“Nothing is as good at killing ideas as a corporation”

According to Telstra CMO Brent Smart“Nothing has ever been invented that is as good at killing ideas as a corporation – they are built to kill ideas.”

Referring to the idea that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Smart said, “If you can create a creative culture within a corporation, that’s an incredibly powerful thing.”

Reflecting on his career, Smart said he “loved” his 20 years in agencies, but reached a point where the “driving motivation” to leave agencies and become a marketer “was frustration with clients.”

“I was just frustrated because We felt we were putting the right ideas on the table, but they weren’t reaching the corporations we were working with. for a multitude of reasons. I thought, what if I could be on the other side of the table? What if I could say yes to ideas and create the conditions for ideas not to die, but to thrive?”

That was the thought that brought the Smart client part, he said. “You can have a bigger impact being in charge of a brand than trying to influence the people who are in charge of a brand.”

He was talking to Smart Dan Krigstein on The Growth Distillery’s Reset for growth vodcast, hosted by News Corp Australia.

Smart emphasized originality and making things that are distinctive in the market as the fuel for creativity.

“We’ve all been so busy trying to make experiences seamless and spending a lot of time thinking about how we digitize these different experiences that in many ways, we brought out their personality and creativity.

“The world is getting noisier. There has never been more content out there, so you have to do something interesting and creative to stand out and succeed. Sometimes a little friction is a very good thing.”

Smart pointed out that fixating on short-term performance is something the industry is too focused on at the expense of good growth.

“Every market is under pressure. We’ve never had better tools to deliver short-term growth – we have better data, we can target better, we can optimize in real time. It’s all fantastic, but that’s what I think short-term focus leaves a lot of growth on the table,” he said.

“When you build long-term brands, you create future demand for your brand that you might not see this quarter. In fact, you might not see it next quarter, next year, or the year after that. Taking that long-term view and really thinking about the work we do today will not necessarily transform today’s demand, but actually create future demand.”

The solution is not just to fix the brand’s attention in the longer term. Smart said the biggest antidote to a fixation on short-term performance is building a culture where everyone is focused on the idea that they will be defined by results.

“We will not be defined by the PowerPoint presentations we create, or good meetings or great graphics – we will be defined by results, by what we put into the world, by what we do.

“If you can get a whole team that’s really excited about doing creative things and doing things that are different, that have an impact on the market, that your mother talks about, those teams tend to focus more on building great things . .”

Last year, Smart overhauled Telstra’s agency model – appointing a bespoke agency called +61, made up of group giants TBWA and OMD, and indie shop Bear Meets Eagle on Fire.

Talking to Mediaweekfounder of Bear Meets Eagle on Fire Micah Walker said he takes his relationship with Smart very seriously – when Smart was CMO at IAG, he offered Bear the opportunity to launch ROLLiN. It was the first project he had entrusted to the design shop.

“I take this burden very personally,” Walker said.

“You know, people often ask you what motivates you. And I say, “Everyone is different. Some want houses. I’m always terrified of letting someone down.

“I am very humbled by the trust and we will do everything we can to try and live up to the ambition that we know he has and that we have on behalf of Telstra.”

See also: Micah Walker on making Telstra ‘more than it currently is’ and being ‘terrified’ of ousting Brent Smart

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Top image: Brent Smart speaking on the Reset for Growth vodcast