004 Building the Agency of the Future with Jennifer Risi

SHOWNOTES

My guest on today’s podcast is Jennifer Risi, Founder and CEO of β€˜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:

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Her entrepreneurial journey and the agency of the future

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Walking the talk on Diversity and Inclusion at The Sway Effect. The importance of bringing in different people and perspectives to the table for delivering great work.

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ The need for an inclusive mindset in communications for brands to resonate

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Her view on the three biggest challenge that agencies face in a post COVID-19 world

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ On this being a moment of pause, reset or the new normal. Her optimism and navigating the future with kindness

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Why purpose needs to be central to what brands do

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ 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

πŸ‘‰πŸΎ The importance of Ethics in PR and the skills for the future

Memorable quotes from the interview

β€œBut 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.”

β€œWell, 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”

β€œAnd 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.”

β€œWell, 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.”

β€œI 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...