CAREERS: McCann shakes up for creative boost

<p>Over the past year, McCann-Erickson Guangming's creative department </p><p>has undergone a radical transformation that has sharpened the agency's </p><p>overall competitiveness. The strategy for improvement lay in a </p><p>collection of simple solutions: find the right people; help them grow </p><p>through training and career path development; and encourage them to be </p><p>an active part of the company. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The revamping of the unit was part of a company-wide process to raise </p><p>the professional bar, which was started almost two years ago by McCann </p><p>Hong Kong managing director Rosanna Yu. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The creative department was given a big shake out a year ago, when Geoff </p><p>Naus was appointed executive creative director, after four years in the </p><p>McCann unit that works on Cathay Pacific. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He was faced with a department generally known to be a "sweatshop" and </p><p>which had not won any major awards in the two years before he </p><p>joined. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Everyone knew it was a sweatshop and turning it around would not be </p><p>easy, so I first wanted to see some signs that management was serious </p><p>about making a change for the better. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"It demonstrated its sincerity by resigning two accounts, which allowed </p><p>us more time to put more quality into other accounts," said Naus, who </p><p>spent eight years with McCann New York before coming out to Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Naus said the principle of empowering people was simple but was so </p><p>underutilised because senior people were afraid of losing power. But he </p><p>stressed that allowing people the freedom to perform tasks generates </p><p>greater creativity. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"You have to treat people as adults and give them responsibilities. It's </p><p>amazing what they can achieve compared with working in a </p><p>rigidly-controlled department. But the important point to remember is </p><p>that the head is a leader and a coach and his job is to get </p><p>results." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And the results seem to be rolling in for McCann. The agency is starting </p><p>to win awards again for the first time in about three years. In fact, it </p><p>has won four in the last six months including a New York Festivals </p><p>bronze for a Dairy Farm drinking yogurt campaign, and a prize for a </p><p>Mastercard television commercial at the Midsummer Festival in the </p><p>UK. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Naus claims that this new empowerment also helped the agency win five of </p><p>its last six pitches. Change in the creative department is pushing </p><p>through changes across the agency. "We want people to be part of the </p><p>company." However, he admits that most of the creative people from a </p><p>year ago have quit because they didn't agree with the changes. "For many </p><p>people, change is a hard thing to deal with but we gave people a lot of </p><p>leeway. In the end, people left of their own choosing." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>