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Creative Culture
Performance @ The Pico Group
In my current role I have been successful in both creating marked revenue and transformational change across the group.
In my current role as Global ECD, much of my work is around the management and development of Pico’s 36 market agency creative teams. The challenge of which is to establish some sort of unified methodology across vastly different markets and people. At its essence, I am trying to instil a “Creative Culture” across the groups’ agencies.
I do this through setting up practices such as a unified creative process and programs such as Quarterly Creative Reviews, an internal Design Forum which is a training and ideas exchange platform, and an internal system for submitting and tracking award entries globally. Additionally, I help the groups’ market agencies structure and organise their creative teams and put into practice working methodologies that foster collaboration and efficiency between all agency functions.
I first learned how to manage teams through running my own digital agency in Tokyo for 10 years. These skills were honed through my network agency experience. Key to success is having empathy and understanding with the various people and personalities one works with, both for staff and clients. No less important is having a solid point of view and effectively communicating it.
Management Initiatives
CREATIVE PROCESS + STRATEGY
An essential part of any creative team is an effective creative process and collaborative strategy team. A great creative idea means nothing if it is not delivering real results to the client. A clear and disruptive insight really drives the creative idea resulting in something greater than the sum of its parts.
I have created programs that educate both account and creative teams about how strategy works, its role in the creative process, and how to implement and communicate strategy to clients.
CREATIVE TEAM STRUCTURE
At each agency I have worked at, I look at the whole of the organisation and its KPIs to help craft a more effective work process and overall team structure. As the business’ needs change, I plan for growth in capabilities, mitigate issues, and balance efficiency with effectivity.
At Wunderman in Tokyo, I crafted an extended creative team that included a coding team for rapid prototyping that resulted in the capture of US$1.2 million in the first year, of what would normally be pass-through revenue while enabling and expanding business opportunities.
In all of my senior positions, part of my role is focused on structuring efficient and effective creative teams. Identifying, hiring, and nurturing talent. I try and craft a team structure that is appropriate to the market and function of the agency while creating a positive and fulfilling creative culture.
CREATIVE REVIEWS
At Pico, I implemented a “Quarterly Creative Review” across all 36 market agencies globally. Each market agency organises a live/MS Teams event where each division in the creative team puts up three recent projects or pitches in a standardised, simple case study format for the entire agency to review. Even when we are working next to each other, we are mostly unaware of what our colleagues are doing. This enables everyone to understand and celebrate the recent work of the agency, and in case of pitches, provides an opportunity for staff to contribute insight or connections to help it win. It creates culture and an opportunity for people to come together, and because the case-study format is consistent to our corporate presentation templates, it provides up-to-date case studies the entire network can leverage.
For myself, it keeps me up to date on delivered and pitch projects, empowering me to elevate effective project work to award shows and offer support on pitches where needed.
DESIGN FORUM
I created an internal Design Forum as an event for the groups’ design leaders to connect during annual conferences as well as a learning platform with guest speakers and series of essential training sessions over the groups’ Microsoft Teams with multilingual presentations to upwards of 200 people globally.
Over the years, we have had a month-long, weekly workshop aligning creative staff on strategy, digital marketing, and AI applications, among others. We have had design, creators, and introduced many vendors to the network. The platform has been instrumental in connecting staff and providing them a digital venue to share successes, methods, and creating a culture of togetherness.
In my current role as Global ECD, much of my work is around the management and development of Pico’s 36 market agency creative teams. The challenge of which is to establish some sort of unified methodology across vastly different markets and people. At its essence, I am trying to instil a “Creative Culture” across the groups’ agencies.
I do this through setting up practices such as a unified creative process and programs such as Quarterly Creative Reviews, an internal Design Forum which is a training and ideas exchange platform, and an internal system for submitting and tracking award entries globally. Additionally, I help the groups’ market agencies structure and organise their creative teams and put into practice working methodologies that foster collaboration and efficiency between all agency functions.
I first learned how to manage teams through running my own digital agency in Tokyo for 10 years. These skills were honed through my network agency experience. Key to success is having empathy and understanding with the various people and personalities one works with, both for staff and clients. No less important is having a solid point of view and effectively communicating it.
Management & Team Culture Initiatives
Creative Culture
36
Cities globally, where I lead creative teams
7+
Years leading Pico teams and the Group.
70%
Average pitch win rate over six years
US$38.8M+ / $6.65M
Total gross revenue won to date / 2023-2024 gross revenue won.
Exclusive to pitches and projects I have directed and led.
48+
International creative awards won globally across the group in 2024
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