SINGAPORE – In one of the sessions at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity held in Suntec Convention Center, Singapore, McCann Worldgroup Chairman and CEO, Harris Diamond, has a message for every brand right now–go local. What does this mean? Our editor-in-chief, Angel Guerrero, picks the brain of one of the most influential people in the PR industry:
You’ve received several accolades as an exemplary executive, such as 2015 executive of the year by AdAge, PR agency executive of the decade according to the Holmes Report and the hundredth most influential PR people in the 20th century. Now, for the professionals who are making it into the c-suite, what is your advice as role model?
Well I guess the first thing is take all those accolades and recognize that I am in the business of marketing. So you have to put them in perspective. But I guess my advice still for those, who want to make a career in this business, that at the end of the day, it’s still business that thrives first and foremost on creativity. Solving client’s problems. Figuring out ways to market their products. Making sure that consumers actually buy them and like them. Nothing really has changed over the last 20, 30 years perhaps even over the last 100, 200 years. The truth of the matter is marketing is all about figuring out what is going to make a product distinctive and making sure that their product is meaningful to the people who want to buy it.
What are the common pitfalls you have sitting where you sit and best practices that they should emulate?
It’s obviously a world where there are many ‘me, too’ type products out there. Commoditization is fundamentally at the end of the day something that we’re all seeing. But I think the distinction that we have to find is every product, whether it’s a phone–and all phones end up being able to make phone calls–to a food product, has competitors and we have to be able to figure out how to distinguish them. That’s the skill set that we most look for. People who can understand how to do that.
At your discussion here [at Spikes Asia] with McCann Worldgroup [Asia-Pacific Chairman] Prasoon Joshi, you talked about creativity and cultural nuance in an omni-platform marketing world. It’s a challenge for us in the communications industry. So how can we effectively engage our consumers?
I don’t think it’s a challenge actually. I think it’s an opportunity. The reality is: every platform that opens up gives us another way to reach the consumer. The truth of the matter is there are consumers who still get primarily their information from TV, some get their information from print. Everybody’s influenced by outdoor and digital obviously has expanded and is basically reaching almost every single person on the planet. So, the truth of the matter is, these are all opportunities. They’re not necessarily issues for us. They are places for us to figure out how to take advantage of. and I think that’s a positive.
When do you lead and when do you follow your market? You argue for localization over globalization.
I do. I think at the end of the day we’ve overestimated globalization. The reality is people still want to celebrate their distinctiveness. they still wanna celebrate the traditions and cultures that made them the inhabitants of the countries that they’re in. In an effort to sometimes look for marketing efficiencies, we have a tendency to say well these people are roughly the same–sociologically, economically, demographically, and therefore market them with the same information and just do some minor adaptation. I don’t think that’s really true. I think that successful companies are going in a different direction.
You mentioned that you sit in McCann and here you are saying that we should localize our work. It’s a different way of thinking right now as a communications company, right?
Well I think it gets back to who we once were. The truth of the matter is, marketeers were once all local. and in fact i think if you look at a local brand it would never think of trying to make something that would work in three countries. People are so braving the localness of their backgrounds. they are looking for brands that understand that. My belief is that a successful product or brand has to attach to itself that way.
You come to Asia about four times in a year. What are your observations with the economy these days and the clients that you work with in the region? Do you find it robust? Are there any difficulties that you’re encountering?
Clearly, Asia has seen a slow down as compared to what I saw several years ago. I still remember the years of the Chinese Olympics, the years post that but I also remember the years in the 1990s. Asia is and always has been a growth market for us. It continues today but it’s not like it was in the past. China has obviously had a slow down, India is obviously reorienting itself to the open market under Modi’s leadership. So, we’re seeing at this moment in time a bit of a slow down but you got to put it in perspective. It’s compared to the rest of the world as you all know. This is still hypergrowth and the fact of the matter is: as there are more and more consumers, more and more middle class, it’s a great place for us to work with our clients.
You’ve worked as a political campaign consultant and even advised foreign governments. What is your reaction to the pundits who proclaim that this is the post-factual age where getting the facts right is no longer as important as getting the feelings of the people right?
I don’t believe that. I think that undersells what people feel which is they want truth. And I come from a company that believes truth well told should always be our mantra. I think that’s true in politics, too. I think there are always short term moments where politicians can take advantage of the heated emotional atmosphere that exist in their country. To a certain extent that’s taken place in America today. But the reality is, all my experience says that at the end of the day, citizens genuinely want to understand what people stand for, where they want to take the country, and they need the information today so we make that decision.
But some information as we know are not factual.
I think people who do not stay on facts, fundamentally may win a short term day but long term end up being discredited. And I would recommend any politician, every politician who’s out there who thinks they can just bypass truth, they will be eventually caught by it. I have a lot more respect for the citizens to be frank.
Well that’s good to hear and you have the elections coming up so let’s see where it will move.
We’ll see but right now we’re expecting on Monday night over a hundred million Americans to watch the debate. That’s 1 out of 3 of almost every single person in the United States. That tells me that citizens still want to basically get information. It will also be fun.
Final question, Prasoon Joshi said that you have great creative instinct. How do you think you’ve honed this skill?
I think everybody has, in today’s world, have an aesthetic that they like and an understanding. Mine has a balance where because of my background I’m more inclined to look for the actual information or more inclined to look for the emotional aspect. You know the great thing about Prasoon is he is oriented towards both and he accomplishes that which is why his country has recognized his contribution to times. We look for creatives who can do what Prasoon has done. And in the Philippines, when I look at our business there, you know it’s rather large. The reality is, I think our creatives there truly understand the aspirations of the people and connect them to the products that we are being paid to promote.
I have to take this opportunity to ask you. How is the year ending for you? And what do you look forward to next year? Things have changed so much in the way we do business.
They have. But at the end of the year, the year is ending up for McCann once again and we’ve had this to be true for the last three to four years. As a growth year in excess of what I would’ve predicted in the beginning of the year. You know earlier in this year, we were worried about China’s slowing down, we were worried about Japan, we were questioning India’s ability to begin to change its regulatory framework. The reality is when we look at Asia today, all of those issues still are there but the truth of the matter is, the continued growth of the middle class has basically made it to a certain extent. Still a very good growth environment. I think when we look at 2017 more interesting than 16, we’re actually predicting right now based on the last couple of days I’ve been here with my management team. A stronger year than we saw in 16. And 16’s a pretty good year for us.
