• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, February 23, 2022

With the worst of the pandemic in the rearview mirror (with any luck) TBWA\Chiat\Day New York CEO Nancy Reyes says one of the big issues for brands right now is devising plans for moving forward. Given the big consumer behavioral shifts that have taken place in the past two years, brands are reassessing their roles, their values and purpose as they look toward the future.

Speaking during a webinar sponsored by the Advertising Club of New York Wednesday, Reyes, chatting with Ad Club Board Chair and Nielsen head of digital sales Rick Song, said brands have also put renewed focus on CSR (corporate social responsibility) issues like DEI and sustainability.

As an industry, Reyes said, she hopes agencies “can come together as a community more.” Competition won’t go away but community conversations would be beneficial in “lifting the entire value of what we all do.”

She noted working recently with private equity firm Blackstone on a new approach to pitching business that resulted in TBWA picking up the ad account for Sphera, a software provider for the ESG (environment, social, governance) sector. Instead of engaging in a traditional pitch, Blackstone acted as a sort of match maker, setting up a meeting between the agency and Sphera to check aligned values and overall chemistry.

“It’s a more intelligent way to work with agencies,” said Reyes, noting that the traditional pitch process is “exhausting” and often unproductive. Blackstone, she said, understands “how the value of brand can increase the overall value of a company."

Reyes acknowledged the toll that the pandemic has had on industry morale. It’s been an exhausting two years for every one and motivation is hard to come by sometimes, even for leaders like her. The first thing to do in dealing with that, she said is “admit the vulnerability. Acknowledge it.” There’s no one answer, she added. But a starting point might be to “not expect so much from ourselves and others.” And frequently solutions can be found inside the company, she opined, which is a way to “win from within.”

On the diversity front, she said, solutions need to be “built into business objectives,” so that KPIs become part of the process, “not just quotas.” Also critical to sustaining DEI efforts is creating “safe environments for people” within the organization.

For Reyes, today was her first day back at the office in New York after working for months at home due to the pandemic. The most exciting part of that, she said, was “just seeing people,” adding that “you can’t underestimate the power of human contact.”