Davy Rennie cut his teeth at Avande, Deloitte and DDB, and since then, his curiosity has been impossible to tame. That tireless drive and enthusiasm is the backbone of Digitas, where Rennie is CEO–it’s what led the agency to pick up B&T’s Best Digital Services win at the B&T Awards on Friday.
Rennie has honed his skills in customer experience design and business development across the advertising industry for over 20 years. In his role at Digitas, he is known for leading the agency’s unicorns (as the Digitas team is affectionately known) with humility and positivity, upholding the agency’s culture for making unique work.
In this week’s Fast 10, Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham sat down with Rennie to hear all about his creative and leadership philosophy, and how losing his dad made him turn to Cancer Council’s Daffodil Day and Le Dip.
1. You’ve had a great career, from a design manager in Qld, whiteGrey/DDB, fast forward to CEO Digitas Australia. If you had to pick only one, what would be your career highlight so far?
Davy Rennie: Winning the McDonald’s pitch will always stand out. My dad was very ill during that time, and he loved hearing every detail - the strategy, the blind spots, the pressure. He was a sales guy and got a rush from the process and maybe threw in a couple of tactics.
When we won, I called him straight away. It was emotional because he passed away soon after, but sharing that moment with him meant everything.
Digitas was a big gig, and he knew it was a big step for me and important to start off right. Lots of tears.
2. You surround yourself with incredible talent/unicorns. How do you attract, nurture, and ensure those legendary creatures are happy?
DR: Love legendary creatures! It’s actually the national animal of Scotland, too.
We like to keep our stable stimulated and curious. Curiosity is a tenant of all the best leaders, and I hope we allow our unicorns to be that, even when it’s crunch time on pitches and delivery. I’ve made a couple of hires recently who I selfishly just want to listen to, learn from and steal from. Talent so good you meet with them on a Friday and can’t wait to ask questions on a Monday.
3. Few agencies can promise that everything is truly connected. How do you ensure that’s a reality and not frogshit?
DR: Intelligence. Last year we merged data and strategy together to ensure that everything we do is informed by data smarts, and strategies didn’t just retrofit data loosely to prove a strategic hypothesis. This means that everything we do is connected to a growth outcome, because at the end of the day when clients spend a dollar with us, the goal should be to 10x the value.
4. As a young boy in Glasgow, what did you want to be when you grew up?
DR: After I failed to get good enough to be a professional golfer, something creative.
I was an average designer (just ask my old CDs), but I loved it. I failed graphic design in school quite badly, and only scraped into my HND (Higher National Diploma) of Graphics Design after some magic with Flash Action Script 1.0.
I still want to be a creative when I grow up, I think. I hope Dave Bowman gives me a job one day in his department, I’ll even start as a junior again just to listen to his feedback and thinking every day.
5. I really value that after you lost your Dad to cancer late last year, you got involved in Daffodil Day & Le Dip. How can we donate, support, and help you in this challenge in the future?
DR: Daffodil Day and Le Dip was the brainchild of our chief of staff, Scott Ramsay, and he put in the work to make it a reality in the business. It was such a special month getting competitive with the other leaders in Publicis Groupe to raise money for Cancer Council, and really aligns with our working with cancer policy set by Arthur.
Anyone can donate, whether it’s a coin in a jar or charity event, do it. A little goes a long way. It would be great to do it again and get competitive with the other agencies in Australia, too.
6. As an industry, what’s one thing you would change to make us all better?
DR: Focus on the outcomes. I’d like everyone to know how important creativity is in the world of business. Awards like the Effie’s are so critical to that, I want to see more awards for effective work that creates business outcomes.
7. Digitas has a very impressive, diverse blue-chip client list. What’s a specific recent example where you are driving client growth and sales?
DR: Our recent work on Exetel was special.
The no-frills ISP needed to relaunch its brand, and they had a special weapon we wanted to make the most of, a small but hardcore base of loyal fans. We used our Connected Fandom framework to identify commercial ways into a product that is well known in IT circles and techies.
Sarah Heitkamp and our strategy team worked in lock step with our amazing sister agency Zenith to drive maximum efficacy in media, and our creative team lead by Simon Brock went to town on creative.
Smart insights, commercial outcomes, and engaging creative meant it was one of the most successful launches of the year, absolutely blitzing targets for sign-ups in the first few weeks, and continuing to build momentum beyond its core fan base, thanks to those highly engaged fans who shared the love of the brand with their networks too.
8. What’s the best career advice you have ever been given?
DR: “Make good shit” – Tim Kotsiakos, the ECD of Reactive back when I was faking it as a designer. I asked him in an interview as a cocky 20 something what he wanted to do, and that was his answer. So, I try to do that.
9. What’s one thing that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
DR: My first design job. Designer – DJ Hesky and Big Al.
My mates were DJs and concert promoters and that’s how I got into my first design job out of college, flyers and posters for Montell Jordan, Fatman Scoop and Neyo. Pretty cool as a 19-year-old to do that work and sometimes meet the acts. Because of the work I did for them I got my first design gig, which means I got a career out of it.
10. Important last question, do your parents really know what you do?
DR: Absolutely not. My kids on the other hand think I drive V8 Supercars, work at Maccas and moonlight at Aldi. Who am I to correct them.
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