• Marketing Account Manager

• Accounting Executive

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First of all – what am I talking about?

Switch is the only Maltese agency that forms part of ICOM (www.icomagencies.com) – the world’s largest network of independent agencies. This network covers most of the world’s markets and includes some of the largest independent agencies from the territories represented.
The network offers incredible benefits, we get to ask people for help when we’re stuck creatively, we get to use resources from other agencies when we’re out of our element with a particular subject and we also have the opportunity to pitch for cross-border business together, and send employees on exchanges.
One of the most powerful parts of the network, however, is the meetings element of it. Twice a year we’re invited to meetings – one’s global and one’s regional. At these meetings, we have three days during which everyone pitches in as much as they can about a particular subject to help everyone else improve in that area.

Let’s go back to October

Last October we were invited to the European regional meeting in Budapest, and I headed over together with a colleague of mine for three days that would probably help us improve our business (and that of our clients) immeasurably. The theme of the meeting was creativity, and, while this might seem obvious for a meeting of (mostly) creative agencies, the approach to it was fantastic.

We learnt a lot about how creativity can help agencies like ours, however there are some lessons that we learnt that can be applied to most businesses – and today I’d like to share them with you. Even if you might think that creativity might not apply to your particular area of work, I’m sure you can glean a lesson or two from what we learnt.

Applying creative processes to innovation

One of the most powerful workshops of the meeting was set up by Ravid Kuperberg, one of the partners and trainers at Mindscapes, who are creativity trainers based in Israel. Ravid and his team believe that you can crack creativity by making it process-driven. They help brands all over the world increase their products and revenue through the application of creativity.
From a very practical perspective, however, he gave us three ways of looking at problems differently, no matter what their nature is:

• Ideas are modular:

His theory is that when we look at a problem in its entirety it might seem far too complex. If we learn how to break down problems into smaller parts, some parts might solve themselves, and others will seem far simpler to solve than others. Once you’re done, putting all the solutions together will give you a much better solution than if you tried to solve the problem as a whole.

• Think inside the box:

When you try to think outside the box you’re actually making life much harder for yourself and your team. Instead, try being creative with the box itself. Study the parameters that are set by the problem in front of you and use these in ways that are unexpected.

• Break objects into sub-parts:

When looking for new ways of coming up with new ideas (new business, HR issues etc) be sure to break down anything you can into to the smallest units possible. Don’t look at a car as a car – look at every bit of it that you can study and try to figure out ways with everything. Down to a tyre thread. Everything matters. Someone once said that if you improve 1% day you’ve improved by 100% in under 70 days (assuming that you can keep the improvements in place). So look at small incremental improvements, not big ticket ones that can be disheartening.

Applying creativity to grow your business

The other part that really stuck with me is how we tend to look at our business in a very linear way. However, if we look at all the components in our business we can find that we have the skills, the resources and the capacity to run businesses that might not be as related to our core business.
This allows for a scope of growing exponentially because it removes the traditional limitations of business development. Artificial Group, the host agency of the meeting in Budapest, experimented with this and found that they had all the resources in-house to successfully launch a new brand of beer. True, they did not have a brewer in-house, they had to outsource that part of it, but most brands outsource manufacturing anyway nowadays, so that didn’t make much of a difference.

And in the end…

The bottom line is that there are many lessons to be learnt here. First of all network for all you’re worth. The more people you meet and discuss with, the more you can learn and the more you gain. Apply creativity and creative processes in every aspect of your life – it’s not just something that a design studio should be concerned with. Creative thinking can help us solve problems that seem to have no logical solutions.

One year on.

October is just a few weeks away, which means that we’re gearing up for the next regional meeting. This one means a lot more to us than usual – Switch is hosting, and everyone’s coming to our favourite island for our next dose of inspiration. We’ll be sharing lots more about this year’s event in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

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Then the borders became fuzzy

The specialist digital team worked more closely with the creative pool and vice versa until there was no internal distinction any more. All we were left with was the headache of managing two social streams and two sites when we only needed one drinking session for the entire team. Which page do we post the more embarrassing shots to? So we looked at ourselves as we would look at a client and told ourselves what we would tell a client. Sort your shit out and communicate like the single brand that you are. So here we are. We’re Switch. We’re adept at telling stories to an audience, wherever that audience may be.
What this means for our clients and partners is that the incredible pool of talent and specialised digital marketing that was available under the Switch Digital brand is still around and growing as fast as we can possibly manage it. The creative team that has crafted so many stories for so many years within the Switch umbrella is also here, and also growing steadily to add skills, perspectives and personalities. You just have an easier way of getting in touch with us. Isn’t that what you’d have wanted us to recommend to you?

