This first appeared in the AdNews Annual 2020. Subscribe here to make sure you get your copy.
AdNews asked industry leaders their perspective on the year that was and the prospects for the road ahead:
Mike Rebelo, CEO Publicis Groupe Australia & NZ
What 2020 has taught me as a leader is that it’s OK not to have all the answers, just as long as you have a plan. A plan that’s
adaptable and communicated to your people early, clearly and frequently.
A crisis can either have the effect of bringing people closer together, or push them apart. I’m grateful to be able to say that these challenging months have brought my team and the entire Publicis Groupe closer together. When the first lockdown hit in March, my CEOs and I were meeting over video calls every 48 hours, constantly reviewing and assessing the unfolding situation, making sure we had what we needed to support our clients, and aligning our collective response.
As each day and week passed by, we were conscious of the increasing mental and emotional strain the pandemic was having on many of our people. So while each agency brand made sure their teams were aware of the support programs we had in place, it was important I regularly communicated with the 1600 people I had felt personally responsible for. During the months, we held regular live video Q&A sessions where we invited all staff to ask their questions, anonymously or otherwise. No topic was off limits and every question was answered, which sometimes meant a one-hour session would turn into almost two. These are now permanent fixtures in our routine.
Throughout this crisis, as a leadership team, we deliberately made the decision to take an open and transparent approach in our communications — not just letting our people know our plan, but the realities we could potentially face. What this has meant is being willing to lay yourself bare to intense interrogation, which is not always easy for any leader.
But when you’re in a situation where you’re seeing and hearing about people’s increasing levels of anxiety, fatigue and frustration, you need to do all you can to rally them towards a collective purpose and keep everyone connected. Solidarity is powerful. This has meant really allowing people to work the best way that works for them, which also delivers the best outcome for clients; showing compassion and an understanding of people’s individual circumstances; and leaning into each other for support, as I did with my own leadership team.
It’s been a hard year for everyone, and we’ve shared on the public record the impact COVID-19 has had on our ANZ business. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to have gotten a handle of the pandemic in the first few months. Not only had we already started rolling out our flexible working framework with Publicis Liberte the year prior, but we found out just how powerful our “single country P&L” model at Publicis Groupe could be at a time when we needed it most. Our unified Groupe approach and scale has made us more resilient, and helped to save around 90 jobs that would have otherwise gone as a result of the pandemic.
This has also meant that throughout the year, we’ve been able to continue our focus on future-proofing our business. This has included launching Epsilon in ANZ with a new CEO, creating a Chief Product Officer role to expand our product solutions and diversify our revenue model; and creating a differentiated new agency offering with Performics Mercerbell.
However, we are under no illusion about the challenges 2021 will bring, but I am also very clear that if anyone is going to
stimulate optimism, dream bigger and help our clients’ customers rekindle their hopes and ambitions — it’s us.
Our industry, when we are at our best, is the torchbearer of possibilities.
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