How to build a company culture that helps strategists thrive

New York-based strategy training company Sweathead recently released a report titled “What Strategists Want From Work” which found that 42 percent of strategists globally were looking to change jobs in the next 12 months, because their company culture had become too focused on bureaucracy over creativity.

By Romanita Oprea

The same study found that 69 percent didn’t get enough training from their company, while 80 percent said a team that values strategy was the most important factor in making a company a great place to work. Strategists seek companies where strategy is not only valued but visible, the report finds. They want to know that their work is going to be part of the creative process and impact the final result.

Strategists tend to leave companies when they’re not earning, learning, or both. Of those polled, many said they felt undervalued and were on the move as a result, with some looking to leave agency life for good.

Mark Pollard, founder and CEO of Sweathead, introduced “The Cruciality Paradox.”

“Strategists have become crucial to the desires of many companies, but they have not become crucial to the fabric of those companies. In recent years, we’ve heard a lot about agencies using strategists to help them win new business in difficult times, to explain rapid changes in culture to clients, and to help the companies they worked in adapt better to new realities,” explained Pollard.

The study polled strategists and planners in the US, UK, Canada, India, Malaysia, and Mexico, thus providing a global perspective. Over 73 percent of strategists surveyed were working within advertising agencies, alongside those working in creative in-house teams, design agencies, marketing agencies, and PR agencies, across all levels of seniority.

Sweathead also held in-depth interviews with 13 strategy leaders from the world’s most effective agencies—according to the latest Effie Index—to understand how they’re hiring for strategy roles and what makes for a great strategy culture.

The Big Why

We are talking about an industry where changing jobs is always on the table, where retention is lower than in other industries; furthermore, people should ask themselves whether they want to move to another agency or exit the industry altogether.

“If we consider reasons for changing the agency, then a lack of training and not valuing strategy are important factors for someone to look for a better place. By definition, planners are curious people and they are eager to learn and develop themselves; they need continuous input in order to generate better output, and new skills and perspectives help them to make new connections and see the world from different angles. When they feel that are stagnating or not evolving, they get frustrated. On the other hand, working in an agency where planning hasn’t earned its well–deserved importance and the respect of other departments means continuously fighting to justify the role and its contribution to a better agency product,” said Adrian Chiuhan, brand and communication strategist.

Meanwhile, looking for a change by exiting the industry highlights multiple opportunities for planners in other industries. Startups, consultancy companies or simply other industries appreciate the experience and added value a planner can offer in terms of solving problems—and not just communication ones.

“This appreciation comes with higher paychecks, the freedom to bring their contribution in many areas of a certain business, and a different status inside a company. These are enough to make a planner exit advertising and start a new career in a different area. Suddenly, working in advertising is not so sexy anymore,” Chiuhan added.

“There’s a paradox I see in planning: today we have infinitely more ways to stay close to our consumers, to the people we write briefs about. Unfortunately, instead of connecting to people, planners rely on the abundance of available data and go for ready-made conclusions. I’m witnessing a lack of genuine curiosity, a decline in time spent on observing behaviour. This is the skill that will always matter, one that will never get old,” said Raluca Kovacs, chief strategy officer at Publicis Romania, one of the study’s 13 senior respondents.

Kovacs also noted that the role of strategist is very important for the health, creative edge, and growth of an agency. There are two predominant agency models: creative-led agencies—which have a hard time integrating strategists into their work, generating frustration and a lack of investment and training, eventually demotivating planners who end up looking for a better job—and business-led agencies, where strategy departments are too small to make a real difference. In this latter type of agency, the pressure is high, burdening planners with short-term revenue KPIs instead of encouraging a bigger scope with mid- or long-term results.

In his turn, Victor Stroe, associate director & chief strategy officer at Leo Burnett Romania, who was also part of the study, argued that the landscape of communication strategy has undergone a profound transformation in recent years.

“The surge of technological advancements, the proliferation of social media platforms, brands’ extensive engagement with society, Generation Z’s takeover as global influencers, and the widespread accessibility of big data along with AI-driven planning tools have collectively orchestrated a significant impact on the strategic planning discipline across the globe. As a result, an abundance of opportunities has arisen for strategists to redefine their approaches and explore novel arenas to apply their expertise. Consequently, it’s only natural for strategists to seek out professional environments that are not just in sync with the current times, but also offer genuine job satisfaction/fulfilling their desire for growth, thereby avoiding the risk of becoming outdated,” says Stroe.

