Stef Calcraft’s excursions into the media world since he left Mom, the company he co-founded after a profession as a senior consumer, have been attention-grabbing.
First he turned govt chairman of Dentsu Aegis Community UK (primarily however not solely media companies) after which joined WPP’s Mediacom, initially as head of Artistic Programs. Now he’s been annointed as world chief govt of Artistic Futures at EssenceMedia.com, a brand new unit of the recently-merged two huge WPP media companies.
So what is that this precisely?
Calcraft says: “We’re seeing our concentrate on integration and artistic transformation driving breakthrough work and outcomes for our purchasers, each inside and past promoting.
“Our progress mannequin brings collectively essentially the most numerous, inventive and modern groups all over the world and integrates them seamlessly into our consumer groups, media, platform and WPP companions.
“Artistic Futures is single-mindedly centered on the way forward for creativity and the breakthrough outcomes this delivers for our individuals, purchasers, and companions.”
EssenceMediacom says the brand new division will “assist purchasers navigate and leverage the explosion in alternatives within the burgeoning new communications financial system.”
However aren’t there different companies that do (or attempt to do) this, many dotted across the WPP empire which incorporates AKQA Group (incorporating Gray), Ogilvy, VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson?
As soon as upon a time, after all, inventive and media had been housed below the identical roof within the good outdated days of so-called full service. Then the comparatively unremarked (generally underpaid) media lot broke away, largely to be purchased again by the large holding corporations as soon as they’d pushed a coach and horses by way of company margins.
Numerous makes an attempt to re-unite the 2 have since foundered and, sometimes, media companies have tried to eat what’s left of inventive company lunches by launching their very own models, generally even with a worldwide CCO in place (normally somebody you’d by no means heard of.)
The basis of the issue, aside from the existence of entrenched managerial empires, is that almost all media individuals don’t perceive inventive. Their job is to get the consumer’s message in entrance of as many individuals as doable as profitably as doable. Even when hundreds of thousands of so-called customers are literally digital bots. Do they really care a lot about what’s within the message, not to mention know how one can create it?
Calcraft has fairly a pedigree at Mom, nonetheless one of many world’s greatest companies (and one of many smartest commercially) after practically 30 years in enterprise. So presumably he is aware of what he’s speaking about and has a transparent concept of what he, and WPP finally, need to obtain.
To a extra cynical soul it could sound like mission creep, even a part of the traditional sport of confuse-a-client.
