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Photo: John Hryniuk |
If laughter truly is the best medicine, Lauren Richards can expect to live a long, healthy life. It’s not just that she laughs frequently—though she does—but that she laughs so heartily. It is an infectious, exuberant laugh: not a dainty tee-hee, but a rollicking guffaw. Based on the 14 different “laugh sounds” identified by Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University, it best fits the description “long duration, song-like.”
Richards has ample reason to be cheerful these days. Starcom MediaVest Group Canada, where she has been CEO since 2006, is garnering acclaim for a spate of daring and innovative work, and global CEO Laura Desmond says it has emerged as one of the jewels in the international network. It was recently named Media Innovation Agency of 2008 at The Internationalist magazine’s inaugural Awards for Innovation in Media after nabbing an industry-leading four awards—including a Grand Prix—for diverse work with clients Diageo Canada, ConAgra Foods and Kraft (see below).
Richards, too, is on something of a personal roll. In February, she was named to the Media Lions jury at Cannes for the second time (she was the first in a series of Canadians to sit on the Media Lions jury, in 2000) and late last year was tapped to lead SMG’s global product review committee, with SMG UK’s chief strategy officer Richard Hartnell as her co-chair. The two will determine all of SMG’s entries in global competitions such as Cannes and the new Festival of Media Awards.
The global roles are reflective of Richards’ long-held belief in the importance of media creativity, something she has espoused throughout a three-decade career that has its roots in a routine high-school field trip to Hayhurst Advertising in Toronto.
“I was hooked after that,” Richards recalls. “It was very shallow and Hollywood and glitzy, but I thought ‘This looks like fun.’”
But media is also a serious business with serious budgets; beneath her cheerful exterior, Richards has earned a reputation as a driven, ambitious leader. She’s not big on compromise (“It’s hard for me,” she says) and Desmond says her willingness to fight hard for an idea she believes in—whether her own or somebody else’s—is one of her greatest traits.
Richards ascribes such doggedness to growing up in a “hugely competitive family,” in which she was not only the youngest of three siblings, but also the only girl (one brother is a broker, while the other works in the food-service business). Her mother was an office manager. Her father, who died of pancreatic cancer while only in his mid-50s, worked in financial services—his former office mere steps away from Richards’ at the intersection of Bloor and Church streets in Toronto.
Richards’ 10th floor office fits the standard CEO mold. A corner shelf bears the usual “library” of business books, bearing titles like The One to One Future and What Sticks. On a shelf below sits a stack of entries for the Young Lions Media Competition bearing handwritten notes (“target too broad,” “fairly good”).
One wall bears a frame filled with pictures of variousfamily trips, accompanied by a series of framed magazine covers, including a Jan. 1, 1990 Time honouring Mikhail Gorbachev as Man of the Decade, Equinox and Chatelaine. The titles have no particular relevance, says Richards, although she does admit to being a “voracious” magazine reader—citing Style at Home, Canadian House & Home and Toronto Life among her favourites.
Now 47, Richards has become something of a beacon and mentor for young people entering the marketing profession. Adrian Eaves, who worked alongside her at Cossette’s Toronto office, and who now works as a consultant in Vancouver, describes her as a “totally unselfish teacher of her people—more than anyone else I know in the business. And they love and respect her for it.
“Unlike many teachers though, Lauren is also a very good learner,” he adds, “never assuming she knows more about someone else’s job, and always looking to learn and contribute more in a wider context.”
(Richards had mirrored those comments in conversation almost a month earlier: “There’s no leader that has everything; you have to make sure you complement yourself well, and where you’re weak you shore that up, and help people where they need your strengths.”)
Peter Beresford, now “semi-retired” after an illustrious 31-year career with McDonald’s that saw him serve as executive vice-president and chief marketing officer for Canada as well as head up the fast-food giant’s Japanese, UK and European operations, praises Richards as a “true leader,” and a “very strong strategic thinker” who “thinks beyond media.”
And Starcom’s Desmond describes her as “a transformer,” “an innovator” and “a passionate leader for creative media thinking.”
Canada had been somewhat “isolated” within SMG’s global network, Desmond explains, but has blossomed under Richards’ stewardship. She has revamped the agency’s senior management team with several key hires, including former OMD Canada managing director Anne Myers as her second in command, overseeing research and digital; Alex Panousis in charge of new business and the Kellogg’s/Nintendo accounts; Christine Saunders as VP and lead on its P&G business, and VP group media director Anna Wells on the Kraft business.
