John Zeigler: the creative suit that brought DDB Group Asia Pacific in from the cold

When John Zeigler was named Global Marketer of the Year at last year’s Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress it was the icing on the cake for the chairman & CEO of DDB Group Asia Pacific, India & Japan. As a leader Zeigler has few peers, and is credited with re-energising and driving the creative turnaround of one of the world’s leading advertising brands in the Asia-Pacific. When Campaign Brief Asia first met Zeigler it was around the Royal Cliff Hotel pool at AdFest in 2007, when DDB’s creative reputation and  performance in the region was almost solely driven by their Australian and New Zealand offices. It was a chance meeting that was to fire up the creative juices of DDB’s dynamic leader.

As chairman and CEO of DDB Group Asia Pacific, India, Japan, John Zeigler’s responsibilities span 33 agencies in 14 countries, and more than 3,200 employees. One of the most successful agency network leaders in the Asia-Pacific in recent times, under his watch, DDB Group Asia Pacific has been awarded Campaign’s Creative Network of the Year in 2010. That same year he was also named Campaign’s Agency Head of the Year. The agency network was awarded Creative Network of the Year again in 2012. To further affirm DDB Group Asia Pacific’s creative prowess, it was also crowned Spikes Asia Network of the Year in 2010 and 2011, as well as AdFest Network of the Year for 2011 and 2012.

Zeigler is proud of the fact that DDB Group Asia Pacific is a network that can really claim it’s a network: ”Our success has not only come from just one or two offices or one or two clients, but from all our offices across the region,” says Zeigler.

“We’ve always also set out to be culturally more creative and our two-year consecutive wins at both Spikes Asia and AdFest is proof of this. In fact, ten out of our 14 countries picked up Lions at last year’s Cannes Festival of Creativity.”

Zeigler is also proud of the fact that the quality and the creative standard of their work for clients has not come at the loss of their commitment to what he terms “work that works”.

Says Zeigler, who will be on the Cannes Lions Effectiveness Jury this year: ”We have always believed in effectiveness as much as creativity and to maintain this as we crafted a stronger standard of work. Just a few years back, there were at times a lot of debate about the pursuit of creativity versus effectiveness. Could we realistically claim the lead position in both? The answer is unequivocally yes. One of our offices developed a presentation around a double-headed llama – to show they would be able to achieve both – I still get stuck on that analogy – but it certainly embedded the message in everyone’s head. Our agencies in Singapore, China and Hong Kong are leaders in both creativity and effectiveness and the challenge is out for that list to get longer, quickly.”

But Zeigler admits it hasn’t always been that way. “I inherited a regional network that wasn’t really the best,” he explains. “We had a spread of offices that didn’t collaborate much and we were known as Club DDB. Unfortunately the club wasn’t a sign of team and togetherness, it was the industry’s swipe at the fact that you went to DDB to have a rest, there was not much work at all going on. So I had a lot to do: businesses that were not connecting; people that were local that did not think globally; many of our accounts were in trouble. And added to all this there was a lack of any passion for creative leadership. We were pretty much a mess.”

The challenge really came to life when Zeigler decided to personally engage in improving the work.

“I attended AdFest in 2007 – at the time the region’s leading creative awards show – and I went with a desire to start DDB’s ascent to international creative standing. Two things happened at the show that really got me going. Just after arriving I was introduced to Campaign Brief Asia’s Kim Shaw in the pool. A tanned young man living the life. When asked why I was at AdFest, I answered saying that I wanted to make DDB the leading creative network in the region. The response was a friendly laugh and smile, and a somewhat snide ‘good luck’ comment. At first, I didn’t quite understand the reaction, although it weighed on me overnight.  

“The next day, I walked the long aisles of work. Down one aisle then another. I was looking for a great DDB ad, and there was not one piece of work. Not even a bad one. Kim’s response to my grandiose statement made absolute sense and was actually the impetus to turning this disastrous situation on its head.”

Zeigler had a lot of issues to address across all offices and while DDB was working hard to build a stronger business base, he also knew that the good people in the industry, and certainly all the great ones, really wanted to work at a place that valued and pursued creative excellence.

