In charge of creating VMLY&R, Sleyman Khodor also spoke about market transformations and compensation models
Since last month, Sleyman Khodor has been in charge of creating VMLY&R in Brazil with Rafael Pitanguy, who was promoted to global deputy CCO of the network and is based in New York. In common, both are from Rio de Janeiro, editors by training and have worked together before.
In practice, Khodor’s biggest challenge will be to keep pace with the agency’s awards, which in the last two years has been recognized by Cannes as Agency of the Year in the Good and Entertainment tracks. The idea will continue to prove the thesis that creativity is fundamental to our business.
How will you print your brand at the agency?
We were two years in a row Agency of the Year in Cannes on two different tracks, one in Good and the other in Entertainment. And the question is: so, when are you going to win the third one? My goal here is, first of all, not to mess with a winning team, I would be a lunatic to do that. The goal is not to change everything, but to improve. I think that my brand is not to make a difference, but to make a difference that can print something that makes us even better. We are an agency that believes in creativity with strategy. The idea will continue to prove the thesis that creativity is fundamental to our business and makes a difference along with the strategy, that it is scalable and lasting. My goal is to prove that this is not happening by chance and will be permanent because it is a feature of VMLY&R.
From the union of VML with Y&R, which had a more business-oriented profile, while the other was for technology, a super creative agency emerged. What do you think about it?
Every agency seeks its identity. Y&R had a robustness of customers, of doing business, and VML, in turn, had a very contemporary, digitized vein. For me, more than ever, creativity has returned to the center of the business, not only for the agencies, but also for the clients. We know how much a creative work will be recognized nationally and internationally is making a difference, more than just making a big business contract. I think the best thing about this merger was having creativity at the top, bringing the two agencies together. And most importantly, the best of the two agencies was not lost: neither the business robustness of Y&R nor the agility of VML was lost.
Why do you think creativity has returned to the center of the business?
In recent years, creation has lost significant space on the customer side. I think we live in an era of pasteurization. But I think that both agencies and clients have met again and have come to realize that what unites us is creativity. Not only that, it also has a new movement of celebration than creativity. The biggest festival of creativity, Cannes, has become an award where CMOs, clients and consultancies also want to be present. In other words, it became a business of creativity. If we take the report from the festival itself, we can see that the premium curve of the brands follows the growth curve of their businesses. That is, not witchcraft. There is scientific proof that investing in creativity pays off. Today, we live in a collaborative moment. I think there is a co-participation on both sides, both clients and agencies, to sit down and see what is best for the brand, which ends up being a win-win. It is obvious that transformations always happen, but, precisely because there is no polarization and creativity is a fundamental part of the business, I think it is difficult for us to get out of this so soon, because it is good for everyone.
And the transformation of the advertising business is heading in which direction?
What is most discussed in the Brazilian market today are forms of remuneration. Clients fought on one side and agencies on the other. But everyone is sitting at the table again to discuss the business model. I don’t even think it’s right or wrong, but the big transformation that is happening is this discussion about compensation models. And with all that, transparency came to the table. Not what was previously obscure, but now we have a multilateral relationship. There is only one model. If we take a model of a multinational and an agency that is local, they are different accounts. I am zero that person who thinks that the transformation is apocalyptic. I think that history itself shows, as Charles Darwin said, that it is not about who is smarter, not about being stronger, but about who adapts best. That’s the secret. I don’t think it’s that thing where everything is going to change and turn upside down. Like now with the metaversion, I don’t know if it’s going to be a second life, if it’s going to be the success of planet Earth in the next two years. I know, yes, it’s something that comes and transforms, but sometimes it’s a transformation that when you look ahead you say: that was significant and sometimes not so much.
And what is the remuneration model adopted at VMLY&R?
We work with all possible and imaginable remuneration models, all at the same time, it depends a lot on the client. There are clients, for example, that we work on a project basis. It’s not even about upbringing or the media, but about how to make a relationship that can last six months be profitable. Or in long-term relationship, contracts are different. It varies a lot from client to client. There is not just one model and each of our customers operates in a different way.
Is the flexible working model working well?
I think the advantage of the flexible model is to have a good thing for each part individually. It is obvious that the most difficult question of the hybrid is how to hold the culture of the place so that people understand the direction of the agency. But as we have different customers and business units, whether Colgate, Vivo, Ford or Via, with each of these customers operating separately, what happens is that these groups end up coming together and creating an almost unique logic of meeting in person to particular customer, for example. In creation, specifically, we have felt an increasing desire from people to be in person, of course not in that previous work model, to keep time. But the small spaces of contact, conversation, learning that you have outside of being focused doing that specific thing are felt, so the adhesion ends up being greater. Especially when it comes to the younger teams. Those who are just starting out feel the difference of being in person because you change, you learn by watching the other person do it. The challenge of the hybrid model is to keep the team, in the case of creation, which has 150 people, and an entire agency like VMLY&R, with 550 professionals, always on the same page. This task will always be difficult.
How is the connection of creation with the other areas of the agency?
After the merger between VML and Y&R, a robust agency was born in terms of business and at the same time agile and extremely digitized, with a focus on creativity. Creativity and strategy apply to creation, planning, business, finance, they apply to all areas. We are here because we are a creative company with a strategy, because at the end of the day we celebrate the same thing, it is not something that is sealed off by just one department. Today, for example, we have creative works with strategy from all our clients. Last year, for example, the agency won YouTube Works with Vivo; Professionals of the Year with Casas Bahia; the First Glass GP in Cannes with Starbucks and, this year, the most awarded case in Cannes (Los Santos +3) was with Greenpeace and we also received awards for Santander and Amaro.
Much has been discussed that the Los Santos +3 case was created for an NGO and not for a commercial brand… It is worth remembering that Greenpeace, despite being a non-governmental organization, is a VMLY&R (pro bono) account. If you look at the agency’s history, it’s not the first time we’ve won an award/worked with Greenpeace. It is very important to see the growth of this client’s communication work, now also digitized. We are being sought out precisely by the Greenpeace case because it was a different way of approaching climate issues. The great victory was precisely for having a relationship built with the customer, taking a leap in the way the brand communicates. This has attracted a lot of attention not only from the awards, but also from customers, who have come to us because they want to approach sustainability in an innovative way. Coincidence or not, it’s really nice to win an award with Greenpeace, at the same time they were holding a protest in Cannes, which proves that the brand’s core business is.
Besides being from Rio de Janeiro, Catarina’s father and a copywriter by training, what other characteristics do you have?
I strongly believe in the power of the collective. I think that more than ever in our business there is not only one swallow that will make summer. I strongly believe in collectivity, partnership, in a leadership that I say less about what you do and more about how we get together in what we need to do. Coincidence or not, Sleyman Solomon and Solomon in human history was the righteous one. And I’m a lot about fairness, I try to be fair with the work, with the customers, with the orders and with the people. I strongly believe in the motto that if we take good care of people, they take good care of ideas.
