'Truth Well Told' - this ‘tagline’ is not just a mission statement of the world renowned McCANN WORLDGROUP but it can also be applied to the talk Julian Burrett, Creative Director of McCANN Bristol gave to us on Tuesday 22nd of October 2013. As our first guest speaker to support the UWE Marketing Society, his presentation focused on the structures in a marketing agency (based on McCANN) and therefore opened our eyes up to the industry, what’s involved and the various job positions available to us –something that many of us were eager to find out! At the end of the day, McCann is the worlds largest advertising network so we were very lucky to have Julian give us an insight into the company.
McCANN's core values according to Julian Burrett are ''rooted in rich heritage.'' These values are something that we can inspire to posses perhaps... He emphasised the importance of entrepreneurial spirit. Julian even said that we have shown this already by just turning up to his talk - something that definitely put a smile on our face. YES! - something to talk about in an interview already! Integrity, curiosity and persistence are all important values to McCANN; however, in Julian's opinion, courage is one of the most important. You need to have the courage to inspire the public and get them on your side! Ultimately the message here is to be brave and go for it!
Who knew McCANN WorldGroup were involved in these famous marketing campaigns?
The best thing I found out was that Santa Claus used to be green before McCann got their hands on him!
McCANN's core values according to Julian Burrett are ''rooted in rich heritage.'' These values are something that we can inspire to posses perhaps... He emphasised the importance of entrepreneurial spirit. Julian even said that we have shown this already by just turning up to his talk - something that definitely put a smile on our face. YES! - something to talk about in an interview already! Integrity, curiosity and persistence are all important values to McCANN; however, in Julian's opinion, courage is one of the most important. You need to have the courage to inspire the public and get them on your side! Ultimately the message here is to be brave and go for it!
Who knew McCANN WorldGroup were involved in these famous marketing campaigns?
The best thing I found out was that Santa Claus used to be green before McCann got their hands on him!
The Metro in Melbourne had a problem; safety around trains. The Metro had a very small budget of £15,000 however McCann managed to make a massively successful advertisement which would capture the interest of millions and effectively warn people about being safe around trains. If you haven’t seen the little guys above it’s about time you go searching for them. Merchandise, an app and many more things have been developed which have generated further income for the Metro due to the great popularity. The amount of train deaths did in fact decrease after the advertisement,. Well done McCann! What do you think of this advert?
An insight into the London 2012 Project -
This was the biggest assignment any agency in the world had ever been given! 40,000 briefs over 3 years (1187 days) with 44 stakeholders. McCann claimed the hardest challenge was ''coming up with a single narrative which when eventually developed was ‘Going beyond your personal best’.'' The core structure of the campaign was to create mile stone projects that would engage people before the Olympics, Julian Burrett said ''this was instrumental to drum up optimism due to pre pessimism of the Games.''
An insight into the London 2012 Project -
This was the biggest assignment any agency in the world had ever been given! 40,000 briefs over 3 years (1187 days) with 44 stakeholders. McCann claimed the hardest challenge was ''coming up with a single narrative which when eventually developed was ‘Going beyond your personal best’.'' The core structure of the campaign was to create mile stone projects that would engage people before the Olympics, Julian Burrett said ''this was instrumental to drum up optimism due to pre pessimism of the Games.''
What we the key things we learnt?
McCANN is made up of various departments. This is one of the key things that the society wanted to know - What are the jobs available to us in an agency like McCANN?
What daily challenges do you face in an agency?
The biggest challenge are the clients. They have certain budgets, their own ideas and narratives which is why you have to get them on your side. The problem is that this depends on your relationship with the client and trust. This doesn’t happen with only one successful campaign but happens over time. The best thing you can do is be persistent. Confidence is hard to build, it takes years of building upon relationships to get the client to take risks.
Is a smaller budget better?
Not particularly. But having a tight budget might force you to think outside the box and can lead to really great things (Dumb ways to die). You still have to consider the risk though, which increases with smaller budgets. One thing you can say for sure: Big creativity attracts bigger budgets.
What can you do if you are a small company and you don’t have money for marketing?
