The Lab is looking forward to an exciting year following Tom Ward’s recent appointment as executive director.
Ward spoke to Mediaweek about joining the independent cultural insight and strategy agency, as CEO Neale Cotton shared his outlook on the year ahead and bouncing back after Covid.
Ward, an accomplished leader and strategist originally from the UK, comes to The Lab after more than six years at Cummins&Partners, following his managing director role at Naked Communications and head of strategy and insight at George Patterson Y&R.
He said he was excited to join a strong and talented executive team – led by Cotton and co-founder Paul Labagnara – to create powerful brand strategies with innovative research and insight and help drive the business ahead of trends in marketing and communications.
Ward said he admired how the agency interrogated the output they received and the research input.
“I was just really impressed by how smart, helpful and insightful the work they did was… I saw how helpful The Lab was to people developing output at the other end, which is what it’s all about; research and insights don’t exist in a vacuum. They’ve got to inform something useful that goes out into the world, whether that’s a product or communications.”
Looking at keeping the agency ahead of marketing and communications trends, Ward said constantly asking questions is the key, particularly when people, culture and context change rapidly.
“I think having your finger on the pulse, checking in, talking to people constantly, I don’t think there’s any kind of massive secrets to it, above and beyond finding as many ways as you can to hear as many people as you can, as often as you can,” he said.
“The guys at The Lab are developing ways to listen to people that go beyond traditional focus groups. All of that is helping us stay connected with people, understanding what makes people tick, and not assuming what was true yesterday is going to be true tomorrow,” he added.
Cotton spoke about The Lab’s direction for the year ahead and noted they are taking the business forward with investments in AI technologies and methodologies that will “disrupt” and “supercharge” insight for clients, so it is rich, fast, and more expansive.
He added: “Our DNA is not just insight, it’s where you take that insight and lean into the strategy. Helping our clients make brilliant leaps, by giving them an edge, giving them an advantage, and helping them stay ahead of change.”
Cotton noted that Ward’s appointment to the team and his expertise in strategy helps with making insight robust.
He said: “It’s the world he thrives in, whether it’s driving a new brand strategy or thinking about a new experience for a consumer or innovation. Insight is still the heart of the business in terms of giving our clients an edge by taking them further. The way that we’re revealing insight that’s changing, and it’s exciting, both for us and our industry as well.”
Much like many companies in the media industry, The Lab faced uncertainty amid the pandemic and had a brief stop in business.
But many of their clients were seeking ways through it. The Lab managed to get plenty of work with clients to help develop their strategy and navigate themselves through COVID from across Australia’s biggest retailers, manufacturers, tech companies, banks, sporting bodies and arts organisations.
“We’ve built some powerful and meaningful work in terms of helping your clients get through what’s quite a challenging period,” he said of their work.
Looking toward the future, Cotton said the investment in developing their AI lab and people from diverse backgrounds for the company – such as social science, behavioural sciences and analytics – ensures they have bright and brilliant minds in their Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane offices.
In the weeks ahead, The Lab will reveal how the last year has shaped and shifted the values of Australians as part of their Australia Project – an always-on proprietary study into understanding Australians, their mindsets, values and habits, which launched in 2010.
“We’re going be revealing the key tensions Australians and feeling at the moment coming into 2022, and how the last year has shifted and shaped the values of Australians, due out in late March,” he said.
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Top image: Neale Cotton and Tom Ward