Sam Fresco: Start ups, strategy & standing for something

17 Jan

INTRODUCTION

Sam is Strategy Director at Wildish & Co, a creative agency based in London & Marlborough. Sam's background is in marketing, digital and innovation across various London agencies.

Previously, Sam was the founder and director of a technology start-up where he was awarded Guardian Leader of the Year and nominated for Great British Entrepreneur of the Year award.

This interview took place over video call in December 2020.

How did you land your first job?

At university, I studied English Language & Creative Writing with a view to getting into journalism. After uni, I started looking for cool magazines & publishers I wanted to write for. One that stood out was Shortlist Magazine (the brother mag to Stylist) as they worked on a freemium model where the magazine was given out on the tube.

After scouring the site, I found a small tag at the bottom ‘Powered by Clock’ and hit those guys up with a CV and cover letter. They got back to me for an interview for an internship. I went along thinking they were the publishers behind the magazine and interviewed with the CEO and the MD at the time, over a few ciders at the pub over the road.

We talked about anything and everything to do with trends, digital marketing & the like. I remember a particularly hard question was “unrealised start-up idea, go”.

It was a long and winding chat that left me confused but energised. It turned out they were in fact not Shortlist, but the digital agency behind them… Clock. I took the marketing internship gig anyway and ended up really thriving in the chameleon-like nature of the agency world. We had a client meal with the Shortlist guys not long after I joined, and the CEO of Clock took great pleasure in teasing me with this story in front of them!

The internship turned into a full-time marketing gig that developed into a new business role and strategy role before then switching gears to run their in-house start-up product.

What does a day in the life of Strategy Director at Wildish look like?

Every morning starts with a quick team stand-up. It’s more important than ever as we’re all remote we can go too long without speaking.

My calendar is actually public and open to those booking appointments to speak with us through our site, so I’ll typically have around 3 calls a day with new people looking to partner with us on a new brand or creative project. I’ll also support our project manager on numerous client calls throughout the day, usually just letting her run the show at this point. And if there’s a pitch on I’ll be leading the ideas, strategy & team for what we’re proposing.

What do you love most about what you do?

We purposely don’t specialise in a single area of expertise, not delineating between B2B or B2C. We’re more interested in what the brand is trying to achieve, their objective or goal. This means that I speak to a huge range of different brands with different problems, right across the board.

In a single day, I can be talking to start-ups, food & drink brands, luxury or FMCG brands, architects, universities and even public sector clients. It’s one of the most challenging parts of the job for sure but also the most rewarding, understanding and interpreting the nuances of each space and how you can help them. There’s no chance of getting bored, that’s for sure.

What’s one project you’ve worked on or a client you worked recently with that exceeded your expectations?

We recently collaborated with the guys at Good People Agency to help with their new brand & site. They came to us with such a strong ethos and outlook on the industry, championing the idea of ‘friends not fashion’ to reimagine and refine how their industry can work better together. When you take on a brand project it can always be a bit of a gamble as to whether you and the brands click creatively, that they love what you make for them and the path you lead them down.

Good People Agency were so open to ideas and to change from day one. They have some of the coolest streetwear brands on their books such as Knickerbocker, Stutterheim, TSPTR and Monokel, so it was really important we understood their heritage and credibility in the space whilst moving the needle to somewhere new, fitting, disruptive yet exciting.

As a vegan-led studio, how important is it in your opinion that a brand engages in political and ethical conversations?

Before Wildish & Co, at other agencies, we found we’d often been asked to think and work in any sector, not always for good - such as shooting & hunting for example. Part of starting this agency was the ability to say no and not spend your time thinking about how to solve issues for companies whose values you disagree with. We now turn away anything we politically or ethically don’t want to spend our time, energy and expertise helping or solving. And likewise, we actively lean in and help positive impact causes - otherwise, what are you doing it all for? If you’re just in it for the money, you’re in the wrong industry. You have to be interested and excited about solving the brand’s problems and to do that you have to be excited about the brand and what they stand for.

