Creativebrief: As Creative Director of Omobono what is your primary focus?

Chris Butterworth: My role is to identify how creative thinking can help clients solve business problems, whether via communication, service design or behavioural change. We hire some incredibly bright people, so my job is also to create a dynamic working environment where they can push their own boundaries and explore new ways to solve our clients’ issues.

Creativebrief: Please share a para on your career to date – specifically talking us through the high points.

Chris Butterworth: I originally had plans to work in TV after Art College. I freelanced in London for a short time working mainly on music videos. There’s a Level 42 video featuring my animation somewhere out there. But the reality of earning a regular income meant I took a job as a junior designer working on products as diverse as industrial vibrators (!), lawnmowers, adhesives, spectrometers and other equally glamorous stuff.

During the recession of the early 90s, the agency I was working at had a large cull of people. I was pretty much last man standing in the creative department but over the next eight years built up the business and the team to become one of the biggest B2B agencies in the UK. It was there I met my future business partners in Omobono, Ben Dansie and Fran Brosan.

We started Omobono in 2001. We made a conscious decision to focus on digital, so my role became far more about understanding the new opportunities this presented to clients. One of the particular high points was being the first European agency to win a David Ogilvy Award in the US (it also helped that we had to go to New York for the weekend to pick it up).

Creativebrief: What’s unique about your agency / business? Why did you form Omobono?

Chris Butterworth: When we set up Omobono, B2B was firmly in the shadow of consumer comms. There was very little press coverage of the sector other than market-specific trade magazines. Our belief was that B2B deserved the same level of insight and creativity as consumer as it made up over 50% of the UK economy.

B2B has made huge steps forward in the intervening years. There is much more engagement with business as a discipline now. Shows like The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den and high profile entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs have all helped to make business more high-profile. It’s not perceived as the backwater it once was.

At Omobono, we were early adopters of digital. It works quite differently in B2B than in consumer. For example, a key priority for us is helping clients use the technology platforms they already have in place to drive engagement with their audiences.

But while there are plenty of digital agencies and quite a few B2B agencies in the world, we believe our focus on how digital specifically works for business is unique in the marketplace.

Creativebrief: What has been your agency’s best work in the last year?

Chris Butterworth: One of my personal favorites has been the results timeline that we created for PA Consulting.  I love the interaction and ability to dig around and discover hidden gems. It turns what could have been a dry list into an immersive experience. It also won us a Digital Impact Award.

Creativebrief: Who are the people new to you (either within your business or externally) who have particularly impressed you in the last twelve months?

Chris Butterworth: We’ve made some really talented hires at Omobono in the last year. Matthew Walko, our Head of Strategy, has been doing outstanding work. In the creative industry at large I was particularly impressed with Yann Demange’s first feature film ’71.

Creativebrief: Industry wide, what work has excited you most this year?

Chris Butterworth: I loved Pepsi’s Unbelievable Bus Shelter – cool, smart and funny. The British Airways Magic of Flying is also a great example of using data to make a story with emotion.

Creativebrief: Who or what inspires you?

Chris Butterworth: Someone once said that the worst place for designers to look for inspiration is other designers. It’s certainly true for me. Books, TV, films, magazines all provide inspiration. I always find the eclecticism of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy stirs the creative juices. Bob and Roberta Smith’s Letter to Michael Gove was particularly good this year. But my favourite thing is people-watching – it never fails to provide stories and inspiration.

Creativebrief: How do you stay in-touch with the industry’s best work and culturally relevant news?

Chris Butterworth: I’d love to have the time to get out to events and exhibitions more, but pressure of work usually gets in the way. In lieu of these, websites like Creative Review, Little Black Book and Form Fifty Five are always useful for seeing what’s trending. Being a judge on a variety of award schemes like the British Interactive Media Association’s also lets me see some of the industry’s most creative output.

Creativebrief: What work or agency from outside the UK do you think is particularly influential?

Chris Butterworth: I’m always impressed with the work Droga5 create. They tell great stories around their clients’ brands and always seem to push the idea as far as it can go.

Creativebrief: What do you think are going to be the main challenges for agencies in the next two years?

Chris Butterworth: Everyone’s at saturation point with the sheer volume of messages, content and technology they’re exposed to. And we’ve all become experts at filtering out all the noise. Everyone agrees that the disruptive model of advertising is dead so the challenge for brands and agencies is to be more meaningful and useful for their audiences. Agencies need to evolve into the service design space using their expertise in customer insight, UX and design to help customers get what they want from brands more quickly and easily.

Creativebrief: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next five years?

Chris Butterworth: Technology will continue to influence the way the brands connect to customers, but the applications will be broader. When the internet of things becomes more established, household items themselves will become comms outlets for brands. When fridges run out of food, they’ll give you offers from supermarkets. Cars will do the same for petrol. Advertising will become much more moment-based nudges. The same thing will happen as wearables become more widespread.

Creativebrief: What’s your attitude to the ‘traditional’ pitch? Do you think there is a better/more modern way?

Chris Butterworth: I’m torn when it comes to pitches. On one hand, it’s the only time that you can produce a piece of work entirely objectively without becoming embroiled in the politics and sensitivities of the client’s business. On the other, it’s a huge investment in resource – which is why it’s vitally important for agencies to vet pitches and establish the risk/reward scenario at the outset. There is unquestionably a trend to allow agencies less time in the pitch process. If it’s a creds pitch it’s manageable, but when clients are looking for creative solutions to their problems, it requires time. 

I think clients need to do their homework and get under the skin of the agencies they’re calling to pitch. So chemistry meetings are always important. As is getting a good understanding of the type of work an agency produces rather than expecting them to shape to whatever is in the brand owner’s head. It’s better for clients to have a short pitch list and work alongside the agencies during the process with WIP meetings. It gives clients a much better idea of what the working relationship might be like.

Clients should also be prepared to contribute something to agency pitch costs. It signifies serious intent and makes the process less confrontational.

Creativebrief: What’s the best pitch you’ve been involved in?

Chris Butterworth: My favourite pitches are the ones we win! A memorable pitch was to a regional development agency held in a theatre. The stage lights were on so we could barely see the people we were pitching to (and there were lots of them). It felt like being on a marketing version of the X Factor. But when it came to questions, one person said they were worried we might be too successful and attract too many people to the region! Guess sometimes you just can’t win…

Creativebrief: In what ways do you think the industry can change for the better?

Chris Butterworth: I think the industry needs to engage with universities and colleges more. While we are much better than we were at offering learning opportunities for students, we seem to be very poor at leveraging academic input. Lots of times we reference the works of academics like Daniel Kahneman and Thaler & Sunstein, yet it’s surprising that an industry relying so much on sociology and psychology doesn’t have more connection with these academics through sponsorships or bursaries. In contrast, the tech sector is all over the likes of MIT and CalTech.

Creativebrief: What’s the next big thing for Omobono?

Chris Butterworth: 2015 marks the opening of our Chicago office. We have worked consistently in North America for the last ten years but we now have a serious commitment to grow the Omobono brand in the States and beyond. We believe that the combination of business, technology and creativity that we offer provides something to large US corporates that isn’t currently available, so we have a strong ambition to grow.