M&C Saatchi’s Jo Bacon on Why the Market Needs Agility, Creativity and Strategy
M&C Saatchi Group has undergone quite a transformation in recent years and in May, Jo Bacon joined as CEO of M&C Saatchi UK, before being promoted to group CEO in June. The changes have all been implemented in an effort to “leverage our brilliant teams and capabilities to serve clients in the most efficient and adaptable way possible,” states Jo. “To support this transformation, we’ve invested in exceptional creatives and built a unified, integrated leadership team. Our aim is to not only look modern but also operate in a culturally relevant, forward-thinking way.”
Speaking about the agency’s existing strengths, Jo notes that “M&C has an amazing culture, a global social issues capability, a performance consulting arm, and government expertise.” The largest global independent network plans to continue bolstering those strengths by “investing in integrated leadership so we can pull together the right teams to answer our clients’ needs in a really modern, agile way,” she adds.
The transformation is likewise a concerted effort to enable more collaboration between disciplines, which will – by design – benefit clients. “We want to address the complexity of the issues clients bring us, and you don’t solve that complexity by just putting one skillset on it. You solve it by bringing in diversity of thought—whether that’s on a government campaign to change behavior, launching a new trainer into a really competitive market, or solving complex social issues. We’re making it possible to tailor truly bespoke solutions for clients while also ensuring that the agility and creativity that’s needed in today’s market are always present,” explains Jo.
M&C Saatchi’s founding and guiding principle is ‘Brutal Simplicity of Thought’ and though it has been around for a long time, Jo thinks that it’s needed now more than ever, especially as the challenges that clients are bringing to the agency are increasingly complex. “We’re often brought big, complex issues—like helping the NHS with cancer prevention, tackling polio globally, or launching a new product for Adidas. You have to distill that complexity into something simple and clear that resonates with the audience and delivers transformation. As the world gets more complex, the need for that clarity is even greater.” That’s why Jo finds that, at the heart of the principle, it’s “about creating a springboard for creativity that simplifies complexity in a way that’s sharp, clear, and effective.”
Preserving the creative core
Reflecting on the many different directions agencies are pulled in today, Jo cautions that “there is always a risk, if you go too far into the martech space, the heart of creativity can get lost.” It’s something she’s working to ensure doesn’t happen at M&C Saatchi and to preserve its creative raison d'etre. “Often, the answer doesn't have to be producing endless volumes of content. The answer has to lie in a degree of creativity which changes the brand's dynamic or a conversation or allows that brand to sit at the heart of a cultural conversation. Content needs to be moving, emotionally engaging, entertaining. It needs to capture the hearts and minds of your audience. And the only way to do that is to make sure that it's creative first, not machine first. And I don't mean in an AI led way – I mean an automated production template that slots into a media spreadsheet way,” says Jo.
While planning to make changes when she first took up the post, Jo also had to evaluate what the business already succeeds in. “What we’re really good at is getting to the heart of the issue, surrounding that issue with the right thinkers, and solving the problem in a client-first way. Our work spans brand platforms, communications, and cultural moments, and I think we do that really well,” explains Jo. Still, there are tweaks to be made to ensure that how the agency does things is even better with Jo seeing “opportunities in galvanizing our teams and bringing agility to how we operate. We have to be relevant to the moment, culturally connected, and flexible in our approach while still building long-term platforms. It’s a balance of reacting to opportunities but also being consistent and strategic.”
The speed at which brands need to respond to culture today sits somewhere near instant, and Jo knows what it takes to be able to respond well. “You need agility,” she states, adding “you need to be able to be responsive in the moment, responsive in a PR conversation, responsive and reactive to conversations in culture. And I think that ability to be able to flex, requires a strategic core that sits at the heart of what all of that messaging does so that there are some consistencies, but there's also the ability to be able to flex and react in a moment.” Crucially, Jo is confident that M&C Saatchi has the ability to do exactly that.
The M&C Saatchi Group has an impressive array of capabilities that it offers to clients spanning talent, sports events, social, PR, tourism, and social impact. “We’re in an amazing position,” confirms Jo. She’s excited to push the agency further and to seize on even more of the opportunities available in the different spaces it resides. “The opportunities will be about identifying what our clients and their audiences really need. That might mean platform-led solutions, social-first campaigns, or leaning into cultural power in new and exciting ways. It’s about spotting those opportunities, staying ahead of the curve, and continuing to innovate in how we engage audiences.”
She adds: “I think the trick to being able to live in the future world of this industry is to be able to have a real understanding about what cultural power means.” Jo has seen how brands often misuse purpose for cultural cache, and we have all seen how it can misfire. She says that getting the right balance is about “a strategy that isn't just pure purpose.” The communication part has to be reflected in the brand and in the product offering too. “It has to be driving the product and it has to make sense coming from that brand. It needs consistency.”
She points to the investment Dove has made over the years into a brand platform and consistency of messaging as an example of what a successful fusion looks like. “Investment over time and a really consistent strategy made Dove really authentic. The mistake brands make is centering purpose but it's about the values that that brand has and its behaviors as much as it is about purpose. Brands need to have the ability to think strategically about what engages and what's important to an audience, and understanding the difference that a brand can make and connecting that to the product is the holy grail.”
Jo also believes that brands have a responsibility to “think about the values that they have and the impact they have on society.” It doesn’t mean compromising on commerciality. “Values need to go all the way through the brands and their strategic thinking these days, rather than just existing to drive commercial value. You absolutely have to start by driving commercial value but there needs to be thoughtfulness and communication around the values of the business too,” she adds.
On the subject of what clients really need, Jo has previously said that most are looking for their agencies to not take months to come up with a strategy, or months to then evolve it. Her diagnosis is “clients want a balance of strategic rigor and the ability to move quickly. You need long-term platforms that are underpinned by really solid thinking, but at the same time, you need to be able to react to PR moments, cultural moments, or sales spikes. What’s important is not mistaking agility for inconsistency.” It’s possible to achieve but some of the responsibility lies with clients too as “a mistake many make is constantly changing their agency, their strategies and their platforms instead of working from a strong, adaptable platform.
“For us it’s about modernising where we need to, and ensuring we stay relevant while still delivering consistency and quality.”