Like us, we believe brands have to stake a claim in what they, as a group of people, believe in and align with. It’s about being a group of people with a collective conscience and purpose. The brand has to stand for (or against) something otherwise how are you, the consumer, meant to buy into them.

“Part of starting this agency was the ability to say no and not spend your time thinking about how to solve issues for companies whose values you disagree with.”

© Wildish & Co. ‘Wish You Were Here’ for Penhaligon’s

How did the idea come about, to pivot Penhalighan’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ campaign from real-world to the mini-world?

Penhaligon’s commissioned us to create their ‘Wish You Were Here’ campaign, centred on promoting their classic range of fragrances across iconic British staycation spots Blackpool, Brighton, Whitstable, Scarborough, Cornwall and Margate.

Originally, we planned on shooting on-location, but as lock-down came, we had to go back to the drawing board. We explored everything from 3D rendering to illustration, before coming to the idea of playing with scale. Looking at what makes each beach unique and iconic and seeing how we could bring all that into our photographer’s setup, ‘in-kitchen’.

We commissioned the creation of six hand-crafted beaches in miniature, for example recreating the Margate’s Dreamland rollercoaster out of coffee stirrers, to bring alive the nostalgic and emotive scenes within each setting.

We aimed to create a campaign that bottles a snapshot of the character and charisma of each nostalgic destination, all without leaving your living room.

What in your opinion differentiates a good designer, from a great designer?

A good designer can follow a clear brief and deliver a product to spec.

A great designer will understand that creatives solve problems.

Whether creatively communicating a brand, campaign or concept, they’ll evaluate the issue and really think about the strategy to solve the problem. Who’s doing this well? What are the cues we can lend from them and incorporate? Design is as much about backing up the creative thinking as it is about the actual delivery. Often, a page of concepts vs a thought-out and structured strategy is the difference between a quick freelance job and engaging with a creative agency.

“Design is as much about backing up the creative thinking as it is about the actual delivery.”

As a linguistics grad and aspiring journalist, what advice would you go back and give to your younger-self?

Stop now and learn to code.

What are your top tips for pitching yourself to clients?

The most important thing is that the pitch isn’t about you, it’s about them. If you pitch yourself, you’re just dining out on your best case study or talent which can only get you so far.

Ultimately, clients want to know 3 things - that you understand them, that you understand their problem and that you won’t let them down. If you can communicate these things, you’ll already beat about 90% of the competition.

Understanding them is about thinking - research, trends, audiences or insights.

Understanding the problem is the solution, showing you’re a safe pair of hands through your detailed approach and process & how will be used to solve their problems.

Not letting them down - this is showcasing your experience & credibility.

Not just the work but how, across your experiences, different situations arose and you have a plan in place to solve them. What if they want an ad-hoc same-day request? Or if their deliverables change mid-brief? Or if there are 5 different stakeholders with 5 different opinions? All this expertise can be packaged effectively to make your agency offering really compelling, far beyond a good looking piece of creative.

“Ultimately, clients want to know 3 things - that you understand them, that you understand their problem and that you won’t let them down.”

How do you build trust with your clients, to get to the point where you can just pitch your proposed creative solution?

Just as a good designer is separate from a great designer, the same goes for agencies. If you, the agency, just deliver to spec then you’re not always unlocking the potential value of the project.

By understanding the wider things at play, making informed recommendations or adding value through further exploration, you can build trust with your clients so that they know that when you do suggest something, you’ve explored all the options and have the business case to back it up.

Recommended reading

Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Recommended listening

Hurry Slowly hosted by Jocelyn K. Glei

Reply All hosted by PJ Vogt, Alex Goldman, and Emmanuel Dzotsi

Dissect hosted by Cole Cuchna

Recommended follow

Studio Nari, OMGFCO, Studio Lowrie

Follow Wildish & Co.

Instagram / LinkedIn