“Building a business that was average has never been something I was interested in. Number two is only first last in my book unless it’s on your way to number one,” said Ziegler. “While working in New York and across Europe – trying to build a small start-up digital agency called Tribal DDB – I had the privilege of working with one of the most talented creatives in DDB, if not the world, Keith Reinhard. I knew first hand how rewarding and motivating it was to produce, not just good, but great work and I believed it was my responsibility to give each of our people the opportunity as well. I think my experience as an ex-client also helped. Clients never choose an agency network on reputation. Clients look for business results – and they know which agencies do work that works. In our industry, success at award shows and creative rankings is key to a thriving business and vibrant agency.”

So the day after AdFest Ziegler looked at every office in the network and set down a clear goal and direction for each office based on what he thought would make a difference and then he rang all his CEOs and told them that as a network, DDB will never be in that situation again.

“Scarily, a couple of the agency heads responded the same way as Kim,” says Zeigler. “Nonetheless, I convinced all my management to devise an aggressive plan – a plan that varied by office and by situation – that would give us the creative standing that I was seeking for the entire network.”

Merlee Jayme, chairman and chief creative officer at DDB-DM9 JaymeSyfu, remembers that phone call well: “I’ve been with DDB and John since eight years ago. It has been a one-way road going nowhere but up. We have been pushed, motivated and challenged every single year. And it started to work, our offices started moving up leading in their own countries. Then, quite unexpectedly, our humble little shop becomes the Philippines’ hottest agency and now, the Creative Agency of the Year. It’s been truly amazing how DDB has transformed from nothing to Network of the Year in all the regional shows. I am witness to this road to success and I salute John for his relentless push to excel creatively.”

Along with the individual plans, regionally DDB did two things: They developed a creative review panel called Rising Tide with the aim of getting a basic look at the work. And they also introduced Scorecard, a tool to enable them to compare and set goals for CEOs and business managers.

“It’s amazing what happens when people have to show their work and discuss it with their peers,” explained Zeigler. “Eventually the work started to lift and Scorecard included a strong creative focus formalising the agency’s commitment to the common vision.

“However, I believe the real turning point was establishing a Regional Creative Council, which involved a panel of our leading creatives from across the region. Called ‘bullseye’, the name came from the black and yellow circle, which has become synonymous with the DDB logo – hit the bullseye and we get to the heart of our creativity. Miss it and you get bull****. Bullseye is a forum where together we review and finesse the work. It’s about celebrating the good work and also evolving and improving on work that our ECDs have been working on. There’s a level of respect and trust at our bullseye sessions that I am really quite proud of. We are connecting talent at an equal collaborative level, no need for management control, it happens seamlessly and as a shared partnership.

“You only need look at our results over the past three years to see the impact that bullseye has had on our creative product – both Spikes Asia Network of the Year and AdFest Network of the Year for two consecutive years. At Cannes, we are also the most awarded region in the DDB global network – and that says a lot in itself.

“It’s absolutely important we excel creatively,” said Zeigler. “We must at the very l
east equal our worldwide creative standard. In fact, the goals I have set for the region is to lead the world, not follow it. We did the best ever at Cannes last year, but there’s always room to improve,” he said.

“Clients also want the best agencies working on their brands. In the world we live in, creativity is the only way a company will be able to build its competitive advantage. There’s no such thing as a USP anymore. The strength of the brand is its only differentiator and is crucial to its success and survival. Many clients see awards as very agency-centric and they don’t mean very much to them. But I’m glad to see more and more smart clients are starting to realise the power of creativity and how it can improve their business – after all that’s what really matters. Brands are aggressively securing the best talent to work on their business and in this regard the best agencies are those who have the strongest reputation. At a recent event, I was talking to a major multinational client. We had just received some awards on the back of work we had done for him. I thanked him and told him I was appreciative of his business. He actually turned and said to me, ‘we should be thanking you as the importance of using the best agency for our business is key to their success.’ We like smart clients.”