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My year at Switch

As I celebrate my first year at Switch, I’ve decided to look back at what I’ve learnt throughout this incredible year. This may be a bit of a cheesy post, but it will help you get a clearer idea of what Switch is. Most importantly you will find out who is part of this ever-growing family.

Switch is like a family

This was a relatively new concept for me, and it might have taken me a little longer than normal to get used to the idea that at Switch, people are more than just office colleagues. My background before Switch was a very monotonous office life, where you only ever meet your colleagues at work and during the occasional Christmas office party. Very little to no socialisation took place within the office, and you were given little knowledge about who you were working with. At Switch things are different – you are more than just a number within a company. There is a strong sense of community, of helping one another. The numerous team building events, beers in the boardroom, outdoor adventures, and the long chats over lunch have created a fantastic work environment. Thanks to this, there is a strong support system – we are all here for each other, and we don’t ever allow panic to take over. If one is in need of an extra hand for a project, I can assure you that five will be presented to them, and that’s just, plain, straight awesome.

Switch is an enabler

One year into Switch, and I feel like I have learnt more here than I ever have throughout my three years as an undergraduate student at University. Switch has pushed me into researching, learning and practising what interests and passionates me. Every day I am encouraged to do something I love and to always improve in what I do. Thanks to Switch I breathe and live social media, and I am constantly learning more about it. I write interesting content in-house and for our clients. My obsessive-compulsive planning disorder is actually appreciated, as I try to always plan my work, have content ready months ahead and create colour-coded to-do lists and content calendars.

Switch thinks outside the box

Really and truly, Switch is made up of creative humans that share a place together for approximately forty hours a week. Each and every person in the company has a beautiful brain that is capable of imagining and creating breathtaking works. The best brainstorming sessions are the ones where we gather all the team in one room, and throw anything we can think of on the table, to then go through each and every idea and pick the winning one. Everyone has a say, every idea is a good idea, and we work together to think outside the box. It’s fascinating, inspiring and motivating working with such a creative bunch of people.

Switch is transparent

Switch is constantly working to become the agency of transparency – how? Check out Martina’s Office Bloggers to find out. Yes, there have been bumps along the way. Yes, there will certainly be more. After all, we are humans, we make mistakes, and nothing can ever run as smoothly as we wish. Having said this, Switch is transparent with its employees and clients. It is a very straightforward way of working, where everything is communicated. That’s right, everything. If we think your idea is terrible we won’t sweet talk you out of it, but we will plainly and simply tell you to not go ahead. We are an honest and straight-talking bunch.   

Switch builds relationships

That is certain. If you either work for or with Switch, you are bound to build a long lasting relationship with the company. Clients are treated as close friends – and let’s be honest, everyone goes an extra mile to keep their friends happy. Employees are family, which makes the job that more enjoyable.

Switch loves food

I am not much of a foodie. For this reason, I get judging looks and shocked faces when I refuse a piece of cake or a saucy burger. Here at Switch, food is pretty much a sacred thing that needs to be enjoyed to the fullest. In the past year I have learnt that food is more important than meetings. Therefore no meetings should be booked at lunch time (take note, Matt!). It’s fascinating how pastizzi can bring the whole team together. Just to put you in the picture, we celebrated Bacon Day the other day, and everyone from the office brought something homemade that included bacon. It seemed only fair, that for my year anniversary, I would bake these food lovers a cake. After all, they say the best way to a wo/man’s heart is through food. 😉

There you have it folks, this is what Switch is! If you are curious to know more about us crazy humans, check out some of the work we’ve worked on. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page to keep up to date!

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What does happiness at work really achieve?

Happy people fix problems instead of complaining about them, they have more energy and are therefore more efficient at everything they do, have a more optimistic outlook and optimists are way more successful and productive.
Happy people are way more motivated – when you’re happy and relaxed, you’re much more open to learning new things at work and therefore increase your productivity. When you’re happy at work the occasional mistake doesn’t bother you much. You pick yourself up, learn
from it and move on. You also don’t mind admitting to others that you screwed up, but you simply take responsibility, apologize and fix it. This relaxed attitude means that fewer mistakes are made, and that you’re more likely to learn from them.
Happy people make better, more informed decisions and are able to prioritize their work. If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas, and in our line of work creative ideas are the most important ones!
There seems to be a cognitive process that sets up when people are feeling good, and this leads to more flexible, fluent and original thinking.
So what do I do to make everyone at the office simply happier? It’s just simple things, but these little things make a huge change to someone’s perspective when they have a busy schedule. So I make it a priority to help others in the office when I’m a little loose from my own work – it could be anything from a phone call to filing to chasing payments etc. but a tiny bit of help here and there makes everyone feel better. Even a smile while passing in the corridor helps, so my main job is keeping a nice big smile on my face, it helps everyone to see a happy face in the office.
I love baking and baking makes me happy, so I also bring some of my happiness to work – and believe me everyone feels happier when there is a cake in the kitchen!