Hiring Myers was “a stroke of genius,” says Desmond, since her talents are complementary to Richards’, while Panousis brings a “strategic, innovative approach” to client business. “[Richards] has done a fabulous job of recruiting strong talent into the agency and putting existing talent in the right roles,” says Desmond. “She’s just done a wonderful job of bringing in top talent with complementary skills to what she does best.
“Lots of people can just hire talent, but if they don’t put them in the right role and then orchestrate them as a team, they end up being silo operators. What she’s been able to do is find the right people and match them to the right role, but really orchestrate them so they’re a high-functioning group that really trusts each other.”
With the new team in place, SMG has also rejuvenated its creative product. “There are lots of people who talk about [media creativity], but are unable to get teams or clients to follow,” says Desmond. “[Richards] is able to do both.”
Richards even had a hand in redesigning the SMG office, providing input on everything from paint colours to knocking down walls to create a more open work environment. “What I appreciate about her approach is it wasn’t just about changing one thing, it was about transforming a culture, an environment and connecting it globally to our network,” says Desmond. “Some people can look at a big job to be done and say ‘I’m just going to change one or two things.’ She tackled the whole company and looked at it in terms of the key variables you have to have to turn a company from good to great.
“She really dived in and said ‘We’re going to make a transformation.’ ”
For her part, Richards says SMG has exceeded the objectives she laid out in a two-year plan developed when she first joined the agency. Among the objectives: producing results-driven, award-winning media work, bolstering research initiatives (particularly proprietary Canadian research), increasing the agency’s financial performance and developing “close” senior level client relationships. While there have been some new business wins since her arrival—most notably Kellogg’s and Moosehead and, most recently, smaller accounts like White Wave and Purity Life—Richards says she wanted to ensure the SMG operation was structurally sound before chasing new business.
“We weren’t going to aggressively seek new business until we made sure everything else was where it should be,” says Richards. “This is the year I really hope we can drive new business: we’re ready for it, we’re going to be hungry for it, we’re going to be aggressively seeking it. We’re going to be doing everything we can to prove our capabilities and [prove] we’re a media agency clients want to work with.”
In some ways, Richards’ stint with SMG—the media services arm of Leo Burnett—has come full circle. She began her career as a self-described “media assistant/secretary” with Leo before joining Vickers & Benson, where she handled planning for the likes of the Ontario Jockey Club and McDonald’s—a client that would become a career touchstone (“I had ketchup in my veins” she says of her former agency Cossette’s longstanding relationship with the company).
It was during a stint at the now-defunct Norman, Craig and Kummell that Richards met Linda Wilson, who would have an enormous impact on her professional development. Richards followed Wilson to Young & Rubicam and then Cossette’s small Toronto start-up—which is where her career really took off. When Wilson reconnected with her high-school sweetheart and decided to return home to Kincardine, Ont., Richards—seven months pregnant at the time with her first daughter Erin (who is now working at SMG’s Australian office)—found herself promoted to media director, much to her “shock and awe.”
“I was completely thrilled and taken aback, but I gave it my all,” she says.
It was with Cossette that Richards truly began to nurture her talent for media innovation. She hired current Cossette Media senior VP, media director Cathy Collier (“one of the best decisions I’ve made,” she says) and, along with Cindy Drawn (now Cossette’s VP, media buying director), the trio set about making the emerging shop virtually synonymous with media creativity. “I honestly think we were doing creative and innovative work long before it started becoming popular,” says Richards. “Really trying to take it to another level beyond effective and efficient planning and buying.”
Beresford cites the 1991 launch of McDonald’s pizza as a perfect example of Richards’ creative and strategic thinking. After he tasked Cossette with creating “the highest possible” awareness of the new brand by its second day on the market, Richards came up with the strategy to buy a two-minute commercial block on every TV channel in Canada at 9 p.m. the day the product launched. Audiences were driven to the spot—which showed how McDonald’s got into the pizza business—by what Beresford describes as a “massive” wave of 15-second spots in the days before. The teasers told Canadians to watch TV at 9 p.m. that day for a “huge” announcement.
“You got to the point where you thought ‘I have to see what the heck they’re talking about on Monday night,’ ” says Beresford. “It was absolutely brilliant.” Even better, research showed 96% of Canadians were aware McDonald’s was in the pizza game by its second day on the market.
