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<\/p>\nIn this first of a new series, Between Gigs, Julie Anne Longano of Peeps Consulting chats with industry leaders who have suddenly found themselves on the market, in between gigs and asks them for advice. It\u2019s a rare and insightful point in their careers where they can talk openly and honestly as themselves. First in the series is Ken Lam.<\/p>\n
Ken\u202fLam available for a role, I never thought I would see the day. Thanks for chatting with me; I love speaking to people in our industry in between gigs as it\u2019s a rare moment in time they\u2019re not attached to a parent company party line. Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Julie Anne Longano.<\/p>\n
Julie Anne Longano: I\u2019ve been trying to headhunt you for various roles over the past decade but you\u2019ve always been content in what you\u2019re doing \u2013 what\u2019s your advice on a role and career you can be truly at peace in?\u202f<\/p>\n
KL: There have been great opportunities so a huge thank you and appreciation for approaching me! But like you said I\u2019ve always been content hence the relatively low number of changes across my career.<\/p>\n
And I think the main reason for me has always been \u201cAm I still being stretched?\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been lucky to keep finding new challenges without needing to move, sometimes by pushing myself into things I hadn\u2019t done before, other times because agency life naturally throws curveballs.<\/p>\n
At my last stop, for example, my first four years alone spanned client leadership, investment, building a new agency, and then running a P&L. Same company, but it felt like multiple careers. Each challenged me in a different way but also offered a great opportunity for personal growth.<\/p>\n
So my advice would be:<\/p>\n
Stay if you\u2019re still learning and being challenged. If you\u2019re coasting, it\u2019s probably time to move.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t wait for roles to be handed to you. Most of the interesting stuff in my career came from putting my hand up or creating it.<\/p>\n
Promotions and pay tend to follow impact. Focus on performance and expanding your remit, titles usually catch up!<\/p>\n
JAL: We\u2019ll spend exactly one question on this and no more\u2026 your view on the impact of Ai in our industry?<\/p>\n
KL: I\u2019ve been using the quote: \u201cAI won\u2019t replace you, but someone who knows how to use AI will.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact we spent a bit of time in unpacking this for our teams recently at my last employment. We got futurist Katie Rigg-Smith (shameless plug), who was my ex-CSO and CEO at Mindshare, to talk about the future of the marketing and media industry, and how it will change our jobs and the need to evolve.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s definitely some scary stuff in that it\u2019s going to take out a lot of the manual, repetitive stuff across planning, buying, and reporting \u2013 some of the skills we\u2019ve all relied on just won\u2019t matter in the same way.<\/p>\n
But the flip side is, that was never the real value anyway. The value is understanding people and how they behave, what drives them, and how brands actually connect in a meaningful way. That part doesn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n
So for me, it\u2019s not about panicking about my job in two, three years\u2019 time, but to learn the tools, use them to remove the grunt work, and spend more time on thinking and judgement. Because until AI can genuinely think ahead, handle nuances, and own outcomes like a human can, there\u2019s still a big role for those who can.<\/p>\n
JAL: The initial building of iProspect; you brought together more than 150 people from 2 very different agencies, tell us about that time.<\/p>\n
KL: I\u2019ve been lucky (or cursed, depending how you look at it!), to go through three major restructures in leadership roles. From the forming of a bespoke Ford full-service agency at WPP, to the centralisation and decentralisation of Amplifi investment at dentsu, to bringing Vizeum and iProspect together more recently.<\/p>\n
The iProspect one was probably the most intense, it genuinely felt like building a start-up, but inside a holdco. We had 150+ very capable people, but from two very different models, and not a fully formed, end-to-end agency between us.<\/p>\n
So we had to build almost everything from scratch.<\/p>\n
I was Head of Investment at the time, so a lot of it was foundational; planning and implementation frameworks, briefing and response templates, training the entire team on what \u2018end-to-end\u2019 actually meant, how to collaborate with media partners, negotiate, evaluate and implement properly.<\/p>\n
But the more important and challenging part, was everything around it. From our agency proposition, go-to-market narrative and pitch story, people and culture initiatives, rhythms and rituals ensuring both legacies were well respected.<\/p>\n
This was also true for the more recent market restructure where my role changed from leading investment to leading the agency, through a very challenging time. And that\u2019s the bit I would call out for anyone going through it now:<\/p>\n
A focus on people is the most important. Don\u2019t just say you care, show it through actions.<\/p>\n
