Advertising in today’s world is one of the most important things that builds a brand. It helps you reach a wider audience base and gives you a platform to shed light on the issues in society and bring out a solution in the most creative way!
Featuring for The Enterprise World’s this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022 is Luciana Rodrigues, Grey Advertising solving the business problems creatively.
In this interview with Luciana Rodrigues, CEO of Grey Advertising, let us find out more about her journey and the company-Grey Advertising.
1. Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the Grey Advertising?
My mission is to build bridges to close gaps between companies and objectives, companies, and audiences, companies and causes and, above all, to unite people with the same purpose to work towards a common goal.
2. What are the initial challenges you faced and what are the reasons behind company’s long-standing success? What are the products or services the Grey Advertising focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
Grey Advertising Group is part of WPP company, the world’s biggest advertising company, which has been embracing transformation since 1917. At Grey Advertising we build brands and ideas that drive business and the other way around too.
Grey Advertising belong to the new era of communication, and we see the industry in a different way, in which the advertising that really matters to people, no longer looks like advertising. Grey Advertising always reinforce our process of constant change. Grey Advertising work in partnership with brands with a clear purpose and the ambition to play a significant role in society. Grey Advertising’s mission is to make an impact in people’s lives.
3. Being a successful leader, please share your views on current business scenario across globe after Covid19 pandemic.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2022 report “My employer” is now the most trusted of any institution at 77%, and workers expect CEOs to be the “face of change”. It means that privileged leaders, like me, must act and use our voices and influence to make the world a better place. As Bruce Mau, one of the most brilliant minds in this century said: “Allow events to change you. You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.”
4. Why is it said that the workforce plays a vital role in every business’s growth? Please tell us about your team.
People can’t work very well together unless they trust each other.
A smart team is worth more than a team of smarts. It is proved in nature that collective intelligence trumps individual talents. However, we grew and learned with a model that has always been based on exalting individual talents, the brilliance of an individual in superimposition of collective competence. Unless someone knows how a single idea or project was executed by the hands of a single person, it is quite obvious that our business – literally – is to think, act and execute in a group. That’s what I believe as a leader.
5. Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
I’m recognized as one of the most complete executives in the Brazilian Communication market for the results achieved in a 25-year career built in some of the most emblematic local and multinational Ad agencies, as well as for my innovation-driven leadership in the media field.
I played the role of General Manager BuzzFeed Brazil as well as Vice President of Innovation for Warner Media Latin America. Prior to that, I had a remarkable career in Advertising, leading strategic efforts and teams at F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi and J W Thompson, where I was Head of the Clients Services and had the opportunity to lead some of the top Fortune 500 brands.
I’m a member of the Advisory Board of Junior Achievement Brazil, AMCHAM Brazil’s Executive committee, and Forbes columnist.
6. What are the key achievements of your business journey?
My social style profile is classified as Game Changer by Proteus International. It means that I’m a people oriented and business driven professional. I’ve never delivered less than 20% revenue growth in financial results in the companies I’ve invested my time and passion for. Mostly through innovative and impactful projects such The Dove Self-Esteem Project and Cartoon Network (back in 2018) aiming to help young people overcome body image issues and fulfil their potential by building positive body confidence and self-esteem.
A project that impacted 40M girls in more than 140 countries, part of the Unstereotype Movement. The idea was based on a simple insight: what we watch has a big impact on how we feel, especially when we’re young. Being a mother of two girls in the era of “filters and editing” I’ve acknowledged how important it’s for them to build their self-esteem to become a self-confident woman. A force for good and a force for growth as Marc Pritchard, P&G CMO, claims.
7. ‘Innovation is the key to business growth’, Please share your views.
Innovation is the only way to win. Nevertheless, we have a big equation to solve. Everyone wants to innovate, but no one wants to change. Innovative cultures are characterized by a tolerance for failure and a willingness to experiment. A safe, highly collaborative, and non-hierarchical environment but even though innovative cultures are desirable and essential for the business growth it’s hard to create and sustain. To make it happen a clear communication, constant evaluation process with goals to achieve (both businesswise and attitudinal) are crucial. I haven’t cracked this code yet, so much work to do. Always beta. Always better.
8. Any client experience you would like to highlight?
Grey Advertising brought ESG to life through a breakthrough idea. Every electric socket in the Americas becomes an exclusive gateway to the first -pure electric- Volvo. Surprising but feels inevitable. To discover Volvo’s first all-electric model, the C40 Recharge, all it takes is to scan any outlet with a cell phone camera and one can access the world of electrification.
The idea that launches the car, conceived by Grey Brazil, reframes the meaning of the electric socket, and allows the public to get to know the attributes of the new Volvo from an interactive and completely immersive VR experience. Once “inside the socket”, the public will be able to discover Easter eggs, customize the car, schedule a test drive, and even buy the C40 Recharge. And, at first, it’s the only way to get it.
9. Which one is your favourite quote?
“Courage is fear walking” Susan David