For Richards, such ventures encompass both her well-documented passion for media creativity and the art of negotiating. “That’s one of the great things about media innovation: if it’s never been done before, not only is it really interesting for everybody—and especially the consumer because they’re surprised and ideally delighted by what you’re doing—but the other huge advantage is there’s no pricing on the initiative. It’s pure negotiation.”
Without Richards, Cossette’s Toronto office—in fact the agency’s entire English Canadian operation—would “not have done anywhere near as well as we did,” Eaves says. “Ask most media people… who in the mid-80s to mid-90s they most respected, feared and wished they had working for them, and Lauren’s name would be front and centre,” he says.
The agency would go on to become one of the leading creative media shops in the country, winning a slew of industry awards—including several best in show awards at the Media Innovation Awards (a program Richards helped develop)—for clients including Nike and B.C. Hydro.
Richards’ natural exuberance is tempered only when talking about her abrupt departure from Cossette in 2005. She’s reticent when asked to provide details, saying only that she was “no longer aligned [with the company’s vision] and I really needed to carry on as passionately and fervently,” she says. “I need to be a huge believer to be really able to thrive.”
Cossette Media president Pierre Delagrave likens Richards’ time with the agency to a long marriage. “When you’re married for 17 years, it’s a long time,” he says. “She had given a lot to us throughout those years, and it’s normal for people to think about a different role… or new challenges.” She built a great team and “invested all of the energy possible” to ensure client satisfaction, he adds. “She should be proud of the time [with the agency].”
After leaving Cossette, there followed a “fantastic” year off—spent travelling across California and Europe with her husband Gord and their two daughters Erin, 22, and Andrea, 18—while she pondered her next career move. She considered launching her own agency, but realized the type of work she wanted to do required clients with large marketing budgets. “Innovation and creativity, and the work you can do in that regard, is with the big boys,” she says. “It’s not about local retail. You need to have access to the big brands and sophisticated marketers. I thought trying to pull that off myself would be a pretty daunting task.”
True to her ambitious nature though, Richards admits to being “disappointed” in herself for not following her dream. “You shouldn’t let fear keep you from doing something,” she says. “I should have had more courage of conviction, but when you have a family and you have commitments, it’s a big step to take.”
Yet Richards seems to have found a home at SMG, becoming one of the most visible leaders of the next generation of media agency presidents. “I couldn’t think of anybody else better positioned and better able to lead us into this new frontier,” says Desmond. “I knew she would be a great success.”
The Work
Starcom Mediavest Group was recently named Media Innovation Agency of 2008 at the Internationalist magazine’s recent Awards for Innovation in Media. A sampling of the agency’s recent work:
Tassimo
SMG partnered with Style at Home magazine on this ad promoting Tassimo’s single-serve coffee brewer. The execution was comprised of a full-page ad for Tassimo adjacent to an editorial page featuring a stylish kitchen. The ad also featured a clear plastic overlay with a small image of the Tassimo product that, when laid over the editorial page, created the impression the product was on the kitchen counter. The accompanying text read “All this kitchen needs is a countertop café.” This ad was a winner at the recent Internationalist Awards for Innovation in Media. SMG’s global CEO, Laura Desmond, describes it as “nifty and cool.”
Pogo
Another winner at the Internationalist Awards for Innovation in Media, SMG’s “Be proud of your wiener” campaign for ConAgra’s Pogo brand targeted teen boys. Campaign elements saw the Pogo icon plastered on street signs, as well as chalk art and T-shirts in areas where teen boys congregated. The campaign continued with seven- and eight-second ads flashed on youth-oriented TV channels including MusiquePlus and Vrak, culminating with a Mega-Pogothon in which teen boys competed to see who could hold their pogo highest the longest. After the campaign, unaided awareness of the Pogo brand increased 22% in the corn dog category and 300% in the frozen food category.
Swiffer
Again blurring the line between advertising/editorial content, SMG arranged for P&G’s Swiffer cleaning product to be incorporated into editorial pages of Canadian House & Home. The execution utilized the magazine’s popular “Makeover of the month” feature—in this case devoted to a laundry room—to showcase the Swiffer’s capabilities. A full-page picture in the editorial environment featured muddy footprints leading into the room. When readers turn the page, they encounter an exact replica of the previous page, except the floor is now clean and a Swiffer is shown leaning against the countertop. The accompanying text reads “Swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning.”