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Enter our latest blog series

Every week, we’ll have a quick round-up of what went on the week before – starting with last Friday and Andrea’s game of Drawception.

The concept is pretty simple, especially if you ever played Chinese Whispers as a kid. Everyone’s given one long sheet of plain paper, a pencil, and a task: you must think of any sentence or phrase and write it at the top of the paper.

At this point everyone’s brain will, of course, blank

Once you’re functioning again and everyone’s written their sentence, you then pass on your sheet to the person on your left. This person reads your phrase and must attempt to draw an interpretation of the phrase. The key work here being “attempt” – please keep in mind that, while we do have a team of hugely talented designers at Switch, the vast majority of us can’t draw a stick man to save our lives.

When you’re done drawing, you fold back the sentence at the top of the paper to hide it from view before passing the sheet over to the person on your left. This person must then interpret the drawing to write out a sentence underneath, before folding the drawing back and out of sight.

This keeps going until everyone gets their sheet back – although most of the time, you wouldn’t recognise it from the end result…

Nice one, Andrea. Ending the week with hysterical laughter is always a good idea.
Until next Friday, folks.

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If you’re thrilled with what you do to earn a living, or if you don’t need to work for a living, you really don’t need to read any further. Your life is awesome.
The rest of the working population varies from ‘occasionally happy’ to ‘permanently miserable’ and you’re going to hate what’s coming if you’re one of these. I’m afraid it is partly your fault. Normally, being chained to a job that you don’t quite like is caused by the fear of change, the number of ‘what-if?’ questions that a job change could bring, and the worry about whether there is another job out there we could be doing.

First things first

A job choice should primarily be a lifestyle choice. You spend more waking hours on the job than you spend doing anything else so the lifestyle choice should be the first criterion. If, for instance, I’m more thrilled by the great outdoors than anything else, I shouldn’t ever pick an office job. If I like meeting a bunch of new people every day, I’m probably not suited for a night-shift security job at the cemetery.
It took me a while to land at an agency and, even if I enjoyed previous jobs, this is the first time I’ve felt that I’m where I should always have been. Rather than being upset that I didn’t start my working life in an agency, however, I feel that all I’ve done before has helped provide me with the skills, the patience, the contacts, and the experience necessary to make me a little better at what I do. So don’t be too upset at your current job if it isn’t all rosy – chances are you’re learning valuable lessons that will serve you in good stead in the future.

What’s agency life like then?

Prepare to thrive on stress.
If you’re fuelled by pressing deadlines, this is the place for you. You’re the last to know about a client’s deadline and you’re the first to have to deliver on it. You’re expected to make up for rapid changes in a client’s situation. You’re meant to be ahead of the communication curve. This fuels every member of our team but then again, they’re used to this life and wouldn’t be here if they weren’t.

Panta Rhei

Loosely translated, that’s ancient Greek for ‘everything changes’. Agency life is in a permanent state of flux. Audiences change habits and preferences, media channels shift to suit these preferences or to help shape them. Products evolve and aesthetics flow in and out of fashion as often as the little black dress does. If you don’t like boredom, this life’s for you.

Express yourself

If you’re the kind of person who can quickly tell a story that helps someone understand a complex notion, this could very well be the life for you. Telling stories that many people can understand is at the core of all communication that’s made for the consumption of an audience. Screw your CV. If you’re a storyteller by nature, you belong at an agency.
Like everything that’s awesome, it isn’t for everyone. Not all can thrive in an environment that includes weirdos like myself, an occasionally disordered approach to an ordered outcome, oodles of flexibility, and the ability to handle rejection of your most precious ideas. Agencies are where most great ideas go to die, shot down by peers or clients, often without a reason that is instantly apparent. Learn to handle this, and you can handle an agency. If not, play safe and keep clear of most of the creative industry.

Where to start

Pitch yourself to an agency you like. No need for CVs in most cases. The better agencies recruit great people not their CV. Tell your story in a way you’d like to hear it. Be honest about your passion, your flaws, your ambitions, and the unique skill set that will rock the stripy socks of a potential employer and, more importantly, their clients. If your pitch is strong, you stand an excellent chance of a meeting at least. And if you’re really good, a meeting is all you need to get yourself into a job you’d love.

