Fine Tune with Corby Fine

Jeff Greenspoon thinks that the future of agencies is really in driving total customer experience. He says that this can be accomplished by bringing together the right people at the right time to solve the right problems, while being focused on the need for speed, agility and simplification. He is passionate about being client and idea first, and an agency second. This thought leadership has given Jeff a unique role in the Canadian agency landscape. Listen in as Jeff and I discuss the role of agencies in today's ever changing landscape, and how dentsu is adjusting to meet the needs of it's clients and the market as a whole.
Jeff is currently the President of the dentsu Solutions Group in the Americas and the CEO of dentsu Canada. Previous to joining dentsu, via a merge with Isobar, Jeff was co-founder and CEO of SPOKE, a leading digital creative firm based in Canada. He has managed international campaigns for clients including Nestle Nespresso, Entertainment One, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Hilton Hotels, Disney, and LEGO. He was awarded PROFIT Magazine’s Young Entrepreneur Award and has been nominated as Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. He is often called upon as a lecturer by the likes of Google, UofT, Ivey and several international business forums for his perspective on insight-led agency engagements and topics including Marketing, Advertising, Entrepreneurship and the Management of Professional Service Firms.

Helping organizations embrace emerging technologies so that they can have a better relationship with their customers, unlock growth and build their brand is the goal of Forum3. Co-founders Adam Brotman and Andy Sack know a thing or two about each of those goals, which is why they started the business in the first place, and the emerging technology of focus, Generative AI.
Adam is the former Chief Digital Officer at Starbucks, where he was responsible for building the brand’s Odyssey loyalty platform, Mobile App and led the company through its massive digital transformation. Andy is a seasoned tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist who recently spent 7+ years advising Satya Nadella on new product innovation and digital transformation. Together, they seek to connect the flywheels between new technology, brands and customer engagement.

As Adam and Andy discuss, organizations, brands and leaders have to get over their fear of new technologies like Generative AI, and just start experimenting. The trend line that's going on with this technology is so fast that brands need to start now with experimentation. They need to start thinking about how to incorporate it in their workflow, how to introduce it to their customer relationship strategy, if not directly to their customers, because if they don't start to experiment with it, Adam and Andy are confident they will be left behind.
To help with this, the two started Forum3 and their initial product Hive3, a competitive AI league where top creators compete for cash prizes and rewards from leading consumer brands. They provide a platform for AI creators to showcase their talent and compete against fellow innovators. As the two co-founders put it, "We have our own community of a couple of thousand of what we call, super prompters, providing intelligence as a service."
So listen in on how AI is going to change everything, how to best take advantage, and how to not get left behind. Oh, did I also mention they are writing a book with Harvard Press to be released soon? What can't they do?

In this episode, seasoned industry experts Kevin Krossing and Jeff Dack gather around the virtual table to dissect the ever-evolving landscape of creative agencies. Buckle up as we unravel intriguing insights, heated debates, and fresh perspectives on what lies ahead for these dynamic entities.

1. Art vs. Agency Work: The Great Debate

🎨 Artistic Boundaries: Is agency work truly an art form? We delve into the delicate balance between creativity and client briefs. When does a piece transcend mere commercial intent and become a masterpiece? Prepare for a lively exchange of ideas!

📜 The Brief Dilemma: Imagine a canvas where client requirements meet artistic expression. We explore the tension between fulfilling briefs and pushing creative boundaries. Can an agency’s work be both functional and soul-stirring?

2. Maximizing Client Budgets: The Alchemy of Value

💰 Stretching the Dollar: Kevin and Jeff spill the beans on their secret sauce for maximizing client budgets. Discover ingenious strategies that transform limited resources into impactful campaigns. Sometimes, it’s not just about doing more with less—it’s about doing better.

🔍 The Hidden Equation: Ever heard of “one plus one equals three”? Dive into the magic of synergy. A well-crafted creative product can amplify results beyond expectations. We decode the alchemy behind stretching those client dollars.

