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004 Building the Agency of the Future with Jennifer Risi
SHOWNOTES
My guest on today’s podcast is Jennifer Risi, Founder and CEO of ‘The Sway Effect’. In this fast paced session we speak about her family, education, background in psychology and how she landed her first job at Weber Shandwick. She also speaks about:
👉🏾 Her entrepreneurial journey and the agency of the future
👉🏾 Walking the talk on Diversity & Inclusion at The Sway Effect. The importance of bringing in different people and perspectives to the table for delivering great work.
👉🏾 The need for an inclusive mindset in communications for brands to resonate
👉🏾 Her view on the three biggest challenge that agencies face in a post COVID-19 world
👉🏾 On this being a moment of pause, reset or the new normal. Her optimism and navigating the future with kindness
👉🏾 Why purpose needs to be central to what brands do
👉🏾 Why PR professionals need to move away from being yes people to being trusted advisers and senior strategists helping clients navigate uncertain waters and being truth tellers
👉🏾 The importance of Ethics in PR and the skills for the future
Memorable quotes from the interview
“But I think what the success of the future agency model is going to be built on agility, it's going to be on the ability to adapt, it's going to be on the ability to move quickly and be flexible. I mean, what we're doing right now, I don't even see us as an agency. For our clients, I see us as an extension of their team. The clients see us as their advisors that have an equal seat at the table. Like a lot of our clients even have us on their leadership team. They have us in all of their meetings. So you know, when people bring us on, and brands bring us on like, either we are the communications function, or we are the senior advisors, and executer sitting with the heads of comms as an equal player on their team and at their table.”
“Well, I think we, we walk the talk, right? So you can't just can't just all be lip service, you actually have to live your values and live your beliefs and live your brands. And so we are actually advising our clients in everything that we do, of how to just think about things differently. And in some ways that is about diversity, equity inclusion. Because I truly believe you need to have teams that reflect the societies and populations you're serving. If you have an all white male team trying to come up with a product to reach women of colour, that doesn't work”
“And so that's really who we are at the centre of what we do, is we need to make sure we bring different perspectives, different voices, just different experiences to the table on behalf of our clients, so that we can produce the best work possible. I don't know everything, you don't know everything. If we don't bring people who are different than us to the table, we're going to not think about something, we're not going to think about a solution, we're not going in a certain way, we're not going to think about how do we reach a certain audience? Because everybody thinks, oh, I could do that. Well, you can. But it can be better if you're inclusive and bring different perspectives in.”
“Well, I think it’s one growth, growth, growth! To your point earlier about our model, we have been very fortunate, we have been extremely busy. I am not going to take advantage of that fact. I'm not going to complain because there are a lot of people that are not. But I would say what I've seen right now is if you are good at what you do, and people know what you do and they need the help especially now more than ever, they're going to reach out to the experts that they need. And in our industry, it's always about talent. You don't have the right talent, you're not going to have the brand, you're not going to have the clients and you're not going to do great work.”
“I think that, you know, purpose needs to be central to what brands do. Brands need to define who they are, and then live it. But in times like this, a brand's purpose is really put to the test. And as I said, I've seen so many brands really rise to the occasion, whether they have created products and services and put them into the market for free, just to do good for the world. Or I've seen brands go into action, like I've never seen before, to respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow. So I think purpose is central. And purpose needs to be the guiding principle for any brand. Because I think that at its root, you need to have your purpose driving everything. And the brands that lose their way and don't function that way are the ones that don't resonate, and are the ones that honestly have a lot of challenges with whether people think they're authentic or not.”
“Well, the role that I feel like we are to play are to be senior strategists. And sometimes that is delivering a good message. And sometimes that's delivering a message that the brand doesn't want to hear. But I think we have to be their conscience. And I think we need to be the strategists that are going to help them navigate these uncertain waters. So a lot of my day is spent giving feedback to ideas that I hear or things that clients say they want to do. And sometimes I offer alternatives. Sometimes I directly have to say that's not going to work that's going to appear tone deaf and no. And then sometimes just get it sometimes clients just get it right all the time. So I think that it's our job is to really be like the truth teller. We need to be able to tell clients what they need to hear.”
Biography
Jennifer Risi, President and Founder, The Sway Effect
Jennifer Risi is the President and Founder of The Sway Effect, one of the fastest-growing marketing and communications agencies today. The Sway Effect works in partnership with an organisation’s most senior leadership to drive global reputation, manage strategic media relations, develop crisis communications plans, and enhance executive visibility. With a deep understanding of today’s complicated stakeholder landscape, The Sway Effect puts Diversity and Inclusion at the centre of an organisations’ communications strategy.
