• by Ryan Dinger , June 2, 2021

Afonso will be speaking at the 2021 ANA Advertising & Financial Management Conference on June 27-30. Here is a preview.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Can you explain what it means to be creatively brave -- and why that approach is safer for businesses?

Being creatively brave means pushing the work and advocating for a strong POV with clients. Sometimes that can be over-investing in resources to see an idea you believe in go live. Or working with a client pro bono because you see a massive creative opportunity. Strategically making those bets often pans out and ends up elevating the entire business. 

Q: From a financial standpoint. what are some ways to approach measuring the value of creativity versus the cost of producing that creativity?

In our business, creativity is everyone’s responsibility. You cannot put a price on the value of good work. Naturally, the more work that we have, the healthier the P&L and balance sheets are.

In my job, you want to hedge as much as you can. So, a lot of what I am explaining is allocating what the value of creativity truly is. For example, when you look at a brief from a client, I help the teams make an assessment as we ask ourselves, “Do we believe in this creative opportunity?” 

Q: As in-house grows in popularity, what do you believe is the value for brands maintaining partnerships with third-party agencies?

Sometimes being an outsider to a brand allows us to speak to truths that might not be visible from the inside. We champion a single-point-lead model, which means we create a centralized and strategic approach where our agency acts as the lead, while ensuring integration throughout partner agencies, including with in-house teams. Expectations are aligned upfront, and everyone is clear about what they are expected to do to make a campaign great. Everyone is in a position to succeed because we’re playing to everyone’s strengths.

At the end of the day, for any project that we do there has to be a return. When we work with in-house agencies for our clients, our job is to take a look at the spend and work together to create synergy for our clients. This leads to a higher ROI on the marketing spend, and from the agency perspective: more work.