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Leadership plays a significant role in what a marketing agency can achieve. Every study indicates that your business objectives are better if you have a diversified leadership team. Kristen Cavallo is doing just that. She has made it her mission to fight invisibility using breakthrough work and inclusive culture at the Martin Agency.
Cavallo, CEO at The Martin Agency, joins Suzy founder and CEO Matt Britton on the latest episode of The Speed of Culture podcast. Cavallo has over 20 years of experience working on the agency side. As CEO of The Martin Agency, Cavallo works with CCO Danny Robinson to create impactful ideas for clients like GEICO, Oreo, UPS, CarMax, Old Navy, Doordash and Axe.
She made her way to the leadership of The Martin Agency as a strategist, an unusual path to CEO compared to typical ascension from accounting, operations or finance.
In this episode, Cavallo discusses the path to leadership for the CEO of marketing agencies, leadership values and when to take a stand as a marketing agency.
To learn more about leadership at marketing agencies, check out the key takeaways of this episode below.
Key Highlights:
- 01:03 – 07:46 – Marketing agencies – Marketers have evolved differently over time. Some focus on automation, replication and effectiveness. Others focus more on the values they uphold, the social good and the purpose. The path to leadership in marketing agencies has also changed. Most CEOs at major marketing agencies typically come from the accounting, operational or financial side. Lately, however, there has been a change to include strategists.
- 07:48 – 09:36 – Roles of CEOs within a marketing agency – CEOs of marketing agencies need to concern themselves with the big strategic questions. What motivates the talent in the agency? What does a brand stand for? Always delegate what is not in your zone of genius. Within a marketing agency, creative people must take accountability for coming up with solutions. Producers can get a lot done by thinking inventively and very quickly. Planners must be ambidextrous, think outside the box, and make gut decisions.
- 17:43 – 33:10 – Hiring within a marketing agency – You shouldn’t hire an agency that can’t brand itself. Too many agencies think they have to act like canvases for the clients to feel like the agency is capable of branding them. What differentiates one brand over another is not just its features. Instead, it’s belief and philosophy that sells a brand. As a marketing agency approaching a client’s problem, advise them to pick a market problem and make a meaningful impact in that area. In the future, creativity will play a vital role in how advertising agencies solve their clients’ problems.
