Culture is important; so are its manifestations

It’s with an evident sense of pride that OMG’s Elie Khouri reflects on people at OMG, how attrition compares with industry, and what it takes to be ranked among the top three places to work in the country by an independent study. When he climbed Mr Kilimanjaro for charity, it was with a team of 25 from the agency.

It’s the same aspect of the organisation – culture – that Ramzi Moutran says he has sought to identify and establish at Memac Ogilvy. When clients compliment the work, they are actually complimenting the people, he notes.

Culture is often defined by leaders who have empowered people to do their jobs; organisations that have listened to people.

In a recent edition of this magazine, an agency head from India reflected on why culture must not be so rigid that it cannot absorb positive influences of constituents. Openness is an aspect of culture that has become essential for workplaces to listen. Its obvious manifestations include intranets, discussion forums and the like. The more critical manifestations are the ability to bring to life aspirations of the people who make up the company.

Awards are talent magnets and awards are won by people. What allows people to create award-winning work is the culture. The same holds for new business.

Creative leaders, more than anyone else, recognise that newsletters, HR manuals and incentives cannot ensure happy workplaces. Behind great work and recognition are a bunch of happy people, enabled by culture. A major global commercial hub, Singapore is at the forefront of technological innovation yet steeped in a history of conservatism, presenting an interesting dichotomy for media strategy.

Having attributed the country’s financial success over the past 49 years to just three industries, the government launched an ambitious diversification and growth drive, which is now serving as an accelerator for multiple industries and startups. Factor in sky- high purchasing power, hi-tech electronics manufacturing and a plethora of state-led initiatives and incentives tempting businesses to set up here, and conditions are creating the perfect storm for Singapore to become the Asian Silicon Valley.

This means we have a larger stack of clients to service than ordinarily in a country of this size – plus an exciting opportunity to be their trusted media agency partner as they evolve. We’re inspired to tap into that wider culture, capability and appetite to develop i nnovative technologies, products and services. In the past three months alone, we have had six outstanding interns at Maxus Singapore from digital and engineering technology backgrounds.

Singapore has technological innovation and creativity hardwired into its DNA. Along with Sydney, this is where the “maker movement” took seed and the natural habitat for Maxus’ global creative R&D unit, Metalworks. Metalworks is at the “bleeding edge” of an invent-and-invest approach, integrating new tech into the standard media product we’re familiar with.

While media spend is climbing steadily, we’re working with a relatively g overnment- c ontr ol l e d media monopoly – the government remains one of the biggest advertisers. This presents a huge opportunity. A lack of advertising legacy to constrain us and scarcity of ad dollars create demand for the most creative solutions. Singaporean cultural tension also plays its part in media planning. Organisations such as the Infocomm Development Authority urge us to tap into the latent desires of younger people, yet this is historically a tightly censored nation. And while you might think it straightforward to advertise to a population of just five million, Singapore is diverse, with four official languages. With the country’s two major terrestrial TV stations carving up audiences into Chinese- or English speakers, media plans are determined by the target audience first and foremost.

Visit Maxus Singapore directly from our London of f i c e s a nd y ou’l l be struck by the difference. Maker culture influences everything down to office design (we’re more “chemistry lab” than “chemistry meetings”). And forget lunching alone “al desko” – here, we all dine together at noon precisely. Great for morale, not so great for getting your favourite table at the restaurants in the local hawker centre. Neil Stewart, chief global client officer, Maxus