5 Minutes with… Matt Springate
After seven years in Australia, Matt Springate relocated to take up the post of chief strategy officer at Havas London where he’s been for five months after roles at Grey London, TBWA/Australia, and +61. Matt is now the agency’s dedicated CSO after it went several years without one and, in his eyes, strategy has one key task: to elevate the work. Together with chief creative officer Vicki Maguire (the two worked together at Grey), and with the help of Lorenzo Fruzza, chief design officer, and chief client officer, Catherine Peacock, the “properly potent” team is already doing just that.
Matt knows that there are a lot of different ways to solve strategic problems which he’s excited to bring into the fold. However, he’s clear that the foundation of good strategy – “clarity, simplicity, difference” – doesn’t change even as more data and more tools than ever become available. “Imagination is still more important than knowledge,” says Matt, stressing that the human component, the ability to take creative risks and leaps, should never be discounted in favour of data.
Today, LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk speaks with Matt about Converged – Havas’ new global strategic plan and operating system; his focus on effectiveness that’s grounded in creativity; and what he wants to accomplish over the next few months.
LBB> As the first dedicated CSO at Havas London in several years, what is your vision for defining the agency’s strategic approach?
Matt> I’m still pretty fresh here – it’s less than four months since my family and I relocated back to the UK (and closer to Arsenal Football Club) after seven years down under. Outside of the Emirates Stadium, I’ve spent my time listening and observing – just getting a feel for the agency, our people and our clients, really. I’ve been particularly lucky in my career to have worked in brilliant agencies across four different markets – the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the US – and they’ve all shared the same obsession with creativity. What’s exciting for me, and why I took the role, is that I see that same creative spark here at Havas.
When you strip everything back, strategy has one fundamental job: to elevate the work. That’s what I want to be laser focused on. And, honestly, to make that happen, we need to feed creative teams with the richest, most diverse mix of insights possible.
The world of strategy has exploded over the past few years, and we can now solve strategic problems in so many different ways; it might be through a new way of looking at an audience, defining a behaviour we’re trying to shift, a piece of data that provides the perfect context to an idea, or using connections planning to build more meaningful interactions rather than just passive opportunities for an audience to see an idea in the real world. I want to embrace all these different ways to make our creative briefs more interesting – and our work better and more effective.
LBB> What key lessons or approaches from TBWA/Australia do you plan to bring to Havas London?
Matt> I loved my time at TBWA, in no small part because it has the most single-minded positioning of any agency in the world: Disruption. That wasn't just a buzzword, but a guiding philosophy that helped shape so many things.
I learnt that having that laser focus impacted everything: from creative briefs, to how we judged the work, to the type of people we hired and the agency culture we created every day. There was no ambiguity – everyone knew precisely why they were there and what we were collectively striving for. That level of focus was liberating.
LBB> What are your short and long term plans for the agency from a strategic perspective? What kind of changes have you already made since taking up the role?
Matt> As I say, it’s early days. I didn’t want to come in and make any knee-jerk decisions, I wanted a settled view of things. There’s also a brilliant bunch of people here who continue to teach me things – I’d be foolish not to embrace that. Watching and learning have been my priorities, as well as getting closer to the work – which, at the end of the day, is why we’re all here. The more time I spend here, the more excited I get about making great work with this crew.
That means everything to me, because great work has this amazing ripple effect. When you’re known for it, you attract other people in great companies with the ambition and drive to make great things too. That applies to talent, of course, but also to marketers looking for likeminded partners.
Looking beyond the next few months, I want us all to have a deep and shared understanding of what we’re aiming for and the specific behaviours that will get us there. That goes beyond culture – it’s the single-minded mindset that’s the hallmark of all the best agencies.
LBB> Converged is Havas’ new global strategic plan and operating system. Can you fill us in a bit more on what it is and how you’re leading its implementation?
Matt> Havas has pioneered integration for many years. Indeed, its ‘Village’ approach, dating from 2012, was so successful that all the holding companies have now adopted it in some way, shape or form. And for good reason: physical proximity breeds a shared culture, which fuels more collaboration and innovative creativity across disciplines. You’re removing barriers, basically. Breaking down silos.
