Accenture Interactive's Plan to Take on the Next Digital Era

Accenture Interactive promoted its European president just over a year ago, and other than his first day, he's spent almost all his time in the role working through lockdown. While the top leadership role might be new for Massimo "Max" Morielli, it comes after two-and-a-half decades at the consultancy—and as Accenture Interactive is making big global moves to expand how it approaches digital experiences for clients. As he prepared to take a recent week off in his homeland of Italy, Morielli spoke to Adweek about his lengthy career with Accenture, the work his team has accomplished amid the pandemic and the changing nature of digital marketing. Morielli lives in the Italian region of Liguria, and despite not being a native English speaker, he's clearly an extrovert who talks passionately about the work taking place within Accenture Interactive and where he sees opportunities for client growth. Morielli's career path to president Over his working life, Morielli has been a ski instructor and had his own band, all on his way to joining the company where he would remain throughout his professional career. Morielli has been with Accenture since 1994 when he was in his 20s. He describes the business of that era as “a very different beast,” and he rose through the ranks to become a managing director by 2005. When he became a partner, he started asking what the value of advertising media services was within the business. His idea at the time was that it could be “streamlined” to buy and sell with transparency. He recalls being told to “shut up” and that he lacked an understanding of the “calling and selling” nature of media at the time. “That is the old world,” he says now. We’re defining a new category through experience.—Massimo Morielli, president, Accenture Interactive Europe But Morielli stuck to his principles and continued to advance, finally becoming the company's European president. His moment of initial excitement, unfortunately, wouldn't last long. Almost overnight, the Covid-19 outbreak became a pandemic necessitating office closures around the world. “On March 1, 2020, they phoned me and told me I had the job," he said. "I thought ‘Great! Wow!’ On March 2 they closed down the office.” Taking over from strong-willed European boss Anatoly Roytman, Morielli was restricted to working with his team digitally. Throughout that time, he endeavored to meet and spend time one-on-one with as many of his team members as possible, taking time to have coffees with individuals to get to know each of them as people. Accenture Interactive's European structure The European part of Accenture Interactive is made up of agency brands such as Karmarama, Droga5 London (Adweek's International Agency of the Year for 2020) and Rothco. We operate under one P&L, which means there is no competition between the agencies. Everyone is working for the client.—Massimo Morielli, president, Accenture Interactive Europe Each of these agency arms has a strong reputation, but that doesn't make it easy to see how they all might fit into one cohesive entity. The answer has been to bring them together through a shared financial structure to avoid the temptation of rivalries affecting the budget process. “We want to preserve the culture and strengths of an agency but provide the support system and scale of Accenture,” he said of the integration plan. “That’s also a big part of what attracts creatives to come and work with us. We operate under one P&L, which means there is no competition between the agencies. Everyone is working for the client.” With Accenture Interactive's Creative Council keeping leaders from the various agencies connected, he said, they're able to operate as a unified unit but also dole out the right resources to match each client brief. We have built our business around the needs of our clients and the changing needs of the customer experience.—Massimo Morielli, president, Accenture Interactive Europe “Some clients just want a brand idea or creative and others want a brand idea with the power of interactive to deliver that at scale across millions of touchpoints in an intelligent way," he said. "We have built our business around the needs of our clients and the changing needs of the customer experience. This enables us to develop creativity and embed it throughout an entire experience in a way traditional agencies cannot." Perhaps ambitiously, he describes Accenture Interactive as "a new kind of partner of a new type of client." "We’re part tech powerhouse, part creative agency and part business consultancy," he said. "We’re defining a new category through experience, which is the nexus of great creative working alongside data and analytics and supported by technology to deliver real-time and dynamic, personalized interactions at scale. That’s the new creativity—and that is how Accenture Interactive is approaching creative today.” The demand for improved digital experiences As an example of the kind of work Accenture Interactive can produce now in Europe, Morielli cites Spanish bank BBVA, whose CEO issued a brief demanding growth through the evolution of its digital customer experience. “When we think about the platform, or the touchpoints, we really apply the basis of experience," Morielli said. "It is not just about rethinking the front end, it is about working on the front end but also the whole organization needs to be rethought.” The outcome of the project saw BBVA grow its digital customer base by more than 50% within months, he said. Other client work yet to come will follow the commission to work with Jaguar Land Rover and its in-house agency Spark44 on digitally revolutionizing the automotive business’ communications. There have also been other projects that focused on experience recently, such as working with international fashion group Only the Brave, or OTB, to develop a digital catwalk alongside an ecommerce strategy to drive sales. Morielli sees a growing need for improved digital experiences being demanded by consumers, a demand that has been “accelerated dramatically” by the Covid-19 pandemic to heighten the consumer journey, citing an experience from an Uber ride he recently took where the driver was able to play his personal Spotify list to improve the journey. “People will ask more and more for this kind of experience in what they do in the way they buy, the way they live, and in the way they work,” he said. One project that proved to have a personal impact on Morielli was a project developed by Rothco alongside Warner Music, using artificial intelligence to formulate Apple Music music lists for children who suffered from a stutter to sing along to in order to overcome the speech impediment. The resulting work, Saylists, would go on to win the Creative Data Grand Prix at Cannes, but it was close to his heart as he found his singing also helped him in his speech too. The Creative Data Grand Prix winner from Warner Music and Rothco, part of Accenture Interactive, launched exclusively on Apple Music. Data ownership While creative use of data can generate big ideas and awards, Morielli also recognizes the seismic changes happening around data ownership and the death of third-party cookies. A massive wave of new client needs are about to crash into the industry, and Morielli said research has found a majority of chief executives are only now realizing they have to invest in new experiences to meet those needs. Earlier this year, Google announced a partnership with Accenture Interactive where the two will work to develop a new solution in support of the Google Privacy Sandbox as further work being invested in to help clients. “It’s a big opportunity,” Morielli said, describing the need for accurate data as “a key component” within the creative development work of Accenture Interactive. “We are defining a new kind of category—the business of experience," he said, "and it's probably something that is really helping us position ourselves in a different way in the market.” Accenture Interactive has reported more than $10.6 billion in revenue over the past fiscal year, which ended Aug. 31, 2020. These are figures Morielli’s European team will be charged with growing as the demand for bigger and better digital experiences continues to grow. With $90 Million in Media Spend, Droga5 Launches Massive Brand Campaign for Accenture

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How Accenture Interactive's European President Aims to Take on the Next Digital Era

Massimo 'Max' Morielli says client and consumer expectations are evolving rapidly

Morielli’s career path to president

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Morielli’s career path to president

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