Trust in the creative department: Matt Chandler
In his last week at DDB Sydney before moving to London, Senior Writer Jeff Galbraith is quizzed by Deputy-ECD Matt Chandler about the importance of trust between Creative and Creative Director.
MC: We’ve worked together for six years, so I guess there’s a bit of trust between us. I hope, at least.
JG: We’ve definitely built a level of trust over our six years (six!) working together. And for creatives to do their best work and feel confident in presenting ideas that are wonderfully strange and unusual, it’s absolutely critical that they trust their creative director. But I’d probably stop short in saying there’s a tacit bond of trust in every creative-CD relationship. Though it is certainly the foundation of any successful one.
MC: You need a sense of trust in a creative director’s tastes and opinions though, right?
JG: It definitely helps. Some of the ads that I’m proudest of are ones that we nearly didn’t present but great creative directors saw something they loved in them. On the flip side, there were ads that I thought deserved a new category of super lion that my creative directors patiently reasoned would surely spur the financial collapse of our client if they ever saw the light of day. It’s really in the times where you disagree that you truly know how much you trust your leaders.
I don’t believe you can collaborate or self-improve, if you can’t accept that sometimes your ideas are wrong or that there could be a better way on the table.
How do creative teams gain your trust? And lose it?
MC: Trust is built in difficulty, rather than in glory. So, it’s really the people you know will come through when you need it most. And that’s really proven on the hard briefs or the last-minute, panic briefs, rather than the big, sexy ones. Resilience too; knowing when you put a team on a brief, whether it takes two weeks or two months to crack, the creatives won’t run out of steam – they’ll keep coming back at you. As for losing trust. It’s probably the feeling that you’re not in it together – that the people you’re working with don’t care enough. You feel it in the work. That can be pretty alienating. But then again, it’s my job to keep people engaged and into it.
JG: Consistency and perseverance aren’t things you’re necessarily taught in ad school but they’re two of the biggest indicators of success in advertising.
The more that I think about it, being trustworthy is one of the most essential qualities for a creative that wants to step up into a leadership role.
CD’s have to be able to cultivate trusting relationships with clients, account teams, producers, strategists, production companies and more. Not that creatives don’t but they do tend to get sheltered from many of the situations that can really test the strength of a bond.
MC: And what makes you distrust a CD?
JG: Look it’s tricky because even though you’re at different levels, you’ve got to approach the relationship like a marriage. It works best when both parties put their own interests second. I think that if you look out for your creative directors and do everything you can to set them up for fame and fortune, they tend to do the same for you. Of course, it doesn’t work if the effort and respect only go one way. We’ve all worked in agencies where we’ve seen teams that were slavishly dedicated to putting the best work possible in front of their creative directors but no matter what they put forward, the CD’s were always going to sell their own idea. It’s the biggest morale killer there is. There will always be times when CD’s need to step in and jump on the tools but if they’re saving the day more times than not, they’re failing as creative directors and will lose the trust of their teams.
Do you find it hard to keep the trust between different groups with different goals – suits, planners, clients, producers etc?
MC: You’re all trying to make the best work possible, so if you keep it straight up and honest, no one should doubt your intentions, even if they don’t agree with your decisions. That’s probably an overly simplistic answer but it’s one way to avoid trust breaking down. Which can happen pretty easily.
JG: True, but advertising is a fast moving and demanding industry. Most of us have had moments where we’ve felt like we’ve let a colleague down. People are typically pretty forgiving when they see genuine remorse and a will to make things right.
MC: Unless you resign and move to another country, Jeff. Then it’s gone for good.
JG: Yes. True.
