Coffee, desks, toilet paper, biscuits, light bulbs and advertising.
Marcus John Henry Brown most recently was Creative Director at We Are Social Germany.
This year he founded Marcus John Henry Brown, a creative consultancy business.
A happily married, father of three wonderful daughters, in this interview he shares his thoughts on the creative industry and how to prosper it in.
Q: Online Art Director, production controller, GM for Williams Lea’s German business process outsourcing operations, CD at We Are Social. What lessons from these jobs still serve you well?
Marcus Brown:
Although my main focus has always been digital, I can thankfully look back at a career spanning over twenty years and experience in everything from classic advertising, events, strategic procurement, film production, printing, television and even performance marketing.
Couple this with my liberal arts education at Dartington College of Arts and you’ll find someone who'll look at the world with what feels like a thousand pairs of eyes. Lot’s of lessons learned.
Probably the most important lesson was learned at Williams Lea.
Williams Lea are staggering good at what they do. In fact, thinking about it, it wasn't a lesson at all, more of peak behind the scenes of something that was yet to impact the advertising industry: strategic procurement.
The role of the procurement director, how suppliers are managed, economies of scale, etc, were all things that were completely alien to me at the time.
“I don’t think anybody would argue against the notion of being creatively and commercially successful.
What is unacceptable, however, is the idea of agencies being on a checkboxlist on some dubious SAP procurement system.”
Marcus Brown
As you may remember, I wrote an article predicting the impact of procurement on the advertising industry around 2007 and sadly most of what I said back then has since come true.
We live and work in an age of procurement, a fact which is becoming increasingly difficult to set off against the kind of “product” we supply.
Coffee, desks, toilet paper, biscuits, light bulbs and advertising.
Measuring the performance of a piece of work isn’t (shouldn’t be) the problem, the issue we're facing is how we (our agencies, and work) are “procured”.
I don't think anybody would argue against the notion of being creatively and commercially successful.
What is unacceptable, however, is the idea of agencies being on a checkboxlist on some dubious SAP procurement system.
Coffee, desks, toilet paper, biscuits, light bulbs and advertising.
Q: What are some of the risks and opportunities facing the creative industry in the next 5 years?
Marcus Brown: I am seriously concerned about how we nurture young people who have just joined this glorious hellscape of an industry. It feels like we’re not stepping up to the mark and taking care of them appropriately, which is something that I’ve written about here.
The flip side of that coin is that it oftentimes feels like they take things for granted, aren’t hungry or really interested in what we do, something I’ve also written about here.
It feels like the industry is the German football team of 2002, which was rubbish. Twelve years later they win the world cup. We need to invest in our young talent and in return they need to be disciplined.
Q: Speaking of the early 2000s, how has the Cluetrain Manifesto aged?
Marcus Brown: The people who have abused that book, and used it to create a strange, snake oil strain of business have thankfully aged badly.
The people who wrote it have aged gracefully and I hold them, particularly Christopher, dearly in my heart . The ink of the paper still looks wonderful.
Q: New technology has amplified old and created new forms of behaviour. How do you decide what to invest time and money in to build skillsets around?
Marcus Brown: I focus on the idea and where potential customers for the idea might or might not hangout.
In terms of process and structure, I've become increasingly interested in a decentralised, enterprise driven way of working. Google docs, Skype and Slack. Stuff like that.
Q: Should all people in the creative industry know how to code?
Marcus Brown: It should stop calling itself the creative industry. People should learn what coding is and then decide if it’s for them.
I’ve recently undertaken a little journey of my own in an attempt to get to grips with things like Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Pearl.
I’m thoroughly enjoying it and it feels like it’s making my creative work better, more interesting.
Having a go at something new is to be encouraged, regardless of what line of business you are in.
Q: What should students and graduates, looking to up their chances of breaking into the industry, focus on, in terms of skills and knowledge topics?
Marcus Brown: They should understand, and take the time to understand the rich heritage of the advertising industry.
Being interested, hungry and knowledgeable, as well as displaying an obvious desire to learn more, are the basic skills required to get along in any profession.
Practise being humble.
Humility is a critical skill and one that is oftentimes ignored.
Learn how to code, draw, write, cook and drink.
Learn how to live.
Get a life and be nice to the people who love you.
Q: If you were to test a candidate’s skills through a small project, what would you ask them to do ?
Marcus Brown: Come up with a way of getting your dream date, a person you feel is so completely out of your league, to go out with you for a meal. Tell me how you would make that happen.
Q: In his essay on building brands in the digital age, Martin Weigel writes: “There is as much to unlearn as there is to relearn”. What are you unlearning and relearning?
Marcus Brown:
Since setting up my own company in June I've been surprised at how ruthless I’m being with myself.
If something goes wrong I try to work out why. If it’s worth fixing, I fix it if necessary.
This kind of stuff has always seemed to be esoteric poppycock (which it is), but failing faster and doing a bit of “embracing failure” (thanks W+K) seems to be working out well for me right now. I’m learning being honest with myself.
Q: With the way that tech, design, comms and product development are merging, what would you advise a 20 year old Marcus, if he asked where to work?
“The 20 year old Marcus was an unbearable arse.
He wouldn't have listened.”
Marcus Brown
Thank you Mr Brown
“Where the puck is going” is an interview series by GapJumpers. We ask people we like and find interesting to share some thoughts. Whenever we find someone willing to answer our questions, we’ll feature them. If you’d like to stay updated on more stories, please follow the collection.
