It took six months, but from what we gather from the memo just sent to us below, Carter Murray has finally assumed the CEO post at Draftfcb Worldwide. Murray was announced as global CEO of the IPG-owned network back in March, taking over for Laurence Boschetto. Previously, Murray served as Y&R North America president/CEO. Anyhow, you can read Murray’s seemingly heartfelt intro to staff at DFCB. Guess you can call it a rallying cry of sorts for an agency that has retained its Kmart business and picked up ad duties for Aramark in the past month. Read on.
“If you are reading this, you are one of the 8,000-plus Draftfcb team that gets up every morning and goes to work to try to make a difference for your clients and this agency.
Today is my first day on the job as the new CEO. To say I am thrilled to finally be here, and cannot wait to get started, would be an understatement.
AdvertisementI thought in this first note I would share some thoughts on what I believe I need to do to help our clients and all of us move forward, including some specifics on what you will see from me over the coming months. I apologize for its length, but after a six-month wait I thought I owed you a detailed first note.
I need to make sure that the most talented people in our industry work at or want to work at Draftfcb, and do all I can to make sure that most of us – most mornings – love coming to work.
That means making sure everyone works in an environment where we feel we learn every day about our craft because we are surrounded by colleagues and clients that are as good as, if not better than, we are.
I need to make sure our clients trust and value us above anyone else because their businesses are thriving due – at least in part – to the great advice and creativity we give them every day.
Most clients have incredibly talented businesspeople, product developers and sales forces. What they come to us for are smart, creative solutions for their brands and businesses – solutions they can only get from agencies with strong creative cultures that know how to invent and bring to life great ideas and campaigns that move the dial.
To do this requires more than just great creative talent. It requires every one of us in every discipline to foster a strong creative curiosity and spirit. And it requires real partnership amongst all of us – from creative and planners to production staff, technologists and account people.
Part of the promise of the Draftfcb combination has always been to take that creativity and correlate it to having real impact on our clients’ business results in a measurable way. It is something we have succeeded in doing in some places but not in others, and something we must find a way to do more consistently in the future.
In the coming weeks and months you will see some of the following actions that I hope you would expect from me as your CEO.
I will be spending time with our largest clients, listening to what they value in their relationships with us and what they do not. And acting upon it with our teams.
I will be on the road a lot, visiting many of our key offices, talking with as many of you as possible to better understand when we are great and what makes us so – and when we are not, why not and how can we fix it.
I will be bringing together some of our leaders from around the world to review what we stand for today, our identity and branding, and decide how we want to move forward as a company.
I will be trying to build a much stronger new business culture here, because whilst our clients always come first, the cliché that “new business is the lifeblood of an agency” is true, and we must grow to be successful.
I will be fighting for better creative work every day. Because however good our work is, we must strive for better in order to win in this very competitive environment.
But I also want to recognize up front those who are already out there every day fighting for our clients and this agency. It’s the teams on the frontlines, dealing with clients’ needs, handling the highs and lows, the unexpected crises, being invaluable partners, caring passionately about the work that goes out the door, often on tight budgets, who will help make our network excel.
It’s the creative director, the account manager and the planner that fight to get to a better, more creative, more effective product who make the difference. It’s the person sitting at the front desk, greeting us all with a smile in the morning, making clients feel welcome the second they enter the building, who makes a difference. It’s the office manager and administrative professionals who make every detail of the place feel taken care of so we can work in a great environment where clients feel we have every “i” dotted and “t” crossed.
Every member of our global leadership team, including myself, needs to contribute and deliver as you do every day in order to earn our positions and your respect.
The coming weeks and months seem to already have every minute booked for me, but thanks to the miracle of email I am available to each and every one of you for feedback, help and advice.
Please take me up on it. If there is something that you think I can do better, please contact me. If there is something you feel we as a company can do better and you have a creative solution for how to tackle it, please reach out to me. If interested, you can also follow my progress and journey on my Instagram handle: cartermurray7
Finally, I would like to thank everyone in the company for your hard work and commitment during this prolonged transition. I hope I get to thank many of you personally very soon as I hit the road.
Carter”