Can you have sensational ideas on demand?
- Oct 19, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 29, 2024
There is no such thing as a brand-free interaction. Therefore understanding brand management is an important leadership skill in modern management. On October 19th 2023 the professional network the Gallery Seoul learned from one of the best on how to lead creativity and understanding the key ingredients in brand management.
Our speaker was Julie Kang, CEO and Managing Partner of Serviceplan Korea. An award winning agency who has several Cannes-lions resting on its shelves, and in 2023 was placed no. 1 at APAC Adfest and number 1 in The One Club Global rankings.
In this article we share the key points from Julie’s presentation on how to lead creativity.
Building a house of communication
Building a brand is tricky. Because leading creativity is asking people for ideas on demand. At the presentation, Julie shared how close leadership, talent recruitment and corporate culture are the essential matters (as in all leadership).
Close leadership - The size at which flexibility works matters
Julie and Serviceplan believe that, to foster and lead creativity, the organization should remain divided into smaller working units while still providing integrated and multidisciplinary solutions and services at a larger scale within Serviceplan Group's extensive network. Creativity demands direct leadership. Therefore, Serviceplan is structured in units with a maximum number of colleagues.
Each unit runs with a high level of independence. Creativity and bureaucracy /slow processes do not go well together. If a unit grows bigger it will be split into two with two managing partners enjoying the same high level of autonomy. This keeps leadership close and the organization agile. This is also why Serviceplan is an agency working as an independent unit because it forces them to continuously have to sell themselves to their clients, keeping them on their toes.
Setting the right team - perfection is not always best
Talent recruitment and talent retention is always at the heart of every successful business. So this is not special to the creative industry. However, understanding what type of people to attract is key.
As Julie puts it, she is not looking for people who can color to perfection never going beyond the lines. She needs people who can draw pictures. Meaning the traditional merits are not necessarily the perfect skills for brand management. This, Julie finds, clashes to a certain extent with the Korean educational system where there is a high focus on perfection, the art of doing something right - and in the right way. And not necessarily are taught how to experiment and explore their creativity.
In relation to this we touched upon female leadership, because even though Julie does not feel her own gender has mattered, she is a role model in female top-executive leadership. In fact Serviceplan Korea has a majority of female leaders and that is the case for the Korean creative industry in general. This Julie believes has to do with the above.
Because when selling a story your ability to connect and storytell is essential. This is not a rational pitch but a pitch to the heart. And here Julie says women to a much larger extent are taught from an early age to communicate with feelings making them capable of understanding and utilizing emotions better than men (in a very general manner of speaking). So in the creative industry the feminine form of communication might have a one up.
Further, Julie is looking for people who are good at asking questions. Asking questions is the number one tool for a house of communication in order to understand both customer and client. And to disrupt the status quo breaking through with a message. Again, this is not a highly celebrated skill in the Korean educational system and to some extent neither in the traditional Korean corporate world. Korea believes in hierarchy and that seniors should be respected as wiser. Thus, it can be perceived as rude to ask too many questions, and it is not uncommon for kids to be taught in school “don’t ask why, just follow my lead”. In Julie's leadership she asks her team of the opposite, driving creativity forward.
The surroundings matter
Finally, Julie points out that physical space matters. Serviceplan Korea has an office space in the middle of both tradition and modernity. Overlooking the hanok rooftops and the former presidential office at Blue house, Julie and her team are reminded of the traditional side of Korea every time they take a walk or look out the window. But at the same time they are in the middle of central Seoul where traffic, city-life and skyscrapers are reminders of the pace, innovation and vibe that Korea also holds.
What are the key elements in building a brand strategy?
In brand management the key question is: In one sentence, what do you want your customers to say?
It sounds easy but formulating that one concise sentence is tricky. But once that is in place you can start planning the strategy. You can say that a brand is a promise and branding is the promotion and upholding of that promise.
Your job as a brand manager is finding the sweet spot. Where your communication both hits the product information, the human desires and the current trends. Then you have a shot of breaking through the noise and maybe even creating a super brand. This entails understanding the crowd. Both the general human desires and the spirit of the times. Here Julie shared an example on how Serviceplan had created a campaign to attract more people (fishing the talent pool). Here they went with a creative extravaganza approach using cutting edge - as well as provocative - methods. This of course speaks to exactly the creative people they were looking for who would notice the level of detail and innovation (that might be lost to “normal” people).
On the other side you need to be able to help your client distill their success factors. Because every part of your organization can be a brand element. Whatever you do, has to be linked to the product or the organization's desired call to action. It is never enough to create a beautiful advertisement. If it is not connected to the company in the minds of the customer it will not be a successful campaign no matter the reach. In this process there are trade-offs. You cannot please everyone. So, are we strengthening the strengths or strengthening the weakness?
Then you can start to build your story. And here Julie says, it's all about touching the heart. Don’t think about how to sell but how to create a connection with your customer. The trick is to get the attention in the midst of all the communication people are confronted with every day. When people go to a gallery or to the movies they actively choose to get this experience. In advertising it is the other way around. People are doing their thing and you have to get their attention to such a degree that they experience the connection through your communication.
Remembering that every story has to be credible and loyal to the company. Adorning your client with borrowed feathers is unsustainable and can in the end be harmful to the client. However, if you truly connect, the campaign can sell without advertising money because people share it at their own will. That is the dream.
But you cannot have a smash hit every time. Sometimes the client does not like the idea or the market doesn’t take to it. That is the nature of experiments.
Looking at these key elements, it also becomes clear why the characteristics of open to experiment, ready to accept misfires, storytelling and the art of asking questions are essential skills people working with brand management should possess.
“We are all on that journey as experimentors together”
…is a leadership sentence of Julie Kang creating a free-thinking environment as the foundation of producing award-winning campaigns. It requires that you dare to leave your comfort zone together with your team. “Being small and independent is a challenge, but also the beauty of our strength.” says Julie summing up the ingredients for working as a house of communication.
If you want to follow the work of Serviceplan Korea you can visit their website:
If you want to follow Julie on LinkedIn visit her profile here:
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