An occasional column. Simon Hadfield In Conversation.
This times it is Matt Eastwood, former Vice Chairman/National Creative Director of DDB Australia/CCO NYC, WW CCO J. Walter Thompson, WW CCO McCann Health, and now Founder of Gestalt Haus.
It’s been circa 13 years since leaving Australia and DDB, what have you been up to?
I first came to New York to take on the CCO role at DDB. We had some amazing success. And, after 2 years, Creativity magazine named us their Agency to Watch. The opening line of their story will always be a career highlight, “A new creative hot shop came onto the scene in 2012, even though it’s been around for 64 years.” A couple of years later I moved to J. Walter Thompson as the Worldwide Chief Creative Officer. It was one of those moves that had some people scratching their heads. But after a couple of years, we moved from the 15th most awarded network in the Gunn Report to 7th. It was a huge learning curve for me, overseeing more than 4,000 creatives globally, but it made me incredibly proud to be re-invigorating the world’s oldest ad agency. Cut to 2018 and I had just turned 50 and was looking for a new, and perhaps more meaningful, challenge. I decided to jump into the world of healthcare and took on the Global CCO role at McCann Health. My mantra for the agency was simple. Every day, find a way to leave the world healthier than you found it. And it seemed to work. When I left in 2022, the Network was the most awarded healthcare network in the world and the New York office was the most awarded healthcare agency in the world. We’d won Grand Prix’s at Cannes, and every other trophy imaginable. Then came the sad news that following the merger of McCann Health and FCB Health to form IPG Health, there would no longer be a role for a Global Chief Creative Officer (a huge mistake, but that’s another story!). So, I decided it was time to pivot again and follow a different passion.
Tell me more about your new venture, Gestalt Haus.
Early in 2022, I decided to take a sabbatical from advertising to launch Gestalt Haus, a new homewares company under the Gestalt New York umbrella, a company that my husband had founded 5 years earlier. We went live in December last year. And, every day, it’s been a true labor of love; learning how to build an e-commerce website, sourcing beautiful products from around the world and even teaching myself how to understand the basics of accounting. Interior design and architecture have been a lifelong passion for me. I’ve designed several homes that have been featured in magazines like Inside Out and Belle, so it was exciting to make this passion a bigger part of my life. The tagline of Gestalt Haus is “Stylishly curated homewares for the design devotee.”
Do you have any observations on the advertising industry?
There aren’t enough creative people running agencies. We desperately need more Ogilvy’s, Hegarty’s and Weiden’s. So many of today’s agency leaders have forgotten the importance of creativity and just focus on the business of business. It’s depressing. Secondly, in my mind, healthcare is the new frontier for creativity in marketing. In healthcare, creativity changes lives. To me, that is so much more purposeful than selling watches or burgers.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I have two pieces of advice that I’ve followed religiously throughout my career. Work hard and be nice to people. And passion trumps talent. Obviously, there’s a theme that runs through both - hard work and passion. I truly believe that nothing happens by accident. So, I would say, be decisive in your choices and commit to them with everything you have.
Outside of business, what keeps you out of trouble?
At the beginning of the pandemic, my husband and I relocated to our vacation home in Hudson, about 2 ½ hours north of New York. And we now live here full time. It’s helped me unlock a whole series of new experiences. We cook a lot more. Because we live on a lake, we go boating every day in Summer. Nothing beats a glass of Rosé out on the water at the end of a long day. And I’ve taken up photography more seriously. Even doing some classes to help me learn the finer points of studio lighting.
Any big regrets over the years?
Perhaps only that it took a global pandemic for many of us to understand what was most important in our lives. And I know it wasn’t just me. So many people had personal epiphanies and ultimately decided to focus on what truly bought them happiness.
What are you driving, what are you listening to and what are you watching?
I’ve been driving Audi’s for about 10 years. At the moment, I’m driving a black Audi Q8. I have two favorite new podcasts “Inside the Hits” and “Ask Ronna (and Bryan)”. “Inside the Hits” dissects classic pop songs from the past 50 years and tells the story of their creative process - how the song was written, produced, and recorded. And “Ask Ronna” is hosted by an actress playing a middle-aged Jewish woman from Boston who answers reader questions about life and love. They are both perfect for the commute from our lakeside home to the nearest town half an hour away. On television we’ve been watching Tim Burton’s “Wednesday” and, of course, we’re completely addicted to “The White Lotus” and can’t believe we won’t see Jennifer Coolidge in the next series.
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