That was 13 years ago, and the world has changed. Converged reflects that, but the underlying principles haven’t changed. In the same way that Havas’ Villages were the physical manifestation of its ‘Together’ ethos, Converged is the digital manifestation of its…’Converged’ ethos (see: laser focus!).
Fundamentally, it’s a connective data and tools platform powered by AI. It gives all our talent, across every discipline, quicker, deeper access to data – particularly audience, brand and market insights – and the ability to design, activate and measure the impact and effectiveness of our creativity. No longer is this the responsibility of one department, and the beauty of Converged is that it effectively democratises data. It’s particularly exciting for strategists, as this stuff is like catnip to us.
That said, really realising its potential will require a different mindset, and a different way of working, for a lot of people. The focus now is on training people up, maybe shifting their muscle memory a bit, and helping them realise this can give us an edge, and help fuel great ideas, rather than it being seen as a threat, or a burden.
LBB> Strategy and creativity go hand in hand. How do you plan to collaborate with Vicki (Maguire, CCO) to ensure strategic insights are embedded into creative outputs?
Matt> I love this industry because at its core it's all about people and ideas. The relationship between strategy and creative can be the secret weapon for an agency, and when it's firing it can be the most potent thing in our world.
To make that relationship work, strategy must be indispensable to creatives – and we can only do that by always giving creatives the most interesting place to start. I’m a firm believer that creative briefs should be shared ambitions, and by fostering a culture of soft edges between the two departments you encourage more conversation, more problem solving and more fun while doing it. I’m looking forward to doing all of that with Vicki.
Coming up with creative ideas is one thing; presenting them, bringing them to life and – crucially – getting a brand to buy into them is another skill altogether. So, it’s only right that I mention two other crucial members of the team: Lorenzo Fruzza, our chief design officer, who is one of the best design thinkers in the business, and chief client officer, Catherine Peacock, who I’ve worked with before. She’s the ultimate client wrangler and can make anything happen, no matter how impossible it seems at first. Working together, that feels like a properly potent team.
LBB> How do you see the role of strategy evolving in an age of data-driven insights, AI, and changing consumer expectations, and how do you plan to future-proof Havas London’s strategic capabilities?
Matt> I think the fundamentals of strategy will never change: clarity, simplicity, difference.
However, we now have more access to data than ever before (see Converged, above), as well as rapidly evolving AI tools which can help us do everything from building audience profiles to prototyping ideas. All of these new innovations give us even more chances to unlock ways to grow our clients’ business.
While it’s incredibly exciting, we need to be careful not to be seduced by all this new information. In our industry, imagination is still more important than knowledge, so being able to make those unexpected leaps – beyond the capabilities of AI – is more critical than ever. Creativity will always be the answer, and it’s why clients come to us to help solve their biggest problems.
I’m particularly fascinated by AI, not just for the obvious reasons but because many people are scared of its application. My view is that we have to run towards the future, not away from it – it’s here to stay, and its potential is limitless. It’s like gaining access to the world’s fastest imagination, and its power lies not in ‘searching’ for things, but giving it clear direction, and having deep conversations. Which is why you need a level of taste and judgement to use it in the right way.
I have a very similar approach to data. If we use it to help answer the questions no one thought to ask, it frees us up to do the most valuable stuff – the deep thinking, the unexpected leaps. Because if you think hard enough, you can always make a leap.
LBB> What will success look like for you as the CSO of Havas London – in terms of the agency’s internal culture as well as the impact on clients’ business outcomes?
Matt> Agencies are at their best when they have that ‘spark’, that feeling you get that energises everyone. It’s hard to quantify, but everyone who’s lucky enough to have experienced it will know exactly what I’m talking about. That, in a nutshell, is what I’m looking to help build. Capture that and we’ll have created a culture where everyone does their best work, and an agency the best people want to work at.
Success for me is creating the right environment for creativity to flourish, and it will be measured in bringing great ideas to life, when a client’s business improves, when an employee believes in themselves and when a brand chooses us to help them go in a new direction.
I’m part of a new leadership team here at Havas, and we’re all determined to realise this ambition – but not at the expense of our people. We’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of ideas, and a lot to prove. That feels exciting.
