Gerety Awards Champagne Cocktail Tours North America

New York and Toronto were hosts to the Gerety Awards and brought together the advertising community for networking drinks and a Gerety Talk panel

In New York, Edelman was the location to celebrate the coming year. Moderated by Stephanie Paterik GM of editorial, editor in chief The Trade Desk the panel included:

• Anshumani Khanna, creative director, BBDO New York
• Ronnie Ting, SVP head of design and experience, MRM
• Megan Skelly, EVP/executive creative director, Edelman
• Ariana Stolarz, global chief strategy officer, Accenture

Stephanie kicked-off the conversation asking the panellists about those important moments in their careers that lifted them up. After describing her moment, Anshumani concluded “I realised creativity goes beyond a brief. The benefits of ideas can go beyond helping a brand towards helping people and that is what really inspires me to create work that pushes people and communities”.

The conversation led to new ways of leadership and the importance of focusing on inclusivity with the current difficult situation. Megan explained “One of the things the pandemic gave us was a completely different management style. Inclusivity became an objective of leadership. When we went into the work from home situation, as leaders, we needed to let others take the space. We are way better than we used to be and it shows in the work, I see more stories about people that we haven't heard before”. Ronnie added to Megan’s explanation: “As a leader it is very important to understand the strengths of your team members. Because if you understand them, you will be able to use them properly. it is always a teamwork, not a one man show”.

Ariana continued reinforcing the importance of words and how the messages you receive in your career can uplift you or stop you from growing “It is important to be careful and understand that what we say carries meaning. It is more important than ever to believe in our differences and bring them to work”.

The Toronto evening was hosted by Grayson Music and the panel was moderated by Gerety Awards co-founder Lucía Ongay, and included:

• Bridget Flynn, chief executive officer, Grayson Music
• Stephanie Yung, chief design officer, Zulu Alpha Kilo
• Kaitlin Doherty, founder and president, The Local Collective
• Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, chief creative officer, FCB Canada

The topics of the conversation jumped from career moments and learnings to challenges and new dynamics in agency-client relationship after the pandemic.

Problem solving, taking risks and courage were some of the traits mentioned by the panellists to be able to hone in their fields, and empathy and vulnerability as part of the new age of leadership. “I think about the stress I used to have when going to a client and not being sure if what we had prepared had the right angle? We have moved past perfectionism, we have evolved, and we now understand mistakes happen and things might not go as planned. And this allows for better work to happen” explained Kaitlin.

About the rising creative output coming from Canada after Covid, Nancy had the following to say “Canadians are killing it. We are incredible and I think it is because we have a very entrepreneurial spirit and our budgets are smaller so we really need creativity to solve the briefs. Also, I think we have a unique situation in Canada where we work for a lot of brands, so we get a lot of experience and learning and this stretches our creative muscle really far”. Stephanie added “We are a nation of diversity. It’s in the fabric of who we are, I feel like the diverse point of view is baked into us and we are open to hearing about it”.

“One thing I think is pretty exciting from the music side, is artists being open to advertising and branded content and collaborating with brands. I feel we are really entering a time of recognition of how important music is to content. All this combined with the support of the music industry, is very exciting for all of us” explained Bridget when wrapping-up the talk on the future and what is coming up.

The Gerety Champagne cocktails bring together the Gerety community around the world for networking drinks and a Gerety Talk panel.