In our personal opinion, this was the best question asked due to the example Julian Burrett gave in his answer. Dollar Shave Club are a SME which had no marketing budget however managed to make a very popular advert, which I and many others in the room thought was highly humorous and straight to the point. Julian Burrett said he admired the good business model. Below is the advertisement which we strongly advise you to watch. On the other hand, Julian advised that you be bold if you are going to market your business alone or do spend money on a professional marketer otherwise.
Are you proud to work in the industry?
You always work with bright, interesting and talented people and learn something new. It is a very enjoyable and engaging job where you get the opportunities to grow with every project. Britain is a very creative country and being part of this is what makes you proud. McCANN is fast moving and fast paced. There are opportunities to do some amazingly large things and sciences are becoming more engaged in marketing, which I'm very excited about.
McCANN is made up of various departments. This is one of the key things that the society wanted to know - What are the jobs available to us in an agency like McCANN?
- Direct - Involves looking at databases - who can they send out emails and other marketing material to engage a response?
- Digital - These people build the intranet and website of McCann and develop splash pages for certain campaigns. You must all be familiar with these, they are usually asking you to sign up to their emails.
- PR - the people who understand the client, give narrative, give the business a public theme or control disaster mitigation. They also keep in close contact with media owners to insure the clients story gets put in there.
- Truth (Research)
- Advertising - deals with the all types of communication from posters to TV.
- Universal - ''the broad umbrella group.''
- Creative - This is what Julian Burrett is part of and he said it’s all about ''continuously pushing the group to be creative.'' Is Julian bias when he says this is the best department?...''The amusing and fun stuff''
- Account Handling - will engage daily with the client, and can even know the birthdays of their family to engage a relationship with them! They will pick up the briefs and co-ordinate with all the other departments (detailed above) and so will have a broad understanding.
What daily challenges do you face in an agency?
The biggest challenge are the clients. They have certain budgets, their own ideas and narratives which is why you have to get them on your side. The problem is that this depends on your relationship with the client and trust. This doesn’t happen with only one successful campaign but happens over time. The best thing you can do is be persistent. Confidence is hard to build, it takes years of building upon relationships to get the client to take risks.
Is a smaller budget better?
Not particularly. But having a tight budget might force you to think outside the box and can lead to really great things (Dumb ways to die). You still have to consider the risk though, which increases with smaller budgets. One thing you can say for sure: Big creativity attracts bigger budgets.
What can you do if you are a small company and you don’t have money for marketing?
In our personal opinion, this was the best question asked due to the example Julian Burrett gave in his answer. Dollar Shave Club are a SME which had no marketing budget however managed to make a very popular advert, which I and many others in the room thought was highly humorous and straight to the point. Julian Burrett said he admired the good business model. Below is the advertisement which we strongly advise you to watch. On the other hand, Julian advised that you be bold if you are going to market your business alone or do spend money on a professional marketer otherwise.
Are you proud to work in the industry?
You always work with bright, interesting and talented people and learn something new. It is a very enjoyable and engaging job where you get the opportunities to grow with every project. Britain is a very creative country and being part of this is what makes you proud. McCANN is fast moving and fast paced. There are opportunities to do some amazingly large things and sciences are becoming more engaged in marketing, which I'm very excited about.
This was just a summary of the types of things we learnt at Julian's talk - we learnt loads of invaluable tips; however we think we've told you enough! Make sure you come to talks like this to find out how to become more employable (a UWE Marketing Society tagline) and network with business professionals like Julian. We seem to have done everything right by joining this society. We are glad that we attended this talk, as it helped us get an insight into how an agency works and answered a lot of our questions. Julian Burrett seemed delighted to share some of his knowledge with us students and was therefore very approachable. We hope that future talks will be as interesting and helpful as this one was and that you guys enjoyed it as much as we did.
On behalf of the Marketing Society, we thank you Julian Burrett!
Written by Lauren Dickson and Amelie Mueller
Edited by Amelia Sneezum
On behalf of the Marketing Society, we thank you Julian Burrett!
Written by Lauren Dickson and Amelie Mueller
Edited by Amelia Sneezum