Be deliberate about culture. If you don\u2019t define it, legacy mindsets will.<\/p>\n
Over-communicate and be as transparent and honest as you can. Silence is where uncertainty grows.<\/p>\n
Get the basics right. Process, clarity, and consistency \u2013 people need to know how to operate and what great looks like before they can excel.<\/p>\n
JAL: Now that we have you in a flow; it\u2019s a rare point in time in your career where what you say isn\u2019t monitored by a parent company so\u2026 what do you have to say?\u202f<\/p>\n
KL: It\u2019s a tough reality in our industry that capable, experienced, senior talent are being made redundant more frequently, from understandable factors often driven by cost pressures.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to see leaders think differently about how to protect that talent and the value it brings. Instead of defaulting to exits, have honest conversations about reshaping roles, reducing scope or time in a way that still delivers savings while retaining experience, IP and continuity for clients.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s handled with transparency and respect, I\u2019d bet most people would welcome a more sustainable way of working, even if it means earning less but with increased personal time, over being pushed out of the industry altogether.<\/p>\n
JAL: If you could reverse-engineer your next dream role what would it be? This is your elevator pitch moment Ken I\u2019m not going to lie.<\/p>\n
KL: Somewhere I can be genuinely additive!<\/p>\n
With my background spanning client, investment and agency leadership, and a proven record of cultivating high performing teams, my ideal role is one where that experience is valued, whether that\u2019s agency, client or media owner side.<\/p>\n
And having dealt with major restructures like I mentioned, I\u2019ve seen my fair share of challenges and built strong resilience and a growth mindset to deal with anything, so I\u2019m open-minded on the environment, it\u2019s less about where and more about the opportunity to contribute, build and keep evolving alongside great people (and not just in holdco\u2019s!)<\/p>\n
JAL: Tell us about the people we\u2019re handing over the baton to; what are the people like coming through and how can we support them?<\/p>\n
KL: I\u2019m seeing a lot of young, smart, passionate talent coming through, not just in our agency but via my MFA involvement.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re more curious and incredibly adaptable to the pace of change our industry throws at them.<\/p>\n
So the only thing I\u2019d say is for them to not underestimate the human side of our industry, in the face of increasing automation and big tech, relationships still matter! And the network you build over time is what you\u2019ll lean on the most.<\/p>\n
And just as importantly, have fun along the way! My motto is \u201cwork will be shit at times so just have fun along the way to get you through!\u201d<\/p>\n
JAL: In the mindset of boss; what\u2019s a question you like asking someone you are interviewing?<\/p>\n
KL: Not a specific question but through conversation I\u2019d like to find out who someone really is.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m looking for their personality as much as their capability, because I believe culture and confidence is equally important to technical capabilities. The best people bring street-smarts and book-smarts!<\/p>\n
JAL: What about weirdest (or most thought provoking or unusual) question you ever got asked in an interview?<\/p>\n
KL: I\u2019ve only done a handful in my career so not a lot to draw on!<\/p>\n
But I really don\u2019t like the token \u201cwhere do you see yourself in two years\u201d type questions.. if someone\u2019s being honest and ambitious, the real answer is usually: doing someone else\u2019s job.<\/p>\n
JAL: You\u2019re in between gigs so you can actually tell us your favourite:<\/p>\n
KL: Radio station \u2013 podcasts all the way.. and usually sport and politics<\/p>\n
TV show.. besides binging on the occasional series.. is sport a TV show?<\/p>\n
Advertising format \u2013 Out-of-home<\/p>\n
Up and coming salesperson \u2013 not fair to name just one, but someone who takes the time to listen and understand<\/p>\n
Place to be taken for lunch \u2013 anywhere with a pint and good company!<\/p>\n
Branded merch item \u2013 my Reddit WFH ring light and microphone kit idea that never got made!<\/p>\n
JAL: How can people in the industry help you right now?<\/p>\n
KL: I\u2019m so grateful for the support our industry has shown, with so countless number of people reaching out, showing genuine care and willingness to help, so that means so much!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not one to sit still so I will keep reaching out for catch ups and checking in on the latest, so my only ask is to keep the coffee invites open, whether I\u2019m still on the hunt or landed my next dream role!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In this first of a new series, Between Gigs, Julie Anne Longano of Peeps Consulting chats with industry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,406441,105],"class_list":["post-834547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-between-gigs","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}