Risi is a seasoned communications executive with more than 15 years of experience in international reputation, strategic global media relations, CEO positioning, change management, and crisis communications. She is also an expert in nation branding – having led award-winning global campaigns for Mexico, Colombia, USA, and Indonesia. Her clients are CEOs and Heads of State the world over.
Before starting The Sway Effect, Risi spent eight years at Ogilvy, most recently serving as Worldwide Chief Communications Officer and Global Managing Director of Ogilvy’s Media Influence. She was also a member of the agency’s Executive Leadership Team.
Risi is a champion for diversity – often writing and speaking on key issues as well as mentoring and sponsoring next-generation talent. She is also a member of the 4A’s Foundation Board and forged Ogilvy’s membership with the Unstereotype Alliance. She serves as an ongoing advisor to UN Women and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Notably, during her career, Risi launched UN Women's HeForShe campaign, managed Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Climate Summit for Local Leaders at COP21, handled the IPOs for Citizens Financial Group and Chemours, and lead change management communication for FOX Corporation as the company sold 21st Century FOX to Disney.
Risi was named a PR News Top Women in PR for three years in a row and was inducted into the 2019 PRWeek Hall of Femme. She has won multiple awards for her corporate reputation and nation branding campaigns from The Holmes Report, PRWeek, and Cannes Lions. Risi also led a cross-agency team and was awarded the UN Foundation’s Global Leadership Award for Common Ground’s LXL campaign. Most recently, The Sway Effect was named a finalist for PRovoke Media’s New Agency of the Year.
power of women helping women and their continued commitment to “support” by example. #convenegirls
Risi lives in New York City and is an alumna of Barnard College, Columbia University.
Website and social media channels:
Website: theswayeffect.com
LinkedIn: The Sway Effect
Instagram: @TheSwayEffect
Jennifer Risi's Twitter: @JenRisi
Other useful links
https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/ogilvy-cco-jen-risi-launches-agency-with-collaboration-at-core
https://www.adforum.com/interviews/jennifer-risis-the-sway-effect
https://www.prweek.com/article/1686015/biotech-company-berg-names-sway-effect-global-aor
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/betches-names-the-sway-effect-as-pr-agency-of-record-301008351.html
https://musebycl.io/worklife/wfh-diaries-jennifer-risi-sway-effect
View all episodes
By Sudha Singh
5
22 ratings
SHOWNOTES
My guest on today’s podcast is Jennifer Risi, Founder and CEO of ‘The Sway Effect’. In this fast paced session we speak about her family, education, background in psychology and how she landed her first job at Weber Shandwick. She also speaks about:
👉🏾 Her entrepreneurial journey and the agency of the future
👉🏾 Walking the talk on Diversity & Inclusion at The Sway Effect. The importance of bringing in different people and perspectives to the table for delivering great work.
👉🏾 The need for an inclusive mindset in communications for brands to resonate
👉🏾 Her view on the three biggest challenge that agencies face in a post COVID-19 world
👉🏾 On this being a moment of pause, reset or the new normal. Her optimism and navigating the future with kindness
👉🏾 Why purpose needs to be central to what brands do
👉🏾 Why PR professionals need to move away from being yes people to being trusted advisers and senior strategists helping clients navigate uncertain waters and being truth tellers
👉🏾 The importance of Ethics in PR and the skills for the future
Memorable quotes from the interview
“But I think what the success of the future agency model is going to be built on agility, it's going to be on the ability to adapt, it's going to be on the ability to move quickly and be flexible. I mean, what we're doing right now, I don't even see us as an agency. For our clients, I see us as an extension of their team. The clients see us as their advisors that have an equal seat at the table. Like a lot of our clients even have us on their leadership team. They have us in all of their meetings. So you know, when people bring us on, and brands bring us on like, either we are the communications function, or we are the senior advisors, and executer sitting with the heads of comms as an equal player on their team and at their table.”
“Well, I think we, we walk the talk, right? So you can't just can't just all be lip service, you actually have to live your values and live your beliefs and live your brands. And so we are actually advising our clients in everything that we do, of how to just think about things differently. And in some ways that is about diversity, equity inclusion. Because I truly believe you need to have teams that reflect the societies and populations you're serving. If you have an all white male team trying to come up with a product to reach women of colour, that doesn't work”
“And so that's really who we are at the centre of what we do, is we need to make sure we bring different perspectives, different voices, just different experiences to the table on behalf of our clients, so that we can produce the best work possible. I don't know everything, you don't know everything. If we don't bring people who are different than us to the table, we're going to not think about something, we're not going to think about a solution, we're not going in a certain way, we're not going to think about how do we reach a certain audience? Because everybody thinks, oh, I could do that. Well, you can. But it can be better if you're inclusive and bring different perspectives in.”
