Breaking Bread with BETC
It’s hard to believe my Lofts journey is drawing to a close in a city where effortlessly rocking a red lip is basically a birthright, and no meal is complete without a fresh baguette and a cold glass of rose. Where you never wait longer than 3 minutes for a train (a small miracle, if you’re a New Yorker), and a walk down the Seine on a Sunday can mean chancing upon a spontaneous outdoor salsa lesson and dance party. Where waiters talk to you about the specials of the day like it’s their gospel. Where every building is both a piece of art, and a slice of history. Where all of Paris comes together on the streets to celebrate Summer Solstice with music on every corner, well into “the longest day”.
So many of my most meaningful moments at BETC these last few weeks have been getting to know my fantastic team — hailing from China, France, Spain, and Italy — while breaking bread with them during lunch and discussing everything from international schooling to local culture to individual life experiences and what we’ve learned from them.
There is something humbling about the simple act of passing bread around a table that unites the diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives and strengthens the overall team dynamic. This mutual respect and collective sharing of ideas helps shape the culture at BETC and contributes to what makes it so special.
On my account specifically, the Account and Creative teams joined the client comms briefing and project kickoff. The Account team then went back to do a competitive deep dive to better understand the landscape within the key markets, developed a creative brief, and started mapping out the messaging ecosystem. Armed with those building blocks, Account briefed the core creative team and collectively agreed on a path forward for the project, including how best to bring the client on the creative journey. From there, another briefing was held to bring the activation team up to speed for cross-discipline ideation efforts. Most notable was the open dialogue and partnership with Creative, and Account taking on a central role with the strategy and laying the groundwork for the campaign.
Whereas the creative briefs back home tend to have more structure (with the “single most important message” serving as the key area of focus), storytelling was at the crux of the brief at BETC, with the key points woven together in a single narrative to help communicate the job to be done.
My goal was to embark on this journey with my eyes and ears wide open and take away as much as possible from the Lofts program. Not only have I had the opportunity to immerse myself in agency life and operations in a truly magical city, this experience has allowed me to take a step back from my typical day to day, tap into more of my right brain, and reconnect with what inspires me about advertising. To name a few — researching new category trends, uncovering consumer insights that help shape campaigns, and looking at best in class, award-winning creative that is not only steering our industry but impacting real change in the world.
I feel energized to be a stronger leader and bring back bold, new ways of thinking to my team back home — while fostering more meaningful connections.
Breaking bread seems like a great place to start.
