Culture, often touted as a special sauce for agencies, is the fuel driving growth and helping dentsu’s iProspect cut staff churn and win critical accounts.
The agency has been recognised for the second year running on AFR’s Best Places to Work ranking for media and marketing companies and while the recognition is important, it’s how the culture drives success more broadly that’s important to its leadership team.
National managing director Marcelle Hoyek said it is a testament to the ongoing work by the team at iProspect.
“Culture is incredibly important to the overall success of iProspect, we are an engaged team who love coming to work and pushing to do better work than the day before,” she told AdNews.
“Our vision for iProspect is underpinned by our culture, it is the fuel that has accelerated our growth and that of our clients.”
The recognition comes after a strong year for iProspect, with the agency winning gold at the Campaign Agency Awards for Workplace Culture and picking up new clients including eBAY and MYOB.
iProspect believes that its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and initiatives, such as the Level Up committee, Mentor Up program, Learning Academy and Careers Day, have driven the agency’s recent success
Chief strategy officer Nick Kavanagh has highlighted the direct link between healthy agency culture, employee retention, and strong client relationships
“It’s no coincidence that the success we've experienced as an agency in the last 18 months has been a consequence of this work that we’re doing on culture,” he said.
“Strong culture means our people stay with us and see a career and a future at iProspect and the work we do for clients is better.”
Melbourne general manager Ken Lam said four core values that define the agency’s culture: We dream loud, we make it real, we all lead and force for good.
“We are the force for good and one of the ways that comes to life is through our contribution to charities,” he said.
“We’ve got dedicated days at iProspect called ‘one day for change’, where the whole team across both markets spend a day and contribute our time to support a charity or things we really believe in.”
Kavanagh said happy employees do better work and that is what wins new business.
“What really struck me about coming into this organisation was that there was just a thirst for collaboration,” he said.
“I think through the greater level of collaboration, the work that we produce for clients just gets better and better and better.
“That’s one of the key benefits from my perspective as CSO and being really responsible for the output. I see a much greater level of integration and collaboration on clients' work than I have at other agencies.”
Hoyek said it has been important to balance maintaining iProspect’s culture with the demands of scaling the agency.
“Proactivity is really important in that, as well as planning ahead and constantly looking at different scenarios,” she said.
“For the year, we look at things we need to plan for for our people. Because we’re having these conversations about career development and growth all the time, we’re pretty clear on people’s ambitions and whether we need to factor in a new role for someone to move into or move someone off their patch because they need a change.
“Those types of things we’re looking at proactively so we’re able to protect the culture as we grow because you've got the opportunity to pull the right levers.
“We always want to do better, and I don't think culture’s ever done. It's something that you want to keep working on, keep fostering, keep improving.”
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