It’s been a year since DDB Worldwide, the advertising and marketing network that’s part of the Omnicom Group, appointed Alex Lubar as global president and chief operating officer. And what a year it has been for the agency.
DDB was named Network of the Year at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In May, it was named both Network of the Year and Agency of the Year at the D&AD Awards. DDB Latina was recognised as the Top Agency Network at La Crema, and At Effie US, DDB was named the Top Agency Network for the second straight year.
There may be a lucky charm at work, but Lubar jokingly says he doesn’t want to take the credit for it. In an exclusive interview with Storyboard18, Lubar shared the talent strategy around AI and the capabilities the company is strengthening across markets.
Edited excerpts:
It’s been a year since you joined DDB Worldwide. How have the past 12 months panned out for you?
Lubar: It’s been a fabulous first few months. We’ve been extremely busy all over the world. We’ve got an enormous number of clients pursuing an enormous number of activities in each of our idiosyncratic regions and markets. From my perspective, the offering that DDB Worldwide really brings is putting creativity at the centre of the business – as we like to say, creativity is the most powerful force in business. And so we like to drive that home within our markets and with our clients. So personally, the focus has been on ensuring that we are delivering that level of product across all our markets and in as consistent a fashion as possible, and, as you can imagine, in a service business that’s really driven by having the best possible talent that you can acquire.
DDB Worldwide has been on an award-winning spree, most recently the Network of the Year at Cannes. Are you the lucky charm?
Lubar: (laughs) I must be honest with you. There would have been a certain amount of work to win it so quickly but I can’t take the credit for it. Look, winning at Cannes, the creativity Network of the Year, is a massive achievement… It requires an entire global network to be firing on all cylinders. And so at the end of the day, what makes us most proud is in order to deliver that result, everybody has to have put some of the best products out there into the marketplace.
I will also add that winning in creativity is only part of the equation. The other part is winning in efficacy. We want to be creative and effective at the time. At the same time because great creative work means nothing with ultimately not having efficacy and driving results and sales for our clients.
What were the steps you took to make it happen – being creative and being efficient?
Lubar: We have constructed a group called Bullseye, which is our internal Global Creative Council that works together to highlight the best work that is coming out of individual markets and then also to continue to evolve that work and develop that work so that it can be the best possible version of itself.
How is 2023 from a business point of view?
Lubar: It has been robust, to say the least. Maybe the bags under my eyes would suggest that. We are very busy all over the world. And that is obviously a good sign. You know, despite some macroeconomic headwinds, depending on the market, we still have a huge amount of activity on the part of our clients. And that is exciting.
It can be challenging, but it is always dynamic. The big piece that our clients are all trying to wrap their head around is technology and how technology is influencing the marketing decisions they are making. So we are very happy to be part of those discussions and work with them.
WPP’s Mark Read said that lower spending by Big Tech companies has also impacted business. Your take?
Lubar: The short answer for that is having a diverse portfolio of clients is what protects you against headwinds of certain sectors. So, whilst there might be some pulling back in the tech sector, as long as you have a good diverse spread within your portfolio, you have some level of protection and we have got a very diverse portfolio.
How has the India market fared for the organisation?
Lubar: Well, India is a shining light for us. The Indian economy is doing so well… anticipated growth through this year is somewhere near 7.2 percent GDP, which is global-leading… So in some cases, you had a little bit of a tale of two cities, or you have some markets that are pulling back.
But in the case of India, you really have a lot of growth. We are seeing that at a macroeconomic level and we are seeing that down at the local level with our business itself. When you look at India’s ad revenue, the expected growth for 2023 is 12 percent up to $17 billion-plus. So we are feeling very positive about the Indian market. And you just look at the news recently and the landing on the moon… that’s very exciting. I think there is a level of energy, dynamism and excitement in the Indian market at the moment.
What is your wish list for managers in the India business?
Lubar: They should continue to do what they are doing, focus on growth, knowing that creativity is at the centre of our offering. They should continue to output best-in-class products that not only inspire the Indian market but also can travel globally. When the rest of the world looks at a great product that comes out of any market, including the Indian market, and sees that it can be best in class, I think that’s inspiring to all. And it benefits not only the globe, but it benefits the Indian market itself.
What capabilities are you strengthening across markets?
Lubar: There is obviously a big focus on technology, the breadth of technology capabilities that we have. And generative AI is a very, very hot topic. We have, via Omnicom, several exclusive partnerships with Adobe, Microsoft, and Google that are allowing us to enter the generative AI market in interesting ways so that we can tailor those offerings to our clients, depending on what they need… But that is certainly a hot area.
The other thing specifically for the Indian market is that… we continue to push opportunities and work from markets from all over the world into the Indian market because the talent is at such a high level.
What is the talent strategy around new emerging tech and AI and how are you applying it across different markets?
Lubar: [Our strategy is] having a strong level of AI acumen across our strategists, creatives and our tech experts so that there’s a level of knowledge around the capabilities… and how we can bring ideas to our clients and we can discuss new technologies in a comprehensive and thoughtful manner.
We have a number of individuals that have been focusing on the AI space over the last several years. George Strakhov, our CSO in Europe, has spent the last 24 months immersed in the AI space. And in fact, he got international headlines for something called the ‘Uncreative Agency’, which was the world’s first automated creative agency built off of AI. It was serious on one level, but it was playful on another level in the sense that it was an experiment to show how AI could start to participate in our creative world.
We have the talent that has the knowledge, and then we have the talent that is out there playing with the technologies and testing the technologies so that we can bring interesting solutions to our clients.