The Quest to Create a Truly Integrated Digital Team

“We’ve got a project scheduled to go live today, so it’s a bit chaos and bedlam” explains Nikki Buckley, Digital Experience & Solutions Lead at J. Walter Thompson when we sit down to have a catch up about what they’re up to in the space.

It’s that project go-live culture that you expect from an advertising agency, but it soon becomes clear the team are focused on a quest much bigger – creating a truly integrated team.

The team has changed a lot in the 18 months since Nikki has been on board, starting with a team of four focused on display to ten today across developers, producers, content and social.

“It’s the front end and social side of things that’s exploded” explains Nikki.

“Getting everyone to talk the same language, well that’s another challenge that comes down to the softer skills. You have to put those analytical, technical or creative skills to one side and create an environment where people are empathetic to others requirements as well as their own.”

In addition to the team working to communicate as a collective, Nikki chatted through two key ways J. Walter Thompson are moving to integrate from a team, design and development perspective.

Design

The company made a choice to make sure all of our designers can design for every single platform, even if someone joins us as a specialist – we’ll upskill them across all platforms.

The reason for this is because campaigns just aren’t isolated anymore, it’s very rare that your campaign starts and finishes on one platform – and storytelling requires consistency.  If you watch a TV commercial that drives you to a website, the look and feel of that website should be a seamless follow on from the advert you just watched.

As a User Experience early advocate, I find this a refreshing way of working.

Development

It’s easy to get distracted by shiny new things working in this field. When we look at development, our lens is to think about how this tech could improve an experience that we’re already doing for a client. Could this solution make something even better?

AirBnB and Uber are two of my favourite platforms; their solutions are so simple.  They make you feel like they are something you could have thought of yourself because it’s part of everyday life – needing a ride or booking a place to stay.

That’s the message we send to the team here. So we’re currently looking at VR– we’ve set a task for the team to go home and think about how we could integrate those into existing clients, where would they add value to something we’re already doing, rather than a brand new campaign from scratch.

Nikki’s Top 3 Job Hunting Tips When Finding a Good Fit:

Have some perspective – Keep some balance between work and down-time. We all work differently and are productive to different schedules. You want to find a fit that works for you to get the job done. Whether you’re 8-5, 10-8 or 12-12!

Meet the team – People are everything when it comes to finding a great role, there aren’t many positions in a digital agency that are isolated so you have to make sure you get on with the people around you.

Align on the vision – The leadership team can make or break your long-term enjoyment of the job. Ask questions that will motivate you for the long term, do you believe in the leadership style and the goals for the company?

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