Mas mas mas inspiration
Last week I briefly mentioned two inspirational client work sessions the Havas WW (Mobext/Socialyse/Ecselis) Buenos Aires office uses for creative collaboration, Molab and Brief 24. These time-boxed events are employed when more clarity is needed to better define and solve the problem, through close client interaction and quick iteration towards solutions.
The output of these work sessions are creative concepts and preliminary design mockups. When appropriate and if time allows, light clickable prototypes (usually created in Marvel app) are made to illustrate key features or user flows. The ultimate goal of these processes are to get client alignment on the creative approach and move forward with committing to its full realization.
Molab
Over the course of two back-to-back 8 hour day work sessions, four to five clients team up with four to five agency folks to develop the creative concepts together every step of the way. This is the most immersive and intense for the client of the two engagements.
The makeup of the agency team has two creatives, an art director/designer and a copywriter along with a head producer or account person. Depending on the needs of the project, they are joined by at least one person from the following disciplines: tech, data, or media planning. The combined agency and client team conduct the session in a neutral meeting space, outside of the agency and client offices to minimize distraction.
Brief 24
This less intensive client engagement calls upon them at two touch points. As the name suggests, the agency team works about 24 hours non-stop over a weekend. It usually starts on 10am Saturday and goes on until noon on Sunday. The first client touch point occurs at a halfway check-in, as the creative concepts are taking shape and then the last at the end presentation of the creative concepts.
The agency team assembled for Brief 24 has a similar composition to that for Molab but with more focus on UX/UI capabilities. The selected team members meet in the Havas offices to conduct the work session in the spacious lounge in the Havas Media building lobby, next door.
The Brief 24 approach is only utilized once or twice a year, and for good reason. For the business they don’t want to dilute the significance of the event in the eyes of the client. For the staff, they don’t want to impede on their personal time or burn them out. The work to life balance is highly respected here.
An added benefit for the agency on Brief 24 is the opportunity to enlist some freelance talent to help. In working in an intense environment, this new team member is vetted for their quality of work and chemistry with the team. This helps build a roster for potential hires, especially if the client decides to move forward with the project.
These two approaches get the clients more personally invested in the project, and builds their understanding and respect for the creative process. They have a larger sense of ownership due to their intimate involvement and contributions to shaping the creative solutions. Though there is a premium cost for these work sessions (which is great for the agency), it actually helps to motivate the client in staying extremely focused and productive during these time-boxed sessions. Should the client decide to move forward with the concepts developed, they are incentivized by the credit that is applied by this upfront investment to the overall project budget.
Labels do not apply
At the Buenos Aires office many of the people have multiple skill sets which enable them to fulfill multiple roles on a project. The roles include at least two, if not all of the following: experience design, information architecture, visual design, coding and more. Given the size of the team here, it’s not just a convenience but a necessity to create great work with nimble teams.
Regardless of team or department size, I believe it’s not enough to only know how to do one thing. The skills of the various digital disciplines all go hand in hand, so the more one is capable of across the disciplines (or at the very least has working knowledge of) the better off they are at anticipating outputs of the workflows occurring before, in parallel and after their main responsibilities — being mindful of all of this throughout their contributions to ideation, design, and production. Being a hybrid creative also bodes well for flexibility and resilience in one’s career.
My coach Juan Jose (aka Juanjo) Perazzo, Mobext Head of Projects
Juanjo is an all-around problem solver whose average day may include new business development, scoping, planning, strategy, and directing design, and production. Yes, he’s a busy guy. Coming from a technical background in coding, he understands how to actually make the end product. He makes sure the projects move forward to success in all capacities and gets hands-on in the process, regardless of whether he is leading the project or playing a supporting role.
To him the strength of Mobext in Buenos Aires, is the focus on creating smart and strategically informed experiences as a strategic partner to the client — as opposed to design as a commodity. He is confident that as a partner to the clients and the other groups in the Havas Village, the team here can make any idea a reality.
As the Head of Projects for Mobext, what Juanjo enjoys about working here is the holistic view he has of all the disciplines and his coordination with them to ensure a smooth process and great creative work. This includes the social media marketing group, Socialyse and performance marketing and data group, Ecselis which he’s continually learning and growing from each and everyday. Being a key player in building Mobext from its early days starting as its first producer, he feels very personally invested in this family that’s still growing.
Meet Pablo Fuentes, UX/UI Designer
Pablo is a tireless one man army, with a great attitude who’s been at Mobext for almost five years working mainly on websites and mobile apps. His job title says he’s a UX/UI designer but that’s a huge understatement. As an end to end problem solver and doer, he’s actively handling the all duties of being the hands on lead for the concepting, experience design, visual design and coding development of the final digital product. He’s done this on Renault marketing site, including the code integration onto the client’s AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) platform. He had done the same (with the exception of the back-end development) for one of his favorite projects, the global Mobext site.
I’m amazed at the amount of responsibility and contributions he makes, especially with the challenge of the tight deadlines he’s described. When he’s out of the office, this warrior likes to play guitar and take his mountain bike for long distance rides in the countryside.
Actions speak louder
People really appreciate one another at this office. If it wasn’t already apparent from all the office traditions they’ve built together, it’s made crystal clear on a team member’s birthday.
I’ve been present for three birthdays so far. It’s a tradition within this group for everyone to contribute 20–30 pesos (a little more than $2 USD) each to pool together as a present, clapping and singing while the gift is received. With about 50 people on the floor, the gesture makes for a nice gift. Of course no celebration would be complete without the consumption of pan de dulce (pastries). In case you’re wondering if this was a part of a widespread Argentinian cultural tradition in the office place, I was assured it’s not.
Caring for the local community
Mobext has a program to take on pro-bono projects to support local business and causes, when time allows. Dubbed Mobext a la Gorra, they let their local client determine how to pay the agency. The options are pay-what-you-wish or through trade of products and/or services.
Mobext a la Gorra literally translates to “The Cap” which is a reference to street artists holding out a cap for patrons to drop in what they wish. One of the projects was a website for a local fashion designer. Another project underway was initiated by an animal rights activist on the team, for a local charity for dogs website.
Reciprocity
In addition to pitching in on some of the projects here (consulting, concepting, sketching site wires, and designing a social post), I was asked to give a presentation about the Product Design & Technology department at my home agency, Havas WW NYC — its methodology, workflow process and case studies. Of course I was more than happy to share and the team here was very appreciative and inspired by my department’s work (btw GO NYC! Congrats on our 3 Cannes Lions wins for the Bob Dylan site).
Word spread and I was approached by Martin Carniglia, Head of Ecselis (market performance & data) to do an encore presentation focusing on projects that used cognitive computing, namely IBM Watson. The office here is starting to explore ways to use it on with their clients and has a work session soon with a local vendor that specializes in IBM Watson applications.
More ideas to end the week
The Buenos Aires office has exposed me to some unique work approaches with their clients. I’d like to discuss these with my fellow department heads back in NYC to see what opportunities we have to explore new frameworks in which we engage and collaborate with our clients. Given our recent success growing the digital TD Ameritrade business, I think the relationship is in a great place to start this discussion.
In thinking about future talent for my group, I’ve always sought multidisciplinary individuals. Having met the various combinations of skill sets that individual creatives have here and learning about the work they’ve been able to create in small nimble teams against odds, I am invigorated to be more diligent in scouting out these types of extraordinary individuals to continue to grow my home department’s capabilities.
