KEN ROBERTSON
CEO, The Tenth Man
Set up in January 2018 by Ken Robertson, who spent 18 years working for Paddy Power in a variety of senior marketing, advertising and communications roles, The Tenth Man is the latest agency startup to challenge the existing hegemony within adland. With offices in Dublin and London, the agency currently employs eight staff with plans to hire more over the coming months he tells John McGee.
Describe your role with the agency
I’m founder and CEO but in a startup agency that doesn’t count for much. We’re only as good as the sum of our parts and ultimately, we’ll be judged by the quality and originality of our thinking. So, nurturing the energy of the team is by far my single most important job.
We’re the new kids in town who want to be different and break away from the traditional full-service agency model. We want to work with brands that are genuinely open to brave thinking. It’s not for everyone and it does take some guts, so we’re pretty choosy about who we work with. We don’t get involved in competitive pitches and we’re not the type of agency that cares about awards.
How do you overcome the challenges faced by a startup?
By being true to the values of The Tenth Man and by letting our work do the talking. Our first client in Ireland was C&C, who gave us the opportunity to run their Forbidden Fruit sponsorship. They liked our video-first approach and now we’re running social media and PR across their alcohol portfolio. Similarly Eir reached out at the start of the summer and trusted us to create their new advertising campaign Epic Awaits which we’re really proud of.
Why did you set up the agency?
To make great content that will be remembered. My single biggest learning from Paddy Power was that distinctiveness is the most direct route to memorability. When you’re remembered, you’ve then got a shot at becoming famous. That’s exactly why I have a gag reflex for how many brands behave today. They are drowning in a sea of sameness and are not willing to take any level of risk. I don’t blame creative agencies for this, they have been beaten into submission by CMOs increasingly from a digital or performance background who don’t really get the role of creativity in the new marketing mix and may even view it cynically. I’ve seen first-hand what happens when great campaign ideas are thrown into audience pre-testing only to return a castrated hotchpotch. You can’t codify creative thinking, so don’t try.
How do you get cut-through?
You cut-through by being different — not being afraid to push the agenda. This goes equally for the client and the agency. We’re not afraid to stand up to political correctness when it’s needed. We’ll break a few eggs and undoubtedly annoy some people along the way but real life is not the sugar-coated anodyne nonsense that passes for advertising these days. The world is a dangerous place, don’t hide from this. Remember what happened to Pepsi last year when they tried to create a campaign that wouldn’t offend anyone and ended up offending everyone?