Accountable agencies

It could be argued that a career in the world of advertising and marketing was in Jennifer Peabody’s DNA.

“My father was a creative back in the Mad Men days of advertising,” the President of Havas Edge tells The CEO Magazine.

“Through thinking that he was the most creative Marlboro man kind of guy, walking around with his leather satchel and having a bourbon in the lobby of some big hotel in New York waiting for a pitch, I was so fascinated! So I knew I wanted to get into advertising.”

The difference between Peabody and her father, however, was that she chose a more analytical route, which led her into the media industry at WME in California, followed by Western International Media, and then four years as Vice President Direct Marketing at skincare brand Murad, before joining Havas Edge in 2003. Then, in February 2020, she began her tenure as President.

“I absolutely love it, because every day we get to work with a whole bunch of different clients from very diverse backgrounds at different stages of their journey,” she explains. “The roots of the agency are very entrepreneurial – it started in a garage in San Diego over three decades ago, and it’s now become this leading global performance agency.”

Peabody admits that performance media can signal different meanings to different people and clarifies that at Havas Edge, the focus is on linking consumer action to media events.

“We’re bringing strategies, activation and optimization to market that are all based on first-party data, which is really unique, and accountable to measuring success based on consumer action,” she continues.

“Targeting audiences efficiently is only half the battle. It’s making sure that those investments are effective. It’s driving efficiency and effectiveness at eliciting measurable consumer action – that’s what we’re all about.”

Bespoke offerings

With unique offerings, including the use of data scientists and an in-house economist, Havas Edge is able to provide clients with data-driven insights and a macro-economic perspective.

“When you have data scientists who are building proprietary models, not off-the-shelf models, those models are able to adapt as media consumption evolves and we’re able to personalize and customize the models,” Peabody explains.

“So it’s never a one-size-fits-all. For instance, our data scientists are helping us waterfall national media to all local markets, which helps us more accurately evaluate the impact of reach, frequency and channel mix.”

While utilizing digital technology is not something to be feared, Peabody emphasizes that there is no substitute for the human touch.

“Our vision has always been that the possibilities are endless when relationships thrive,” she explains. “So AI is a very welcome colleague in my mind and a very helpful one at that. But businesses rely on transparency to make the best decisions, and I think often that requires human interface.

“We need to prioritize experience to navigate an increasingly noisy landscape. Our clients have the competitive edge if we’re able to curate a media strategy that is customized for them, and that requires seasoned talent – so bringing that valuable perspective to the table is absolutely the key in terms of the balance.”

Investing in the best

At the end of the day, Peabody believes that supporting talent from within the organization is absolutely critical and core to the success of Havas Edge.

“It’s so important to build culture and invest a lot of time in retaining and developing the talent you have, because that’s what lends itself to collaboration. It’s what lends itself to the dynamic in the room when you’re pitching – our clients can sense that we’re a unit.”

Peabody is eternally grateful for the support of her mentors over the formative years of her career, which is why she is always looking to nurture the next generation.

“I’m where I am at today because people believed in me, and they opened the door for me, but I had to walk through it,” she says.

“So I lead with that same kind of philosophy. Empowerment is key. Talented people don’t want to be micromanaged, but they have to have a clear vision to support. That is absolutely critical in terms of building relationships, and then you have to provide an inviting space and a forum for people to be able to have open discussions around the different ways that they see being able to achieve your vision.”

Given the immense fluctuations in the media landscape over the past five-plus years, with the COVID-19 pandemic, election cycles and the Olympics, Peabody describes it as a volatile and unpredictable market.

“The biggest opportunity is for CMOs to really lean into media strategies that are agile, where they can navigate those fluctuations and read and react to what is actually occurring,” she continues.

“I don’t think that you can predict what’s around the corner based on what something looked like last year or even quarter to quarter, because macroeconomic headwinds are changing rapidly.”

But ultimately, if a company is as well prepared as possible for these kinds of variabilities, with a strong, cohesive team all unified by working together to achieve the same goals, then success will always follow.

“The key unifier across our global agency is that we stay true to who we are and we accept accountability for the performance of the work we do no matter what,” Peabody says.

“And that is everyone, no matter where they are located or the cultural nuances in how they work. We believe that we have to earn our clients’ trust every day.”