Creativebrief Founder & Chairman Tom Holmes talks to Sera Miller, CEO of Material_GROUP
Sera Miller, Material Group
Since 2011, Sera has been the CEO of Material_GROUP, where she handles the overall leadership of the Material Communications Group comprising: Material_UK (Experiential, Event, PR, Social), Material_WORKS (Brand Development, Digital, Brand Activation) and Material_WORLD (global consultancy). Sera is also leading the development of two new _GROUP initiatives: Material_DNA (digital sports branding) and Original_MATERIAL (content creation & production).
She has won awards such as Best Small Workplace UK, Best Workplace in Scotland, UK Marketer of the Year and Events Personality of the Year in addition to a host of other awards in the Marketing and Communications fields with her team at the agency including Marketing Society Star, Hollis, Sports Industry, CIPR and Drum Marketing Awards.
Before becoming CEO of Material_Group, Sera was the Managing Director of Material Marketing & Communications Ltd for seven years. Previously, she worked as Account Director for KLP Euro RSCG, Account Manager for Slice PR & Events, and served four years as the Press Officer for Coalition Group (now Coalition Management). She graduated from Leeds University with a BA in Communication Studies with English.
Sera is currently studying for an MBA at the prestigious Berlin School of Creative Leadership which sees her come together with her international peers across intensive learning modules every six weeks in cities such as Berlin, Tokyo, Shanghai, San Francisco and New York plus undertake an original piece of thesis work over a two year period.
Sera is passionate about learning and development within Material, a commitment to which has seen the company win Best Workplace in Scotland in 2011 and 2012 and Best Small Workplace in the UK in 2011, as awarded by the Great Places to Work Institute in partnership with the Guardian, Financial Times and Herald. She is also actively involved with several education initiatives, organising an annual competition called Fresh Material for every Primary School in Glasgow and regularly lecturing to students on Strathclyde University’s various prestigious degree and Masters courses. In addition, Sera is working closely with the team at the IPA to attain Gold CPD status for Material, an accolade only awarded to approximately 30 IPA agency members in the UK each year.
Sera is an active member of the marketing community, sitting on the Marketing Society Scotland Council with specific leadership of the International cluster. Sera leads the corporate membership teams for the IPA and Marketing Society, where she is also a Business Leader member. She is also a member of BAFTA Scotland, Tate Galleries and Arts & Business.
TH: Sera, what does the Glasgow brand stand for?
SM: Glasgow stands for pride, passion, honesty, warmth and a unique sense of humour. Many city brands try to claim creativity, invention, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit but with Glasgow these words are as truthful as the advice of a Glaswegian taxi driver.
TH: What are your views on the new slogan “People Make Glasgow” and the city’s marketing to date?
SM: Ambition has been baked in to the city’s marketing for a long time now and I feel proud that this new campaign evolved from a conversation with the very people it was designed to represent. The fact that people in over 42 countries participated just goes to show the reach that the city’s marketing ambition has created. They have started a campaign that will translate into any culture or language. Will ring true across Glasgow, itself and with a credible, to-the-point, collaborative back-story. Personally I love the new line because like the best classics, it comes down to a simple truth. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.
TH: How do you think Glasgow should position itself?
SM: As a creative, friendly city bursting with experiences, ideas and opportunities.
TH: What impact do you think the Commonwealth Games will have on Glasgow?
SM: Having been privileged enough to work on the London 2012 Olympics (in our capacity as a retained agency for Tier 1 partner Lloyds Banking Group) I witnessed first hand what a truly amazing and utterly unique atmosphere hosting a major Games can create. I can’t wait to feel Glasgow come alive and do what it does best. For heroes to emerge, history to be made and all that amazing magical stuff we know can happen and hope, will. Obviously as a citizen and resident of the East End, I welcome the macro impact the Games will have on an economic and infrastructural level. But on an individual legacy level, I think of that now iconic image we all have from last summer of Tom Daley, standing clutching his Bronze Medal juxtaposed next to a drawing he’d made as a child of him winning in London 2012. I’d love the impact of Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games to be thousands of children across the city and the entire country drawing pictures of the dreams they’ve been inspired to have.
TH: Why should clients from outside of Scotland consider sourcing work from Glasgow agencies?
SM: Clients from outside of Scotland should consider sourcing work from Glasgow agencies for the same reason that clients in Portland source from agencies in Amsterdam or companies in Palo Alto work with teams in London: because the chemistry is right, the ideas are strong and the commitment to solving a challenge and doing something great is shared. Yes, UK clients who can’t see past the M25 are missing out but some Glasgow agencies are equally as equipped to work with global brands and client teams. I look forward to a time when this question is irrelevant and Glasgow has its deserved place on the global creative communications map. However, I’m also a realist so in the short term I’ll say this: we are bursting with great ideas; sharp insights, deep consumer understanding and strong strategic thinking so why not come and give us a try, what have you got to lose?
TH: Are the city’s brand values reflected in your own agency culture?
