed beyond anything I could have envisaged when I started out (hello Facebook and programmatic), and the culture has evolved (for the better). I have worked with some incredible people (many who I am honoured to call friends), and experienced things beyond my wildest dreams. In this moment of introspection, I wanted to share some of my wisdom from nearly two decades in this industry. 🤗 be a good human. I remember a piece of advice my first boss (and still a dear friend) John Adlam gave to me - "Be as respectful to the receptionist as the CEO". In short, be nice to everyone, and don't be a dick. 🧑🏼🏫 there is always something to learn. You will become a better colleague, leader, and person if you embrace continuous learning. Be humble and if you don't know or understand something, ask for assistance. People are inherently good and are willing to assist. ⏩ pay it forward. It has taken me until joining dentsu how I have hidden facets of myself and that this can be harmful. It's why I now talk so openly about being a gay man from a working-class background. I want the next generation of talent to be confident they can be themselves. 🙈 own your failures. There was a period in my career where I felt like a failure. I had to take some time away from the industry to process as I had lost myself. I have now embraced my 'failures'. Rather than view them as negatives, I put them front and centre to demonstrate my growth. 💬 stand for something. We all have principles and causes we believe in. Never sacrifice these. Have integrity and stand up for what you believe is right, even if you are the only voice speaking out. Massive shout out to those who have played a significant role in shaping my career (an ensemble from a much bigger cast) Richard Bon Chris Mclelland Caroline Forbes Oliver Deane Caroline Forbes Steve Atkinson Oliver Murray Glenn Iceton Hayley Cochrane Gill Huber Kimberley Berkin Beth Freedman (she/her) James Wigley Nick Davis Glen Wilson Who knows what the next 17 years (let alone 17 months) will bring? Embrace the unknown, do it with a smile, and - most importantly - don't be a dick.