DDB’s current strong creative reputation paid off in a number of ways, according to Zeigler: “From a talent point of view it has helped immensely. Since that time in the pool at AdFest, we are now in a position to attract and retain the best talent. It’s amazing how many CVs you receive after you win a creative agency of the year award. Of course, having the right people, also means we can grow our core competencies, we grow our service offering and we win new business. I don’t think there has been any other network that has achieved our consistent growth over the last seven or so years. We have sat at top three of R3 new business league for several years and we have built a network that has reasonable margins. Not as much as I would like, but enough to ensure that we can continue to have the best people working for us.”

Zeigler believes DDB now has real differences and real assets in each office and this has been their strength as a network.

He says DDB Group Melbourne has picked up speed with the appointment of Darren Spiller as ECD a couple of years back. The Devondale work has been voted by many as the favourite amongst Australians. And under Dylan Harrison, Sydney has hit its straps with some great work for VW, Telstra and McDonald’s.

DDB-DM9 Jayme Syfu was ranked #1 agency in the Philippines within four years of being established, and is currently Agency of the Year having picked up Grand Prix awards in Cannes and Spikes. “Merlee Jayme’s TXTBKS campaign from Smart Communications was one of the most celebrated campaigns of last year,” says Zeigler. “It speaks to the heart of what DDB is all about, creating work that speaks to ‘creativity & humanity’ and is truly inspirational in its approach to putting our talent towards good.”

DDB Group Hong Kong continues to raise the bar both creatively and from a business sense according to Zeigler: “They are now no.1 in every HK award show that counts and at Marketing’s Agency of the Year Awards 2012 we were named Creative Agency of the Year. Can you believe, they never even entered awards four years ago? Some of the work they are doing for McDonald’s is stunning.”

DDB is the most awarded agency in Singapore and has been for the past three years. Says Zeigler: “I think our ECD Joji Jacob has won every ‘creative of the year’ award going in Singapore. The work the team is doing is truly innovative and stretches across multiple disciplines – as its award winning StarHub work demonstrated.

“In fact, our Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney offices are featured in DDB’s top 10 creative agencies globally and I expect this to grow to 60% within the next year. Not bad for a region that – apart fom Australia and New Zealand – didn’t have a single good ad six years ago.”

Zeigler says in China and India DDB are very strong and their work is best-in-class, however he believes there is still a lot of room for growth and he has challenged both markets to push their product and service offering further.

“In China, as a Group, we lead the integration arena. In Shanghai, we’ve made major changes to management and our Beijing office is thriving. Jimmy Lam will play a big role in inspiring our young talent in China. In India, we are working to secure more global brands to add to our significant local business strength. DDB Mudra Group has doubled the size of DDB Asia Pacific, from 21 offices to 32, and now close to 4,000 people – this doesn’t include the 12,000 client activation people who also work for us.”

Currently Zeigler is working hard to lift their work in the offices that are not yet top three in their markets. This is a priority as DDB have set a goal to be best-in-class in every market, not just the key ones. They are also shifting the focus in some markets like Shanghai to reflect creative leadership in the digital domain.

“China is the most digitally centric market in the world – not just because of the population’s access to mobile or online nor because of its digital platforms – but because it’s the only market where client success will be impacted on the back of social networks, or as we call it, ‘social creativity’. In simple terms, the brand communications needs to rely on earned media as opposed to paid media. That’s because most, if not virtually all clients, will find it impossible to fund mass advertising in China’s major markets. DDB is best placed to lead this area. This is why Tim Cheng, with a solid digital background, was appointed ECD of DDB Group Shanghai in 2013.

“We recently moved Andy Fackrell from DDB New Zealand into a regional role that gets him working on strategic projects that will allow him to build virtual creative teams. It’s not a classic regional creative director role as our Regional Creative Council plays this function. We’re looking at new areas of creativity and innovation which I am hoping will change the classic client/agency model and Andy is working with me on this.

“On a final note I’d like to say how exciting this industry is about to become, I once thought that I would never tell my kids to get into advertising and branding, yet now I see a revolution occuring and it is super exciting and full of opportunities to re-invent, add value and every day create. We’re lucky to be in this business at this time.

“For the creative folk among us – in fact all of us that work in advertising – believe in yourself and your vision of what is possible. Find a company that appreciates your talent and never ever forget, it only takes one ad to change the world. Will that ad be yours?”