You can set your watch to it. Every year, MM+M interviews around 225 people for its Agency 100 coverage. And every year, a single buzzphrase emerges from the conversational haze.
A decade ago, interviewees rhapsodized about the upcoming “shift to digital.” “Big data” was all the rage in 2015, even though the natural follow-up question (“so, what do you plan to do with all that data?”) mostly elicited confused gurgling in response.
Last year, the notion of a “pivot” — to virtual life, to digital marketing preeminence, to the “new normal” — was top-of-mind and tip-of-the-tongue for roughly 87.5% of all interviewees.
It’s become a running gag among the 20 or so people who regularly contribute to this issue’s editorial content. We envision a top-secret meeting where agency leaders outline a tight set of talking points for MM+M reporters. And hey, we appreciate the coordination.
This year’s Agency 100 interviews spanned everything from the resilience of legacy media to the untapped potential of artificial intelligence, but agency culture — and specifically, the challenge of preserving it in the era of COVID-19 — was the one topic upon which every leader weighed in.
At first, it sounds a bit touchy-feely and obvious. Of course culture matters. Individuals unified around a common goal and philosophy will mesh more naturally than a bunch of mercenaries jumping from one task to the next willy-nilly.
But that truism doesn’t take into effect the corrosive effect the pandemic has had on broader corporate culture. Medical marketing agencies were quite literally pulled apart in March 2020; that they’ve thrived at a time when their counterparts in other verticals have flailed speaks volumes about the importance of investing considerable time and money in culture-related efforts. Well, except the dreaded Zoom happy hours, anyway.
MM+M couldn’t pull together the Agency 100 without a culture that prioritizes communication, collaboration and, for lack of a more elegant way to put it, not being a jerk. We start working on this mammoth endeavor in early January and, within weeks, it’s a boulder steamrolling everything in its path on its way down the hill. That nobody gets flattened is a testament to the culture fostered by Haymarket Media leadership, as well as the willingness of MM+M’s production, commercial, marketing, web dev and editorial teams to mix it up — and then hug it out.
Consider me proud to be a member of this particular culture club.
From the June 01, 2022 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