Stroe also pointed out that in their company culture, planners play crucial roles in the working process, more so than at other agencies.

“As they are involved in multiple stages while the campaign is being cooked, their input highly impacts our advertising work, making a real difference in the agency’s overall output. The feeling that you’ve decisively contributed to every step of the campaign is highly rewarding.”

In these post-pandemic times, changing jobs has been top-of-mind for people in all business categories, so the share of those thinking of making a move shouldn’t be a surprise, argued Stefan Chiritescu, chief strategy officer at McCann Worldgroup Romania. Beyond this general trend, he added that “strategists’ behaviour has a deeper trigger: they don’t feel the actual agency business model is still relevant for today’s business world. Advertising per se is in a profound crisis, a crisis of relevance.”

At the same time, as Chiritescu pointed out, the job of a strategist is to influence impact on the clients’ businesses, so the need for different types of expertise is more and more present. Therefore, senior planners tend to work as freelancers for big projects or become part of the clients’ teams by playing the role of consultants.

“In a way, strategists feel that agencies shouldn’t sell pure creative products, but creative strategic solutions that bring business impact,” Chiritescu also noted.

Another strong point was brought up by Miruna Macsoda, managing director & head of strategy at Rusu+Borțun, who said that despite the fact that agencies need strategists more than ever, very few of them realise that the pandemic has made the strategist role more unseen than ever. The economic conditions of recent years have brought spontaneous changes in clients’ business objectives—and therefore in those of agencies as well.

“As a result, strategists often had to react, which left them with less time for their own development. The tactics, as opposed to the vision, became their main strength. Despite the analytical nature of their role, strategists need to be fully connected to the business’s internal and external stakeholders as well as to the overall market. Without the connection, their work becomes sterile, the pressure for short-term results starts to dictate a repetitive strategic approach, and the final impact becomes less and less visible with the risk of making the strategist seem irrelevant to the context,” Miruna Macsoda argues. What’s more, with no particular long-term vision, less time to keep up with the market in terms of strategy trends,and reduced connectivity with the beneficiaries of the strategy, strategists may be inclined to make professional changes.

“It’s normal human behaviour to consider a job change when you suddenly have more options to choose from. And the competition for strategic brains has increased tremendously as new startups and more flexible forms of collaboration have begun to flourish. If I were in an agency executive’s shoes, I’d take a deep introspective look at this report, as for a strategist who’s determined to evolve, a single trigger may be sufficient to generate the need for change. I believe there’s a strong reason why strategy always comes first in the phases of a project and on the slides of a presentation,” stated Cristiana Belodan, Senior Advertising Consultant | Brand Strategist | Brand Auditor.

“In some companies, it’s because of the crucial importance they give to the strategic compass guidance. In others, because it serves as an introduction of the creative work, a warm-up before the fireworks. In both cases, the strategic build-up is important. It won’t generate an impact in both cases, though. It depends a lot on what type of portfolio you plan to develop. Unfortunately, you can still find options on our market for both ways of understanding and using the strategic function. To conclude: it’s important to know your value and hold your ground. These are my timeless guiding principles. And what I’d recommend as selection criteria when choosing where you’ll be delivering strategic input next,” Belodan added.

According to Adrian Chiuhan, a planner wants to influence the creative process from beginning to end: from inspiring good creative work to measuring its effects. At the same time, they want to work in a place where there is a culture of striving and risk-taking, a culture of excellence, where people are open to trying new ways of doing things and where failures are part of the evolution process, where diversity is seen as an ingredient for better work, where people are motivated to do the best work of their lives.

Added value for companies and agencies

“Seeing your ideas make an impact on the final work is a great feeling, I admit. But as time went by, I realised what the true value of the strategy department was: to carve out new paths for creative ideas, find better and more interesting problems to solve, make the agency a real partner in the client’s business. Senior strategists invested with power, education, and autonomy can generate new streams of revenue for both client and agency and have been proven to foster long-lasting partnerships that transform the business,” noted Raluca Kovacs.

Meanwhile, Victor Stroe pointed out that people need to feel like they matter and really have their voices heard. This is true regardless of their specific job; what truly counts is recognising the value of an individual, making sure they are significant and not being treated as another brick in the wall.

“There are agencies and clients who prioritise strategic thinking, who are eager to witness creative concepts rooted in consumer insights, contextual understanding, and business objectives. That is the kind of agency where strategists want to work. They progress hand in hand with their projects. Being exposed to different projects and campaigns that really matter is very important for planners’ continuous development.”