Letting go

As my pet skull often tells me, always quit while you’re a head. In an ideal scenario, you quit your job when:
You have nothing left to learn
You have nothing left to teach
You have another job lined up
If all three factors align, you’re golden. Write a sensible resignation letter that doesn’t burn any bridges and just let yourself go. Literally. If you’ve just been ‘let go’, then take that in the best way. You’ve been freed. Whatever the cause of freedom, make sure your next choice is one that suits your lifestyle. And when you’re head’s cleared, start putting that pitch together.

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I definitely don’t consider myself to be an authority on this subject, but I’ve been in the business for 20 years now and have experienced all sides of our industry’s spectrum. Having been through the worlds of Media, Agency, Client and then back to the exciting and creative life Agency side, I’ve garnered significant experience. Here is what I believe to be some factors that make a great “couple”.

A Love Affair

There is no myth to dispel here, but let me be honest: I don’t think there is such a thing as a naturally perfect Client/Agency relationship. Some research seems to suggest that this relationship is bound to be dysfunctional on a global scale. However there certainly are ways of creating a winning formula. It takes two to tango and there  are many examples of great relationships out there – just look at any beautiful campaign. Every time we see a great campaign, we cannot help but think “What a fantastic client”.
Finding a level of natural, effortless understanding between both sides is paramount to the relationship. After all, an extraordinary business relationship in our industry, coupled with the obvious need for exceptional teamwork and talent, can be the catalyst for perpetual creative and effective marketing. Whether you are a client or an agency, work for it together and you both will be rewarded with results you can be proud of.
Mutual respect and trust are two essential elements in this bond. When we work with clients who “get us”, who trust our capabilities and who respect the creative process, both in terms of time and (obviously) fees, the creative output simply hits another level. Harmony is a great state to be in, and is a state which every client and agency should seek for mutual benefit.
Once a creative team can meet to discuss and brainstorm a project without feeling the pressure of time, whilst being in good harmony with the client/brand, creative workrate hits top gear. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things happen in such conditions. I call it Exponential Creative – that moment in a creative session where every member is feeding off each other and building fantastic ideas that are quickly superseded by even better ones.
But there also is an important ingredient that amazingly, sometimes is actually missing from the pie.

What Brief?

I’ve learnt how to write a good brief when I first studied the subject of Marketing (at school!)… never mind how long ago that was. We’re in 2015 and yet, I keep experiencing and hearing from friends in other agencies, that the written brief is somewhat mysterious. It appears, every so often. Let me make this clear, and I’m pretty sure that my peers would agree: The best work ALWAYS came from a well-written brief. Yet it seems to be something that is far too often undervalued.

The written brief is not important. It is essential. Be it a creative brief or one of a tactical nature, it should be written by the client and should be done with obsessive attention to detail and thought. It should also be read by the agency with a passion towards the brand, to clearly understand the project and interpret it correctly. Any unclear brief should be clarified. I cannot stress this enough – it really is the Agency’s duty to make sure that nothing ambiguous is left that way. Read some tips here and here.

Pushing

Every agency should aspire to output the best work at all times and every client has the right to push its agency to its creative limits. We always aim to push our own limits, doing it religiously. But I’ve experienced situations before in my career, where clients push their agency for more and being received with disappointment from the agency’s end. Any pushing from the client’s end should always be met with a positive mindset. Many a time, I’ve seen remarkable results coming from this sort of client prodding.
Dear client, please be constructive, sensitive and polite, and make sure that any issues do not arise from a lack of information in the brief.
Dear creative, even your most prized work will get critiqued and may also be ditched, so do send it off with a touch of humility and zero expectation.

My Advice

– Treating each other with due respect and trust doesn’t just mean being nice most of the time. Yes, being polite at all times should be a given, but you should both obsessively seek that effortless understanding. If you know you are on the same page at all times, trust will simply be the bi-product.

– Communicate well. Write good briefs without fail. Read and interpret them properly and where unclear, ask.

– Truly treat each other as though you are one and the same team. An Agency/Client relationship is not one of a buyer/seller nature. You are one team. You win together. You lose together. Pointing fingers when things go wrong does nothing positive to the relationship. If you made a mistake, admit it to yourself and others on the team. You’re human. Everyone makes them.

– Make sure that you deliver what you promise. There is more to business than contractual obligations. There is your reputation and the relationship at stake. If you said you would deliver remarkable work, a brief, a payment, whatever that may be, by a certain date – deliver.

– Push yourself at all times and be ready to give and accept constructive criticism. It is an important element in transforming great into remarkable.

Your relationship MUST be mutually beneficial. You’ll quickly see that respect rewarded with trustworthy, timely, creative work, and a business relationship that is quickly becoming extraordinary, ultimately resulting in giving you a remarkable product.

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