Boasting a number of major client wins and double-digit growth, it’s been a big year for the team at Spark Foundry. The agency won’t be slowing down any time soon, however, working to bring constant innovation and diverse thinking to drive results for clients.
Leading the charge are CEO Imogen Hewitt and newly appointed cheif strategy office Caroline Hugall.
After a visit to the Publicis Groupe offices in Sydney, Mediaweek sat down with with Hewitt and Hugall to go behind the scenes of Spark.
Coming up on four years as CEO of Spark Foundry, Hewitt says that “it would be untrue if I said there is a single thing” guiding her goals for the business, due to the complexity of agency businesses. There are, however, some overarching factors she and the team work to meet.
Hewitt: “If I break it down into the things that we as a leadership team have determined for ourselves are the most important things to try and keep in balance – and there’s an important aspect of the word balance – that is growth balanced with sustainable, strong, retained, existing client relationships.
“There is also the commercial performance of our business, and the underlying health of that balance with the happiness of our people, because sometimes those things tend not to go hand in hand.”
Having worked in the industry for just shy of 20 years, Hugall is the newly-appointed chief strategy officer, beginning her time with the company in June. Reflecting on the move, she says that the decision to come over to Spark was a particularly easy one.
Hugall: “It’s a world-class agency, with a world-class leadership team, a world-class leader, and a world-class product that I couldn’t say no to. There’s something really interesting about being in media right now, with the convergence of everything around people. I was so fascinated by taking all my experience with various different industries into the media space.
“There’s a world-class strategist team here too that’s totally diverse in thought and experience. We’ve got watchmakers, ballet dancers, people that have studied art history – it was so exciting to be able to work with them and elevate the work that they’ve already been doing.”
With Hugall making the switch over from client side – most recently, she worked as group brand strategy director for IAG and before that was senior planner for global brand strategy at Mondelēz International – Hewitt says that her addition to the Spark team brings a “crucial” perspective.
Hewitt: “We have an amazing array of diverse clients, but let’s be real: if you’ve got CMOS spending 10% of their time thinking about media agencies, then you’re incredibly lucky. Our ability to simplify all of that complexity and deliver what’s meaningful and important, so that they are able to have the right conversations, is massively aided by making sure we’ve got a lens that’s got relevant client experience to bring to the table.
Hugall: “It works both ways, because I went client side from 10 years in agency. I think it’s so healthy for that balance to work both ways, and I’ve really enjoyed the jump, because you bring a holistic approach to what marketing teams deal with every day.”
On the ground, Hugall says that the fact that Spark Foundry brings together a number of offerings – including strategists, planners, digital and technology teams, and an investment team – under one roof is what sets the company apart.
Hugall: “The integration of team and the way it works together is what makes it really appealing to be in strategy – strategy doesn’t just get created for the sake of it, it actually gets delivered on. As Imogen says, ‘strategy on paper is just expensive PowerPoint unless it gets acted on’.
“Being part of the process from start to finish, and not passing on a baton for someone else to execute is what makes Spark unique.”
Describing what life has been like for Spark Foundry recently, Hewitt says that “It has been a really big 12 months, but that’s off the back of a really big, previous three years.”
Hewitt: “We have delivered double-digit growth for the business every year for four years in a row. It’s important to do that without eroding your existing client relationships, and I think that’s one of the reasons that the growth trajectory has been so strong and consistent. We’re not losing clients. If you’re losing and winning clients, you’re just staying neutral.
“We are less interested in flashy awards, and much more interested in clients that say we’ve driven the best results that they’ve had in the last quarter, the last year, the last 10 years, whatever it might be. It is much more compelling thing for us to be talking about the difference that we’re making commercially to a client’s bottom line.”
From the previous 12 month to the year ahead, Hewitt says that she and the Spark Foundry team will be focussing their attention on making sure the basics are done well before tackling any challenges that come their way.
Hewitt: “We will keep our eye on the four metrics I spoke about earlier – growth, sustainable client relationships, really happy people, and the underlying commercials of our business – those fundamentals won’t change.
“Are there things that are coming from a technology perspective? Or from a cultural or social perspective? Of course, but those are the things that advertising has always been asked to navigate.”
See Also: “Agencies are more relevant for clients than ever”: The evolution of Publicis Media Exchange
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Top Image: Caroline Hugall and Imogen Hewitt