Grumbling about price, discounting and procurement might be back in vogue but it’s all part of the game, according to PHD global chief executive Mike Cooper. Cooper knows a thing or two about games.
A year on from launching the Source gamification platform, he told AdNews it generates some 300 ideas a day around the network, brings local insight to global campaigns and played a hand in eight Lions at Cannes this year. Meanwhile, on the back of Unilever, it helped get the GSK central comms planning business over the line.
But it’s a shame about the name. “It sounds gimmicky and that’s almost unfortunate. It suggests something trivial,” he said. But GSK didn’t think so. “It definitely helped [win the account] but I don’t want to separate out gamification too much. It trivialises it. But the participation of 1,700 people engaging with Source daily across the world is significant.”
It also means the network is 24/7, Cooper said, with London’s working day rolling into Australia’s. “It means we have switched on the power of the collective mind.”
The next phase is to turn on the global leaderboard at the front desk of every agency and the launch of the Android and iOS version so people can engage when they are on the train, “or in the pub, which is where they are often most creative”.
Inaugural yearly prizes are also about to be handed out. It won’t be long before the local offices find out if they are winners.
Cooper said Australia is “doing fantastic work” and praised the leadership of Mark Coad, noting the retention of Ferrero and the number of big pitches PHD was involved in this year. “They will be looking to convert more in 2014, but it is one of the best offices and we are very proud of the work they do.”
PHD is working out how to fully exploit the Source platform, but Cooper said the firm is hungry for more central planning business. Staffing up to handle Unilever has left it with “more than 50 planners, which is more than most”.
Cooper said that gives the network an advantage as some of the big companies recognise they can’t have everything under one roof, and split out comms planning. That said, there is always the bottom line. Competition, price and procurement are omnipresent.
“Scale is important. There is no getting away from the rise of procurement and you have to engage with procurement or they will go elsewhere. We pitch for buying assignments along with everybody else. That is what scale facilitates.”
That could mean leaner times for some, he suggested. “There’s a merger on the horizon that you might have heard about.”
This article first appeared in the 15 November 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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