Su May Tan-Kool Explains How “One Size Fits All Is Long Gone”
With two years spent at at VaynerMedia Amsterdam, the agency’s EMEA vice president of client partnerships, Su May Tan-Kool, didn’t initially think account management was for her.
Starting at a boutique agency in the Netherlands’ capital city of Amsterdam, her beginner’s experience didn’t fill her with confidence. “At the time I thought I wasn’t cut out to work in account management at all and got into production for a bit,” she explains. But after being headhunted by 72andSunny as an account executive, she took the job and hasn’t looked back since.
From this point, Su May worked her way up in the agency, becoming group brand director at 72andSunny, before moving into her current position at VaynerMedia in July of 2023. Her experience spans across both global and EMEA-based brands including the giants of Google, Samsung, Smirnoff, eBay, and IKEA, to name a few, helping them build their EMEA market profiles.
To hear more about her journey, how she’s keen to foster collaborative partnerships and why she looks for both the impact and interactions around her work, Su May speaks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.
LBB> How did you first get involved in brand/account management and what appealed to you about it?
Su May> My first experience with account management at an agency was during a one-year internship at a boutique agency in Amsterdam. At the time I thought I wasn’t cut out to work in account management at all and got into production for a bit. However, I got headhunted by 72andSunny as an account exec, took the job, and was surrounded by brilliant folks from all over the world who were there to do the best job ever and have fun while doing so. It accelerated my growth, changed my perception of what agency life was and, most importantly, helped me see that I was actually quite good at my job as well. I made friends for life and started my career in global advertising.
LBB> What is it about your personality, skills and experience that made that role such a great fit?
Su May> Early on in my career, I was called ‘The Wolf’ jokingly by my teammates as a reference to Pulp Fiction. The Wolf gets called upon to fix a messy situation and gets it done with grace and style. Over time it has been part of me which evolved as my role changed. At my core, I am still someone who gets it done, it is just nowadays the things that ‘need to get done’ are more complex, require a different approach and way more patience. What has remained is my tenacity, a sense of practical optimism, and being comfortable to call out the elephant in the room when needed. That’s probably the pragmatic Dutch in me. Also knowing that you’re only as good as your team so making sure that you bring people along for the ride is incredibly important too. It keeps you humble and to be honest, it’s more fun too when everyone is right there with you.
LBB> What was the best piece of advice you got early on?
Su May> Not advice, but instead how certain people showed up for me and led by example while staying true to themselves. I knew they always had my back and best interests at heart. I am at my best when I know that and my teams are at their best when they know that too. It creates trust and eliminates the fear of failure.
LBB> And the worst?
Su May> I had a miscarriage early on in my career. There was no playbook on how to communicate this at all to the outside world, let alone work, and I didn’t know how much time you get to grieve, process, recover, or anything.
When I finally found the courage to ask for advice, the person, most likely with the best intentions, told me to just not say anything to anyone: “As management are all men, they won’t understand it and might judge you for it.” There probably was some truth in it but there was no formal support system in place and I just went back to work the same week.
It had a major impact on me mentally. I do feel it’s a bit less of a taboo nowadays but I still think we can be way better and more supportive when it comes to these life happenings that can have an immeasurable impact, mentally and physically.
LBB> Thinking back to some of the most challenging experiences you’ve had in your career, what do you think tends to lie at the heart of the more tense or difficult client-agency relationships?
Su May> Lack of empathy and transparent communications. Ruling with fear tactics and forgetting we’re all humans that have the best intentions. This just creates an us-versus-them situation that never works.
LBB> And what are the keys to building a productive and healthy relationship?
Su May> The key to all of this is to create authentic connections on a human level, understanding what’s happening in someone’s world and how you can support them. Keeping transparent communications flowing helps set expectations and avoids the unnecessary elephants in the room that stand in the way of progress.
LBB> Historically, account management has been characterised as the mediator in an adversarial client and creative relationship – what do you make of that characterisation, is there any nugget of truth in that or is it wildly inaccurate?
Su May> There’s definitely truth in that. I describe our role as being the glue between the internal and external teams. We treat our client’s business as our own and that means having the hard conversations whenever needed but I’d like to be known for sparking new ways of collaborating rather than always being the mediator. The term mediator feels too neutral to me and at VaynerMedia we often take a clear stance. We want to drive the success of our client's businesses in a world that’s always changing and hard to keep up with.
LBB> How important is cultural understanding when it comes to working with clients across borders?
Su May> It’s everything. One size fits all is long gone. We’re in the game of relevancy and consumer attention and that’s not just true for consumers but also from a client perspective. We work across many global and regional clients with our in-depth knowledge of their market and brand and we can be that extension of their teams.
It all comes down to understanding what’s happening in their world on every level. Through being experts on social platforms and culture, we provide true value no matter the region, market, or territory; whatever word you choose to use. We believe our model is truly global.
LBB> And how about building teams across borders and enabling them to grow and thrive? What have you found to be most important there?
Su May> This has definitely changed over time with more and more people working remotely versus being physically in an office. The new landscape has allowed us to hire from a wider, more diverse talent pool and it has created opportunities for people to get their dream job without moving to an expensive city. That said, we have also seen that when building teams across borders with a mix of remote and office-based staff, we need to make an even more conscious effort to ensure the following:
1. That we are building a culture that goes beyond the office walls.
2. Equal growth opportunity across the board – as we have seen, a lack of visibility and proximity can mean people miss the opportunity to learn by osmosis.
3. That we make everyone feel included and part of one team, avoiding people working in ‘silos’.
We’re still learning how to do this and it requires ongoing conversations, inviting people in to tell us about their experiences, as well as their needs and wants.
LBB> What recent projects are you proudest of and why? What was challenging about these projects from a client partnership perspective and how did you address those challenges? What was so satisfying about working on these projects?
Su May> I really take pride in building strong partnerships and relationships that allow us to retain clients, and grow businesses. When you see the impact of the work you’ve put in as a team and know how you’ve contributed on an individual level it’s satisfying. What I’m most proud of is what we are currently building with VaynerMedia Amsterdam, with a team that’s ever-growing and a portfolio of clients who trust us and are signing up with us again. There are lots of challenges when trying to set up an office. There are a lot of “firsts”, which require patience and a “yes, and…” mindset. But, we’re lucky. We are in a unique position that allows us to be a startup within an existing framework, tapping into a really knowledgeable support network. It’s filled with intelligent humans who are ready to roll up their sleeves together with you.
LBB> Which stage in the pipeline of creating a campaign for a client do you most enjoy and why?
Su May> In my role, it’s less about the campaign and the day-to-day, and more about relationship building. I’m always setting up the foundations for a collaborative partnership that allows for good work to happen. But if I have to pinpoint it, I’d say it’s when you see the work creating an impact, how consumers are interacting with it and then you use that momentum to scale up strategically and creatively in a bottom-up way. I really enjoy that.
