'What's true in life is true in advertising': McCann's Harjot Singh on why great strategists will always be students for life

In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing communications, there are but a few legacies that have endured in a bid to leave an indelible mark on the profession.

McCann Worldgroup is one of them. Founded in 1930 by Harrison King McCann—an industry titan who continuously sought to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, the agency's journey from its humble beginnings to global prominence is a notable one.

Today, McCann Worldgroup's influence spans across continents and industries. From the iconic red hues of Coca-Cola, to the engineering marvels of General Motors, and the tech prowess of Microsoft and Mastercard, the agency’s core strengths lie in its cross-disciplinary arsenal of teams across strategy, creative, and much more.

Harjot Singh reiterates this vision. A veteran of the ad world with over 28 years of experience (13 of which have been spent at McCann, and prior to that, the likes of Grey, BBDO and Leo Burnett), he’s been a hands-on purveyor of the organisation’s values and evolution, taking on the mantle as group chief strategy officer since the start of this year.

On a short but intentional visit to Singapore to announce the appointment of Shilpa Sinha to regional chief strategy officer for APAC, Singh sat down with Campaign for an exclusive and wide-ranging discussion. The topics at hand? The parallelism between life and advertising, how to measure brand impact without a dollar value, and why logic often gets in the way when trying to create pure, human-oriented magic.

Harjot, you’ve been in this role since the end of January. How have the last six months been for you as group CSO?

It’s a good question because, I mean, I have evolved into this role. I’ve been at McCann for a long time as you know, and in January when this [transition] happened, the remit was very, very clear and it's a very exciting one at that. We have a very clearly defined vision for who we are: To be the irrefutable leader in the business of creativity and to be part of that brief, [the question is] how do we make that happen? There are just so many components, aren’t there? So, we always start with the people.

You could have a remit like this in any other industry, couldn’t you? For me, I’ve been unpacking over the last six to seven months with a different lens: There is no other business that is quite like ours. When I used to work with packaged goods clients, I remember one once said to me, “Oh, we have this business problem: Our blueberries are stuck in customs. We have an issue with the aluminium in the supply chain, or the production has stalled etc.” and I thought to myself, “Gee, that’s really interesting. We would never, in our industry, have a problem like that!” We’re not in an industry where even the gravest, most trying business problem would be one where our blueberries would be stuck in customs! But our industry is very unique, and [for us] I realised that every business problem is deeply a human problem, and what a great place to start.

So, what does being in the business of creativity really mean to you?

It really means to be able to create a space and a place where the most courageous minds want to make their best work, and where they choose to make their best work. You want to create an environment where there’s free and fearless expression of identities and then, there’s free and fearless expression of ideas that comes from it. So, that to me is really the creativity side of the equation that’s immensely inspiring and motivating. Then there’s the business piece of it, which is proving the business case for creativity and proving the value that we generate with and for our clients. Because ultimately, there aren’t more than six or seven marketing problems in the world. The classical marketing problems, you can count them on your fingers. So, the whole magic lies in coming up with the responses to those problems. And if you do that in a way that’s more interesting, more effective and more memorable, then you’re proving the business case for creativity, because your solution will have an impact commercially, creatively, and if you’re doing a really good job, culturally as well.

We’re operating in a rather crowded and competitive ad landscape nowadays. What is McCann Worldgroup’s unique selling point in the marketplace today?

We have a really good understanding of who we are, what we stand for, and how we present ourselves. We always tell clients that our biggest superpower is the ability to help them identify and own a brand platform that is current and enduring at once; that also allows them to be incredibly totemic in what they do and really enjoy the kinds of ads they make. At the end of the day, we live in an age where anything local is also global, so you need to have that kind of fluency on building global brands. And how to deliver creativity at speed, with precision, and [again] at scale—and to do it right. All. The. Time. We need to prove the impact of it all the time. So, that really is how we’re wired and that’s something that energises me. And you might say, that’s all fine and dandy, but do you have the goods to back up the attitude? And I’m like, “When we talk about our own brand platform, we talk about ‘Truth Well Told’. We’ve had that around for over 100 years—so we’re talking about something that can really endure. We’ve done it for ourselves, and we do the same thing for our clients as well.

