Ben Goodale.
Ben Goodale, CEO, Quantum Jump
At the age of 50, instead of slowing down, I started a strategic marketing agency. I’d sold justONE to Clemenger Group, ran agencies inside that network, then took a year off in 2018. People assumed I was retiring. Then former clients started calling, wanting help with CRM, loyalty, data-driven advertising. It started as consulting. Quickly it was obvious the demand was there for an agency, so in 2019 Quantum Jump went live, with Mitre 10 and Sky TV as foundation clients. We’ve grown every year since, picked up industry awards, and last year expanded into Australia.
Building out the Sydney office has had me thinking hard about what actually makes an agency work. Experience matters, but once upon a time I didn’t have that. Running TEQUILA in Auckland taught me about culture and creative ambition. Building justONE from scratch taught me how to prioritise what really matters.
People are the key to success
People are the most important element to a successful agency and it’s important not to lose sight of that in the age of AI and lay-offs. You need talented people, but it’s hard to build a happy team who want to stay. A settled team means less energy spent training and more spent doing great work. For CMOs who’ve lived through constant agency churn, on our side or theirs, I reckon this consistency is gold.
A diverse team leads to better work
When I started out, diversity wasn’t much of a conversation in our industry. But obviously, a team with varied viewpoints from different cultures and demographics helps to create better work. Marketing needs different lived experiences in the room, because you’re trying to speak to different audiences. An obvious example of a different demographic is age – too many young media planners plan media for much older groups and I don’t think they always get it right. However, it’s essential that we have young team members providing that Gen Z lens.
Building culture and offering all staff opportunities
When I talk about people, I also mean how people fit into the agency culture. Our Head of Planning first joined me as a graduate in 2008. I’ve worked with our creative leads for over 20 years. Part of how we keep people is by getting them involved across the business, not massively siloed.
Giving people real opportunities to team members early shows how we are trusting and investing in our team. Junior team members work with senior management on everything from research to awards to thought leadership, not just the jobs nobody else wants. Agencies that complain about talent shortages while treating juniors as production units are solving the wrong problem.
A mostly women-led management team is a super power for us
When reflecting on what makes a strong team, I realised that our management roles are held by roughly two-thirds women. We didn’t set out to build it that way, we hired on merit, and that’s who came through. But I’m proud of it, and I think it’s close to a superpower for us to have a more balanced team and ensure we have women making decisions across all levels of our business. Our industry has always been made up mostly of women, yet leadership has skewed male for years. AdNews has covered that gap in creative agency leadership well.
Flexibility retains and attracts more talent
There are many hypotheses for why leadership roles skew towards males. This includes the lack of flexible work arrangements that allows mothers and women experiencing peri-menopause to balance their career, health and caring responsibilities. I like people in the office - most of us are in every day, and I firmly believe that matters particularly for junior team members, but there’s flex. This is especially helpful for parents trying to balance a career with young kids. Insisting on rigid five-day mandates simply blocks that talent pool.
Despite a tough economy in New Zealand, the business has grown every year since launch, and last year we crossed the Tasman, with Rachel Wintle joining us as GM Australia to lead the Sydney office. Rachel’s building the Australian team on the same principles that built Auckland, which also bolsters our strong majority of women in lead roles.
Not many New Zealand independents have made the move across the ditch stick. We intend to.
AI as a tool, not to replace humans
Over the decades, we’ve seen technology come and go, but AI seems to be here to stay. It’s a great resource, we use it every day to speed up processes but not to create the work itself. We are developing a bespoke content ‘explosion’ tool at the moment, which is really cool.
Staying passionate
I was recently honoured to feature in a 50 over 50 list. This was a reminder that I’m lucky to still be thriving in this industry and so many peers are still pushing the industry forward. I’m here because I love it, it’s the best possible career, creative, cerebral, and you meet amazing people.
I think keeping the workplace playful and creative can help keep everyone’s passion alive between deadlines and day-to-day tasks. Like the mindsets of individuals, a happy work culture can help radiate through staff, keep clients happy and allows agencies to concentrate on creating impactful work.