Andrew McGuinness - Marketing Interview
Andrew McGuinness, partner, Beattie McGuinness Bungay and chairman of the Annual Conference, ‘Make a Million in Marketing’, says it’s time for marketers to get back to the brass tacks of business
What's the most valuable lesson you've picked up in your marketing career?
Keep things as simple as you possibly can. We work in an area burdened by jargon and complexity, but the best marketing strategies are defined in simple terms. If something is too complicated, then it’s time to start again.
What's the best decision you've ever made?
To start up my own business. If you think of the great changes in the way marketing communications is evolving we have the freedom to build something made for its time.
And the worst decision?
When I listened to naysayers that something can’t be done or shouldn’t be done. When I worked for Esso we ran the first advertiser funded programming. It ran in London but not nationally, but I wish I had pushed it through.
What brand do you most admire and why?
In New York recently I saw queues of customers waiting to get inside the Apple and Abercrombie and Fitch stores, all fans coming to worship at their altar.
Why did you choose the theme ‘Make a million in marketing’ for this year’s annual conference?
Because of everything that’s going on with the economic climate it’s time for marketers to get back to the brass tacks of business. We’re here to make our companies money. Now’s the time for focus, we need inspiration and tangible practical advice we can apply to our business.
What's the biggest challenge facing the marketing industry over the next year?
How to deliver growth in an economy that is barely or not growing at all. Finding new ways of stimulating growth is hard but powerful.
What achievement are you most proud of in your career?
When I was the CEO of TBWA we were named as one of the Top 100 Companies to work for in The Sunday Times.
Who is your marketing hero and why?
Even though it’s a cliché, it’s Steve Jobs at Apple, who I was lucky enough to work with when I was at TBWA. When he rejoined Apple, the chips were down. He had to reinvent the culture and do that in a big organisation is really hard. To take on and rebuild the belief of an organisation is much harder than building something from scratch.
You spent two years working in Sydney, any lessons from the Australian marketing industry that could be applied successfully in this market?
In the UK, we oversegment marketing communications so that clients are left with 15-20 specialist agencies. That hasn’t happened in Australia where they take a more holistic view.
How are you going to make the wheel turn faster for your clients?
We want to remove the barriers that get in the way of our clients delivering growth whether it’s jargon, oversegmentation or internal barriers at the agency. We muck in with clients to solve their problems and they muck in with us to solve communication issues. I don’t believe in dated formality.
What are the biggest differences between working for an agency group and setting up your own agency?
When you work for yourself you have more control over your own fate. If you do well, you do well. There’s nowhere else to hide.
How did you make your million?
It’s a work in progress.