Marcus Krzastek: “It’s Clear That APAC Is Setting Global Trends”
Reflecting the agency’s global expansion, VaynerMedia has named its first ever international president, Marcus Krzastek. Tasked with overseeing operations across EMEA and APAC, Marcus will collaborate with regional managing directors Daisy Domenghini and Tim Lindley to continue to accelerate VaynerMedia’s international growth and operations.
Having joined the company in 2009, Marcus has been instrumental in its evolution from a small startup to a global agency. Now, he plans to supercharge the agency’s creative economy in APAC and redefine modern brand-building in a social-first era across the globe.
To find out more, LBB’s Sunna Coleman interviews Marcus on his vision for the next few years, what successful leadership looks like, and why VaynerMedia is committed to growing its footprint in APAC.
LBB> Huge congratulations on your appointment as VaynerMedia’s first international president! What does this mean to you and what are you most excited about with this opportunity?
Marcus> It’s an honour to be given this opportunity. I’ve been lucky enough to work closely with the teams in APAC and EMEA over the years, and I’m excited to dig in and help accelerate the momentum they’ve already built. There’s an incredible opportunity to make the marketing principles and services that have driven success globally available to an even larger and more diverse group of advertisers.
LBB> You’ve been a part of the team for over a decade. How have you seen the business grow in that time and what has been the driver behind its success so far?
Marcus> It’s been quite the ride since I joined! I love reflecting on how much the company and our services have grown and evolved – although it also makes me realise how quickly time flies. Our growth has always been tied to our core philosophy: delivering the services we know to be impactful because Gary [Vaynerchuk] built this company not only to support our clients’ businesses, but also the ones he starts and invests in. Because of that, our growth has always been strategic and focused on adding capabilities across marketing tools and services we recognise as particularly impactful in today’s environment. In particular, we’ve expanded our remit to operate as a creative or media AOR for clients (and often both), delivering against all key channels with our own perspective on how they can be utilised most effectively.
LBB> Reflecting over your time at VaynerMedia so far, what have been your biggest career highlights?
Marcus> I’ve been fortunate to have many over the years. In the early days, launching our analytics and media teams and leading our core product team. It was surreal to see the entire company in one room during our 10-year anniversary. Last year, having a chance to build with the team at the Sasha Group. And there are plenty more.
LBB> You will be leading a team of almost 600. What three things do you believe make a great leader?
Marcus> Clarity: The team needs to understand what is expected of them, both in their individual roles, and also more importantly as a collective. They need to understand the ‘why’ behind what we bring to our clients, so we’re able to more appropriately navigate with the agility required to succeed in today’s marketing environment
Conviction: This has been relatively easy with VaynerMedia, given the success we’ve seen our products deliver. As an organisation, our teams need deep understanding and passion, which I’ll continue to help enable.
Humility: While we deeply believe in what we do, it’s important to not become overly connected to any one service or process. We should always be evaluating and looking for places where our current assumptions are no longer true… Often, the best insights are going to come from a team being comfortable pushing and asking the right questions.
LBB> What is your vision for the next 2-3 years as international president?
Marcus> Our primary focus is on continuing to establish our core competency – best-in-class creative and media in social – across a wider and larger variety of markets and clients. We’ll keep refining the talent and processes required to deliver in each market while strengthening the structures and partnerships that allow us to deliver business results to our clients as effectively and efficiently as possible.
LBB> Why is APAC the next big market on your radar?
Marcus> I think it may surprise some people how established and at scale we already are in the region. We’re over 300 team members strong across APAC, delivering for our clients in creative, media and strategy. The region has been a priority long before I stepped into this role. That said, it’s clear that APAC is setting global trends in many ways across the marketing ecosystem, and we’re excited to continue investing in and growing our footprint here. The lessons learned are going to set the pace for the rest of our teams across the world.
LBB> What would you say is the key to modern brand-building and how do you plan to implement this?
Marcus> The key to modern brand building is being able to distill your brand into its core elements, then bring it to life through creative and media in ways that make it relevant to a wide range of consumers in the channels they’re actually paying attention to. The best way to do this is by building a marketing engine that starts in organic social and then uses that to drive impact and inform how your brand is expressed across the entire marketing mix. This is what we’ve built, and will continue to build, our teams around: executing better than anyone else in the world.
LBB> Any final thoughts?
Marcus> The only thing we can be sure of is that the world of marketing and culture will continue to change and evolve quite a bit in the coming years. I feel incredibly confident that our team has built a strong foundation to adjust, navigate, and take advantage of these shifts, and I’m looking forward to building with them across APAC and EMEA.