“Well, I think it’s one growth, growth, growth! To your point earlier about our model, we have been very fortunate, we have been extremely busy. I am not going to take advantage of that fact. I'm not going to complain because there are a lot of people that are not. But I would say what I've seen right now is if you are good at what you do, and people know what you do and they need the help especially now more than ever, they're going to reach out to the experts that they need. And in our industry, it's always about talent. You don't have the right talent, you're not going to have the brand, you're not going to have the clients and you're not going to do great work.”
“I think that, you know, purpose needs to be central to what brands do. Brands need to define who they are, and then live it. But in times like this, a brand's purpose is really put to the test. And as I said, I've seen so many brands really rise to the occasion, whether they have created products and services and put them into the market for free, just to do good for the world. Or I've seen brands go into action, like I've never seen before, to respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow. So I think purpose is central. And purpose needs to be the guiding principle for any brand. Because I think that at its root, you need to have your purpose driving everything. And the brands that lose their way and don't function that way are the ones that don't resonate, and are the ones that honestly have a lot of challenges with whether people think they're authentic or not.”
“Well, the role that I feel like we are to play are to be senior strategists. And sometimes that is delivering a good message. And sometimes that's delivering a message that the brand doesn't want to hear. But I think we have to be their conscience. And I think we need to be the strategists that are going to help them navigate these uncertain waters. So a lot of my day is spent giving feedback to ideas that I hear or things that clients say they want to do. And sometimes I offer alternatives. Sometimes I directly have to say that's not going to work that's going to appear tone deaf and no. And then sometimes just get it sometimes clients just get it right all the time. So I think that it's our job is to really be like the truth teller. We need to be able to tell clients what they need to hear.”
Biography
Jennifer Risi, President and Founder, The Sway Effect
Jennifer Risi is the President and Founder of The Sway Effect, one of the fastest-growing marketing and communications agencies today. The Sway Effect works in partnership with an organisation’s most senior leadership to drive global reputation, manage strategic media relations, develop crisis communications plans, and enhance executive visibility. With a deep understanding of today’s complicated stakeholder landscape, The Sway Effect puts Diversity and Inclusion at the centre of an organisations’ communications strategy.
Risi is a seasoned communications executive with more than 15 years of experience in international reputation, strategic global media relations, CEO positioning, change management, and crisis communications. She is also an expert in nation branding – having led award-winning global campaigns for Mexico, Colombia, USA, and Indonesia. Her clients are CEOs and Heads of State the world over.
Before starting The Sway Effect, Risi spent eight years at Ogilvy, most recently serving as Worldwide Chief Communications Officer and Global Managing Director of Ogilvy’s Media Influence. She was also a member of the agency’s Executive Leadership Team.
Risi is a champion for diversity – often writing and speaking on key issues as well as mentoring and sponsoring next-generation talent. She is also a member of the 4A’s Foundation Board and forged Ogilvy’s membership with the Unstereotype Alliance. She serves as an ongoing advisor to UN Women and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Notably, during her career, Risi launched UN Women's HeForShe campaign, managed Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Climate Summit for Local Leaders at COP21, handled the IPOs for Citizens Financial Group and Chemours, and lead change management communication for FOX Corporation as the company sold 21st Century FOX to Disney.
Risi was named a PR News Top Women in PR for three years in a row and was inducted into the 2019 PRWeek Hall of Femme. She has won multiple awards for her corporate reputation and nation branding campaigns from The Holmes Report, PRWeek, and Cannes Lions. Risi also led a cross-agency team and was awarded the UN Foundation’s Global Leadership Award for Common Ground’s LXL campaign. Most recently, The Sway Effect was named a finalist for PRovoke Media’s New Agency of the Year.
power of women helping women and their continued commitment to “support” by example. #convenegirls
Risi lives in New York City and is an alumna of Barnard College, Columbia University.
Website and social media channels:
Website: theswayeffect.com
LinkedIn: The Sway Effect
Instagram: @TheSwayEffect
Jennifer Risi's Twitter: @JenRisi
Other useful links
https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/ogilvy-cco-jen-risi-launches-agency-with-collaboration-at-core
https://www.adforum.com/interviews/jennifer-risis-the-sway-effect
https://www.prweek.com/article/1686015/biotech-company-berg-names-sway-effect-global-aor
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/betches-names-the-sway-effect-as-pr-agency-of-record-301008351.html
https://musebycl.io/worklife/wfh-diaries-jennifer-risi-sway-effect