New Talent: Vianney Vaute, Strategic Planner BETC Euro RSCG Paris

 

LBB > This section is all about new talent... So let's kick off with an introduction. Can you tell us who you are and what you do?

VV > I have been working in the BETC strategic planning department for one year. As a strategist, my role is basically to help connect brands with the real world. I try to find new ways for brands to get in touch with what really matters to people - working into their conversations; nods to pop-cultural references; taking a leaf out of their digital folklore...or by simply trying to be actually useful to their consumers.

 

LBB > Talk to us about the role of a strategist within an agency and how you fit within the team?

VV > Even in an integrated agency that mixes up many talents and competencies such as BETC, people have a tendency to focus on their daily tasks and to deal with their own preoccupations. But the strategist is not subject to this natural segmentation of tasks. As a strategist, you work with the client and the commercial teams on the strategy, then you collaborate with the creative director on the definition of a creative brief, and then you must inspire the creative teams with benchmarks, cultural references and ideas of activation…

 

The paradox is that you have to act as an agent of Chaos inside the agency (by fighting against segmentation) and at the same time you must be the "white knight" of Order (by guaranteeing the coherence of brands through your strategic input). A great strategist must be a dangerous schizophrenic.

 

LBB > As an agency you have some amazing clients. Do you work on all or are you focused on certain brands?

VV > Each strategist works on specific clients. And I personally focus on CANAL+ (a great television channel), Petit Bateau and Aigle (two French fashion brands). But I also sometimes work on presentations for other clients - about specific subjects.

 

But one of my favourite clients is the agency itself. In fact, as a strategist, my role is also to evangelise to people inside the agency - to inform them about new societal trends and new ways for brands to interact with people through content and technology. And this job isn't only about setting up internal talks! For example I am also currently working on the development of a new presentation software - to get rid of those depressing powerpoint/keynote presentations. And I also collaborate with tech-people in the agency on R&D projects.

 

The role of the strategist is to put things in motion, to fight against fossilization and make people furiously eager to embrace new ideas/projects. And to achieve this goal, you have to deliver to those who buy these ideas (the clients) but also to those who conceive and sell them. Only the strategist has enough time and agility to do this job!

 

LBB > How did you come to be a strategist?

VV > To be honest, at first I didn't really plan to work in the advertising business. At 18, I did two years of prep school – working on literature, history and philosophy. At the end of this school I had more love for Proust than for Procter&Gamble! But then I joined the CELSA-Sorbonne – a communication school in Paris. There I heard about guys such as Biz Stone and Julian Assange and the way they were changing the world. It made me eager to work as a digital strategist in a small web-agency. This agency was small enough to disappear 3 months later. And I was lucky enough to find a job at BETC. Hazard is my god.

 

LBB > What was your line of progression?

VV > I think it is hard to define a clear "line of progression" for this kind of job. I might have been working at BETC for a year but I still feel as though I learn a new task every two weeks. I have been hired to work on brand strategies but, a year in and I am also working on the development of a new software, the creation of the agency's website, the hacking of Kinect and the development of other R&D projects!

 

But there are two key things I am currently working on in order to improve the way I do my job:

1- describe mutations and new trends through simple and robust words – to run away from bullshit concepts and woolly buzzwords that do more harm than good regarding our credibility.

2- try to make new things happen, instead of just describing things happening.

 

LBB > What inspires you and how do you keep abreast of new trends, technology and opportunity?

VV > Of course, I get a huge dose of inspiration online - through blogs and social media. But I also try to keep up with societal trends and tech actuality through exhibitions, conferences, documentaries and books. The virtue of those non-digital knowledge sources is that they usually filter bullshit trends and information (see my first line of progression above).

 

And another way to keep abreast of new things is to get my hands dirty. To manipulate things, to test them, to hack them, to transform them. Simply put, I try to create stuff as much as I can. And this is the great thing about working at BETC: strategists are allowed to create far more stuff than powerpoint presentations.

 

LBB > What has your favourite job been in the last 12 months and what does 2012 hold in store for you?

VV > This last year has been full of great projects and campaigns. But one of the side-projects I particularly liked working on these last 12 months (and it is still a work in progress) has been the creation of the "Artificial Intelligence" of the Agency, based on Siri. Basically our own "Hal" - but far more gentle and polite!

 

There are still many things ahead before the end of the year such as working on other awesome projects for my brands and boosting my clout.