Furthermore, having creatives as true partners, having access to data and planning tools, being able to avoid working in silos, and receiving recognition for their contribution to campaign development are key factors that contribute to planners’ satisfaction.

“There’s a shortage of planners on our market. It’s always been hard to find the right ones and keep them, but today it seems harder than ever. You need different strategist with different skills, from generalists to specialists, in order to build a great planning department. You headhunt the ones with potential, train them and help them develop, create for them a place where they can flourish. There is no other way. We are evolving as an industry, developing new capabilities and new skills when the business justifies the needs and the investments; we have generalists and digital strategists, but we still lack communication planners (better campaign management), propagation planners (better word of mouth), connection planners (better media/context/engagement) or transmedia planners (better storytelling). Because of this lack of planners in the industry, these functions are usually covered by generalist planners, digital planners or media planners in Romania,” Adrian Chiuhan explained.

In her case, Miruna Macsoda says that it is extremely important to have open and direct communication with the client. She believes that the work of the strategist should start from a good understanding of the client’s needs in terms of communication, but often also in terms of marketing and overall business. And this can be obtained through dialogue and an in-depth analysis of the client’s internal and external needs.

According to Stefan Chiritescu, agencies tend to work within the framework of deliverables: one TVC, an activation, a PR stunt, and so on—but today’s reality for the client’s business is quite different. Clients have stopped writing briefs; they’ve started to share more and more of their business challenges.

“It’s a great opportunity for agencies to elevate their strategic solutions and for planners to feel like they could play a higher role: from a cultural assessment to a UX perspective or a more compelling overview on the omnichannel approach. In a way, any brand should be perceived as an e-commerce ecosystem, regardless of whether they sell content, services or experiences. The underlying logic is the same: how to craft the best user journey in order to be effective,” Chiritescu argued.

The difference is that the paradigm is being redefined: it’s no longer about creativity for the sake of it, but all about the right content that can keep the consumer engaged across all stages of a funnel.

“This is the new battle for strategists: convincing creatives that they need to deliver on a process, not on a specific list of deliverables. It’s a difficult game to play for everyone,” added the McCann Worldgroup Romania representative.

Finding the Right One

How difficult is it to find the right strategist in the advertising world of 2023? According to Raluca Kovacs, in Romania, it is very difficult due to the lack of dedicated strategy schools and to the increasing number of planners exiting the business. They, as a group, decided to do something about it and launched The School of Big Ideas, a learning platform for young talent. Raluca is a firm believer in education and she’s been happy to see her team, herself included, attending top rated planning schools over the last 6 years.

At Leo Burnett, attracting capable strategists is relatively easily, because Victor Stroe believes they have the best strategy department in Romania (if we go by last years’ Effie results, for example). But identifying the perfect cultural fit for a strategist is indeed quite challenging.

“Strategy has an important status at Leo Burnett, not only among clients but also within our internal framework. This naturally brings extensive responsibility and expectations. On top of that, Leo Burnett’s internal culture is very strong. So, in addition to possessing a blend of strategic know-how and determination, establishing strong chemistry is of the utmost significance,” Stroe noted.

Digital strategist, digital media strategist, content strategist, brand strategist, creative strategist, social media strategist—these are just a few of the roles a brand needs in order toforge a path to success.

“We live in an era of supra-specialisation, which definitely makes the recruitment process more and more difficult. The logic of an employer is to have all these capabilities inside a single person, but the evolution proves this to be an almost impossible mission. Being a strategist is increasingly related to a very specific part of the communication process,” Stefan Chiritescu pointed out.

And with content today being at the intersection of creativity and media, according to Chiritescu, we’re facing a consistent shift from the traditional perspective: content creation versus platform distribution. They are no longer two different worlds, but a continuum. It’s where magic meets science.

In her turn, Miruna Macsoda states that nowadays it is easier to find a creative strategist and more difficult to find a planner. What she means is that through social media, especially among Gen Z, there is great potential for strategists with strong original creative insights.

“The freedom of expression has opened a Pandora Box and many young professionals have in-depth observations about the people and the environment they live in. However, there seems to be a lack of interest in developing the hard skills, which means there’s low interest for the organisational, research, and analytical skills that a full strategist normally needs,” said Rusu+Bortun’s managing director & head of strategy.

For Cristiana Belodan, former strategy & transformation director at Oxygen, finding the right strategist has never been an easy task. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, any strategy approach might work. But if you’re looking for a more specialised approach, you’d better have a strong network inside the industry.