3. Navigating the Digital Frontier

🌐 Digital Disruption: The digital age has reshaped agency-client dynamics. From social media campaigns to immersive experiences, we discuss how agencies adapt to this brave new world. Buckle up for insights on data-driven creativity and the power of storytelling in pixels.

🚀 Agencies as Innovators: Beyond ads and billboards, agencies now wield tech-savvy tools. We explore AI-driven insights, virtual reality escapades, and the fusion of content and code. How do agencies stay ahead in this digital arms race?

4. The Human Element: Creatives, Clients, and Collaboration

🤝 The Dance of Collaboration: Creatives, suits, and clients—how do they tango? Our podcast unveils the delicate choreography required for successful collaborations. From brainstorming sessions to client pitches, we peek behind the curtain.

🌟 The Agency Renaissance: Amidst automation and algorithms, the human touch remains irreplaceable. We celebrate the storytellers, designers, and strategists who breathe life into brands. After all, pixels need poets too.

Join us as we unravel the Future of Agencies. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer, a curious student, or an agency aficionado, this podcast promises inspiration, laughter, and a dash of creative magic. 🎧✨
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ye7BOgwo4C0?si=GVkB6ZrfyLgPtHWb

#AgencyInsights #CreativeAlchemy #FineTunewithCorbyFine #AdvertisingAgencies

It doesn’t matter whether the drain in your kitchen sink gets clogged, the toilet backs up, or the shower stops working: any plumbing problem brings with it a state of high urgency. For most people, the first course of action is to quickly look up the contact details of their local plumber, assuming of course they can navigate the complexity of choices and options shown with every Google search. Then the question is, can you get a service provider to come and resolve your issue quickly?
As the leading North American plumbing and water cleanup service, Roto-Rooter has been a household name for many of us for decades. However, over the years it became increasingly important for Roto-Rooter to modernize their website and digital platforms so that they could continue to provide the best customer experience, both online and offline.

The company’s platform had to understand the location of the customer in relation to the nearest service technician. It has to load quickly and make it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for, otherwise they will search elsewhere.

Roto-Rooter engaged with Microsoft and Architech, a Toronto based company who are experts in software development and digital transformation to take on the project. What they built was a new cloud-based solution that not only improved the customer experience, but also boosted the site's overall SEO, cut page load speeds, and allowed Roto-Rooter to scale reliably into the future. In fact, this solution was recognized by Microsoft on the global stage, winning the Global Partner of the Year Award for open-source solutions on Azure in 2020.
Listen in as Sally Bayer, Vice-President of Marketing for Roto-Rooter, David Suydam, CEO & Founder of Architech, and Stephen Tanaka, GM Microsoft Partners, Microsoft Canada, discuss the state of digital transformation and the project that helped Roto-Rooter become even more capable of maintaining their market position as a leader in their industry.
When you are done this episode, then listen to the rest of my podcast and let me know what you think about it by subscribing to my email list. I hope you enjoy listening. If you have any ideas for other interviews or topics, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Michael Roberts, CMO of MetLife, believes in outcomes, so much so that in the organizations he has had a chance to lead as a senior marketing executive, he has changed team structures and operating models to focus on outcomes based marketing. One of his key principles, is that if you can't find a pattern of things NOT working, then it means that things are completely out control. So how do you find ways to consistently make things better, whether they were already broken or perhaps even doing quite well? Listen in as Michael shares a few personal tips from his incredibly successful career.
Michael is a senior operating executive and business leader with 18 years of experience serving financial institutions/professional services companies, leading teams of up to 150 people and product P&Ls of $1B+. Currently he is the CMO of MetLife running global brand and marketing for the organization. An operationally-focused business partner, his expertise spans strategic partnerships & M&A activities; strategy development; marketing, product management & technology; organizational re-structuring and process improvement. His exceptional communication, leadership, collaboration and relationship building skills inform all his work, as does his ability to identify/remove complexity in order to standardize/simplify.