SM: Definitely: people are at the heart of Material. That is our culture and I take immense pride in that fact. Just like Glasgow, we are ambitious, hard working and honest but whilst we take what we do incredibly seriously, we try not to take ourselves that way too much. We’re an independent, small creative shop so entrepreneurial spirit is built in from the ground up and we passionately believe that when good people come together they can make great things happen. We also try to stay true to the spirit of innovation, invention and creative leadership that lies at the heart of the city and its values. Material’s culture is built on these pillars: it’s no accident that we thrive in Glasgow and it will always be our home.
TH: What makes your own agency offer different?
SM: Increasingly I’m moving to externally position and deliver what we have long held internally as our mission statement: that Material is an international agency with its HQ in Glasgow. We do not see ourselves as a Scottish agency with global ambitions: that is not to be negative or disrespectful in any way to being Scottish, it is simply to place ourselves, just like the city of Glasgow itself, in a global context. At Material we like to solve challenges: business, brand and consumer.
We like to get under the skin of a problem and solve it with creative, insightful customer experience design. It used to be that the experience we designed might be experiential shaped, digital shaped, product shaped. But just like consumers, we no longer see those boxes.
Sera Miller
Just brilliant ideas executed to the highest standards by the hardest working, most passionate, dedicated talented team of individuals on the planet. Ok, I’m slightly biased on the last part but our client retention is so high for a reason: if you’re a client who wants to do some really great creative work and have a positive, dare I say even fun, experience while doing it, please give us a call.
TH: What sort of clients do you want to attract?
SM: Clients who are up for collaboration, joint ventures, shared product development and who want to build customer focused ecosystems together with us. Clients who will let us into their business and who welcome the chance to get involved in ours. Clients who are brave, committed, open and trusting: we understand the challenges that clients are currently facing and thrive on working closely with them to develop creative solutions to help meet them. We are privileged to work with clients like this already and look forward to broadening and deepening our relationships with them as we seek out new like-minded clients from around the world.
TH: What work makes you particularly proud and why?
SM: I’m proud of where we’ve broken new ground with clever, well-executed ideas based on killer insight: from multi-award winning campaigns like Flash Football to our recent once in a lifetime work re-branding the now SPFL. Being part of what the future of Scottish football will look like is pretty special. As I mentioned, working on the London 2012 Olympics for Lloyds Banking Group was an honour and a privilege: despite three years of planning even I was unprepared for the powerful impact the Torch Relay would have on me, never mind the tens of thousands of other lives it touched. Right now, I’m really excited about the opening of the Hydro and the work we are doing with SSE. We’ve worked with them for many years on more community driven projects across Scotland so to be part of the journey as they go on to sponsoring the most advanced entertainment venue in the UK and the Commonwealth Games in the same year is exhilarating. I’m also consistently proud of T in the Park: not just because we deliver world-class work but because as an agency it’s pretty much the only project we do that touches each and every member of the team. Whether you are the senior client lead year round or are part of the onsite delivery team for 5 days, everyone has a part to play. It is also pretty much the only project I work on the ground in these days so that goes a long way to demonstrate how I feel about it.
TH: Which Glaswegian brands do you most admire?
SM: It will come as no surprise that I’m going to cite Tennent’s. I can’t help it: it’s just one of those brands that gets under your skin and stays there. Tennent’s and Glasgow are so inextricably linked: the humour, the passion, respectful of heritage and craft yet always pushing towards an innovation driven, entrepreneurial spirited future. On a more personal level, I have also admired the Charles Rennie Mackintosh brand since I first was introduced to that world as an art history-loving teenager. That’s another brand relationship that will last a lifetime for me.
TH: Are there any local marketers who have inspired you?
SM: I’m consistently inspired by the next generation of marketers that I meet. Whether it’s talking to Strathclyde University’s brilliant Marketing Honours or International Marketing MA students, diverse young talent I meet through the Marketing Society’s Rising Creative Star Award we partner with or even some of the primary school children I’m lucky enough to meet through our Fresh Material initiative: my mind is regularly blown by the future marketers that there are in this city. Plus I’m also lucky enough to work with some amazingly talented clients and colleagues in the agency itself. All of us at a senior level have the opportunity to be inspired by young up and coming talent everyday and we’d all do well to open our eyes and ears and remember that fact – after all, we’ll probably all end up working for some of them one day.
TH: What business would you most like to win?
SM: Obviously as mentioned I’d love us to work with a big, ecosystem driven global brand to design some customer experience driven work: working with Nike and collaborating with the team at R/GA on Fuel Band for example would be a dream. Closer to home, we would of course like to win much more around 2014: not just the Commonwealth Games but also the Ryder Cup and Scotland’s Year of Homecoming. Across the private and public sector I don’t believe anyone is better placed on the ground than we are to deliver, whether in partnership with other agencies or working directly with clients, organisations or bodies. We are also looking to work with more athletes directly, developing our portfolio that already includes world-class individuals like Eilidh Child and Pamela Thorburn. Beyond 2014, we are looking at business on two fronts: at home, we’d love to work with iconic brands like Baxters, Highland Spring, Harris Tweed and Walkers plus further afield, we are currently evaluating options in the US, UAE and Asia markets.
TH: Thank you Sera
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