Playing Devil’s advocate here for a moment, many agencies will say the same as what you’ve mentioned above regarding delivering scale, speed, great talent, etc. to clients. But what is something so uniquely McCann that you couldn’t replicate it no matter where you went?

It’s your values. At the end of the day, what’s true in life, is true in advertising. This is what I’ve learned, and it’s one of my mottos in life. I really believe this. To be good in advertising, you have to be good at life. It’s been my experience, and I’ve been in this industry since 1995: I’ve worked in six different countries, and this has been my experience. And you’d argue, ‘We’re all the same!’ What differentiates us from one person to the other are our values. Our values dictate our beliefs, our choices, and everything else related to the outcomes of those. And every consequence results from those outcomes, which result from the values. So, I think whilst it might be true for everyone in this industry, it’s the people that are the secret sauce because in our industry, every problem is a human problem, [and] every solution is a human solution.

And it’s our network. It’s really the culture that separates us. McCann is like a big family; people actually like each other here! The leaders are really human. I always say this: I show up the way I want to be seen, and in doing so, I make space for everyone else to show up the way they want to be seen. This is not just me. This is a place that allows you to express yourself and be who you are, and be completely unapologetic about it as long we all hold the same values.

You mentioned the statement: ‘Every problem is a human problem, and every solution is a human solution.’ The industry is at an interesting intersection at the moment, with an influx of uncertainty around the future of creativity in the world of AI. Do you think that this motto will endure as more and more tech seeps into our client work, or do you think AI will change that, and if so, how?

I just think it’s such an interesting question because here’s the thing: I think I’d go back to like I said, what’s true in life is true in advertising. If you want to solve a problem, just go back to understand what the words mean. AI is artificial intelligence. It’s artificial. In a world that craves authenticity and connection, let’s just understand that from a common-sense point of view. It doesn’t say authentic intelligence, it says artificial intelligence. Secondly, I’m not dissing it, we need it. But ultimately, can AI feel raw emotion?

But they say it will learn to…

It will learn to, but who will it learn from? Creativity is the power to reimagine what’s possible, and I think that’s what it means. At its heart, that’s what it’s all about. In our business, every creative response is interesting when it places a uniquely human need at the heart of the response. If an undeniable, instantly relatable, irrefutable human need is at the heart of the response, then the response is always one that connects. It moves people first, then moves the market. Because the market’s not made up of robots, is it? The only way you can move the market is if you move people, and the only way you can move people is by making work that moves them through putting a human need at the heart of your response.

Now, if AI is a tool or asset or a resource that helps you understand how nuanced those human needs are and how they’re manifesting, and what’s the most important way in which those needs show up, and what’s the way they might evolve in the future, that is what I think we’re here to do. Human imagination will always trump AI. It’s just a moment for us to hold ourselves more accountable and get even better at the thing we’re supposed to be good at. We’re the enablers.

Pivoting a little towards the overall sentiment on adland at the moment: We just saw a slew of ‘purpose-led’ work win awards at Cannes. Many outside the industry are criticising advertisers for being out of touch with the problems of everyday consumers, and being caught up in an alleged self-applauding bubble about the meaningful impact of their work, as customers battle a cost-of-living crisis. Do you think the industry is actually out of touch?

It's a complex situation, and when you have extremely complex issues, you have to start at the edges and work your way in. It is a very binary argument to say people are focusing on surviving, and the industry is focused on doing purpose-led work. It assumes that the two don’t connect. So, we do have to find the interdependency.

So, are we all just obsessed with data, tangibility, accountability and trying to add a numerical value to everything? Does that mean impact doesn’t always have to be quantifiable and can just be human-led?

