Clemenger’s Integration Strides Protect Clients From “Denigrating Brands”

The new iteration of Clemenger is well-placed to build brands, no matter the door a client uses to access its capabilities, CEO Dani Bassil has promised, in contrast with small, execution focused agencies which risk “denigrating their [clients’] brand.”

Dani said Clemenger’s capabilities are an attractive proposition for clients with sprawling agency villages comprising small, execution-focused agencies.

“Lots of clients have lots of agencies now, and that's becoming more and more difficult to manage and problematic when your budgets are shrinking,” she told LBB. 

“When some of those smaller, specialist agencies are very executional, one of my clients basically said, every time they do that kind of work, they're denigrating their brand, because they're not thinking about the brand, they're thinking about the execution. 

“Whereas Clems has built those brands. So the more capability that we can offer, because it doesn't matter where it is, what channel, what execution, we'll always continue to build the brand. And that's what I think makes us special.”

In June, the agency launched a social, influencer and PR division called Chemistry Set run by Rhian Mason, 18 months after Dani Bassil started as Clems CEO and committed to integrate its capabilities. A year ago, it rebranded production arm eg+ into MADE THIS.

Chief strategy and experience officer Simon Wassef took responsibility for Chemistry Set because, “We want our brands living in culture. Earned has to be a strategic discipline as much as it is a creative one. The end.” He believes the industry needs to just “get on” with breaking down silos instead of engaging with an extended conversation around integration: “Mostly it’s to do with egos and pissing contests”. 

“I was always weirded out by that, how siloed we can be,” he added. 

“It's a small market, but we've created so many bits. I get it. In some cases, it's to do with how things are set up, or how previous clients needed to work ... but let's just cut through the bullshit here and go, 'This is about who is responsible for that product and those people.’

“Once that's in your remit, you're on the hook for it, you can't go, 'Oh well, that department's sort of messed up. That's your department'. I've kind of got tired of all the doors, and said 'There's one door, and then you access people that way.’

“The amount of time we spend as an industry talking about integration. I'm like, 'Just get on with it. It's really not that hard, and mostly it's to do with egos and pissing contests'. And I go, 'Let's just have a real conversation then about who's in control.’”

Dani acknowledged “there's a lack of understanding. I've worked at a really old fashioned agency in London, and the leadership didn't understand other channels because they'd never had to do it before.

“So it starts with a brief. Adrián's very deliberately chosen for his breadth of thinking and capability, so it's not that hard for us, because this is what we know. Whereas I think other agencies might still have that siloed approach.”

Adrián Flores joined Clems as CCO in May, eight months after Dani hired Simon. “When I was looking for the CCO, I had to really think about the both of us [including Simon], not just me,” Dani said. “It's like a jigsaw puzzle that you're building.”

“We've transformed so significantly. I have had a real privilege to build a team,” she added.

“You don't often get that; you join with a team in place. So I basically have the chance to hand pick the people that I really wanted to work with.”

The trio has actively sought to hire different thinkers, they said, because that thinking shows up in the work. The agency is now united around a promise to “make work Australians talk about” - a newly-defined proposition that offers a point of view, holds the business accountable, and sets the tone for an upcoming run of work.

All three understand the mission to rebuild Clemenger into a powerhouse will take time, and the right people. When Simon has made his strategy hires, he’s been honest.

“Every single one, I said, 'this will be really hard'. And they all said, 'I'm listening'. The momentum comes from them, because everyone comes in going, 'right, I'm here to change things. ... I'm here to listen to what clients want. I'm here to build on something that was there, but also put my fingerprints on it'. 

“And the results start to show in terms of the different types of briefs. Then we start to get asked that point of view on the different shapes of the work, new business starts to change its shape in terms of who wants to talk.”

Just as Dani had an opportunity to “hand pick” her leadership team, Simon had to be equally discerning for his department.

“You have to then be judicious about who those people are, because it's one thing to go 'Right, let's get people', but there's also the agenda about 'What is Clems? And where are we going? And what are our clients asking for? And what's compelling in the market?' The momentum is derived from what those people are bringing to the table.

“We're Clems, right? There is an absolute, non-negotiable standard of excellence that has to be there.”

Dani is now confident Simon is leading the “best strategy team in the country. Adrián's obviously going hard on his hires, but he's a bit further behind due to the fact that he joined not very long ago.”

Adrián has made two batches of creative hires so far, including the promotion of Ant Phillips to ECD. He said there'll be more to come, including creative leadership appointments.

“Anytime a new CCO comes in, there's some people who decide that they don't want to be part of that,” Adrián said.

“To Dani's point, we are trying to change the way we show up and the types of work, so that requires different types of thinkers and different types of people.”

Adrián is still adjusting to being back on Australian soil, after a long stint working internationally and with no intention to return home before Clems called. Dani, who came back to Australia two years ago after two decades in London, took a while to feel settled. The homecoming was “definitely not what I expected.”

“I don't really think I thought too much about what I expected, to be fair, and I'm not gonna lie, coming back to Australia was a pretty big transition,” she said. “I'd been away for a really long time. 

“From a personal perspective, it was a pretty big transition, and from an agency perspective, it's been really interesting. So I left as a kid in advertising, still sort of still feel like a kid in advertising, but I've come back as a senior person in advertising.”

When it came to assembling her executive team, she acted decisively. Six months into the role, she started with TrinityP3’s Anita Zanesco, who became the agency’s first chief growth officer, and managing partners Georgie Winton and Anita Deutsch-Burley. Then came Simon.

“I did act quite decisively. I sought feedback from not only the business, but the clients pretty quickly. And for me, whatever I've done has been in service of what our clients need from us, and also what the market needs from us. But it feels like there's a lot of momentum every single minute of the day in this place at the moment.”

She hopes that momentum won’t be slowed by the drain of unfair pitch practices. The agency, and industry at large, needs to get better at valuing that work in a pitch process, she said. 

“We’ve experienced some really great processes around pitching, but we've got a lot of work to do in the industry, definitely.

“And I would like to see more work going into that. TrinityP3 are certainly talking about that a lot. But we're doing a significant amount of work for free, and I think we need to work out how to make that process a bit fairer for everybody.”