Impact has to be measurable. Impact has to be palpable. Impact isn’t impact if there isn’t a consequence. We have to apply the discipline of creativity to the new set of challenges we have. At one time in this industry, we didn't know to measure the impact of direct, and we didn’t know how to measure the impact of social. We figured it out, didn’t we? When there was just radio, we figured out how we’re going to measure the impact of TV. We figured out how to measure the impact of outdoor. I’m confident we are figuring this out as well, and we get better at it every year on year on year. But we have to be willing to understand the currency of that measurement isn’t binary. Just because you don’t have a single currency doesn’t mean it can’t be measured. Impact has to be proven, but we have to find more ways to prove [the impact] than just a dollar amount. It’s not just about ROI.

There’s often criticism of strategists in that they’re always focused on the long-term vision as opposed to the here and now. How has your role as a strategist changed over the last five years in terms of what you do day-to-day?

Here’s the thing about this business. I think it’s so exciting because we each get to have our own view on it. This is not maths or chemistry [both subjects I was sh** at much to the dismay of my parents]. This is an industry where your point of view is your most powerful point of difference, first and foremost. So, do what it takes to have a point of view that’s more interesting. That’s the first job. Your job as a strategist is also to inspire similar views in people, for and on behalf of brands, for creatives, and for work everywhere. This is it.

The second thing is, like I said, the best strategists are students of life and for life. You have to be innately curious. And the third thing: I think it was Albert Einstein who said: “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” I think it’s such an interesting way of looking at it. The best creative strategists in my opinion, are strategists in service of advancing the discourse and understanding the application of creativity. They know how to take intelligence, whether it’s from data, or research, or listening, or reading 35 pages of whatever, and take that and make it have fun. You also have to love magic a little more than you love logic. The purpose of logic is so that you can create magic. You can’t get caught up in just the logic, there’s other people for that.

One of the themes that’s coming through in your responses is you’re a proponent of reframing things, not reinventing them. Do you think that being a strategist and being able to have a bird’s eye view on things is why you have this perspective, in an industry where we’re always trying to reinvent and innovate quickly to get ahead?

Well, here’s the thing. In life and in business, you have to innovate yourself out of the problem. As a strategist, what happens is your brain is wired for pattern recognition versus isolated data points. We look at patterns: What’s happening? Where is it going? Where could it be? The other thing about strategists is that they’re just relentless problem-solvers. We love finding a solution for things; we’re obsessed with it. I think the time that we find ourselves in in this industry, those skills are super useful. You don’t really need to reinvent stuff. You can reframe, re-evaluate, recalibrate and say: ‘Ok well, this takes priority now and this doesn’t,’ and that’s what we’re here to do. You will as a consequence, reinvent what’s next. But to drop all this and say you want to go reinvent everything, that’s just incredibly short-sighted. I think the solutions are around us, and that’s what makes it very exciting.

What’s some recent work from McCann that you’re particularly proud of?

It’s so hard for me to pick one. I was so moved by what we accomplished for Microsoft on preserving the language (in reference to the ADLaM campaign created in partnership with McCann, whereby Microsoft added a West African language to its suite of products, that for most of its history, had no written alphabet). We met the brothers in Cannes, and I get goosebumps thinking about it. I was so moved by that whole experience. I wasn’t even connected to that work. I was talking to the client about it, and I just felt a sense of pride, to be part of an agency or organisation that actually makes work like that. Just that, [feeling of] ‘I come from there, that’s my home.’

Another campaign I also love is our ‘Shagun Ka Lifafa’ from our India team, that won Gold at Cannes last year and a host of awards at this year’s Spikes and AdFest.

I look at the work we’ve done with L’Oreal. Tell me another beauty brand where the spokesperson actually takes her make-up off on camera to sell make-up. That takes real courage, to make work like that. 

Finally, what's a campaign that you loved from the wider industry this year?

I really liked the work from Korea this year, on domestic violence (in reference to the Cannes Lions 2023 award-winning 'Knock Knock' campaign by The Korean National Police Agency). It's something I was personally drawn to and relate to. I've known this issue quite well. It's something that's so beautifully architected and done so well. It's clever, and it's heartfelt and meaningful and it's really, really smart work.

(This article first appeared on Campaign Asia)