“Integrated communication canvases, digital & social media calendars, corporate & consumer PR plans, and even BTL activations require a strategic backbone behind the execution. And you don’t always have a Swiss knife in the agency’s structure that can slice them all into clear directions or insightful nuggets.”

According to Belodan, there are some extraordinary strategy specialists in Romania. The bad news is that almost all of them are taken.

“Top agencies on the market boast about maintaining at least one senior level strategic name on their team. The Strategic Head is carved on the agency’s brand logo, as all the other vital functions in the agency’s structure are. The good news is that in post-pandemic times, we’re all working in a polygamous loyalty reality. So, you might be surprised by which top notch strategic brain might join your briefs as freelancer or consultant, while still being officially “married” to an ad agency, research company or marketing department. However, I don’t feel like the Strategy Director’s Club is growing any larger as the years go by.”

Miruna Macsoda adds that there are a couple of senior strategists who are very good at what they do and who can be inspirational mentors for the younger generations. This is a very good start.

“Furthermore, the variations in campaigns dictate a need for different kinds of strategies, especially for the digital environment. This is an opportunity for young strategists to become specialised in different niches and this is a part of a category which is growing, but it is still in its early days. I would say that now is a moment in which strategists seem to be realising that they have an opportunity to define their own individual styles. The market is ready for it.”

Compared to planning practices in other countries, our market is very small and not at all diversified, Raluca Kovacs argues. As a result, a senior planner often plays multiple roles covering the entire spectrum, from business strategy to comms strategy, including social media and performance.

“That makes Romanian planners smarter and probably better as they always have the big picture, but also ineffective as one can only cover so much ground. If agencies don’t invest in strategy, they are going to be the victims of short-term thinking.”

The culture

“What Strategists Want From Work” also highlights the fact that companies are not providing the culture strategists need to thrive. How accurate did respondents believe this statement was for Romania? What should be changed and how?

“In general, Romania doing things in a strategic way is a funny statement. Regardless of industry, we tend to start with execution and hope it fits into a bigger picture later on. We are too focused on the short term, which implies an activity plan that’s self-described as agile, versus the long term, which requires a consistent thinking approach,” says Stefan Chiritescu.

At the same time, we’ve started to replace strategic planning with communication tools, KPIs with tactical metrics, value propositions with purposeful stories. In the long run, brands will find themselves in a profound crisis.

“That will be the time of planners, those who understand business, have long term thinking, and are familiar with the tech world. It’s not about the training provided by the agencies, but about a consistent process to have with yourself in order to balance scientific knowledge with the frugality of trends,” he concluded.

“A culture in which planners thrive is one that is very collaborative and where the passion for problem-solving is shared by the entire organisation. Historically, Droga5 was an agency where planners were at the heart of the creative product. They shaped their entire working model to make planners’ contribution bigger within the agency. Uncommon UK is a rising star agency founded by a CSO and a Creative Director that also proves the value of strategy within the ad business,” Raluca Kovacs says. Unfortunately, she sees more and more senior planners choosing to leave advertising or become marketers instead of taking leading roles in agencies or shaping agency culture.

Victor Stroe believes that Romania was fortunate enough to witness the booming of its advertising industry at a time when strategic input had already gained international acclaim. For most Romanian agencies, planning departments were a given as opposed to something that needed to be justified and introduced in the agency workflow or explained to the client.

“Today, even smaller, localised agencies have established strong strategic departments. Obviously, some workplaces are better than others, but overall, being a planner today in Romania is a very cool and prestigious job.”

Miruna Macsoda agrees that it is common for advertising agencies in Romania to have strategists on their team, and this is not a new development, but a big transformation that took place over the last 10 years. She believes this is a sign of the Romanian advertising market maturing and that it should be valued and applauded. Like any other profession, the role of the strategist needs stronger branding in order to become more popular and valued both inside and outside agencies.

Meanwhile, Adrian Chiuhan believes that we have just a few agencies where there is a culture of planning—where planning has earned an equal position with the creative department—and that no longer need to justify its role or importance. Those agencies have a culture that makes strategists thrive. In places where this culture is absent, the situation is different: strategists find themselves in a position in which they have to justify their existence, role, and importance on every project, which puts huge pressure on them.

“Change can come from two directions: first, doing better planning with better results, making planners a necessity for every project, and second, a mindset change at the management level regarding the importance of strategy in winning new clients, creating better agency product,and delivering real business results for clients,” he notes.

“My personal take on this topic is based on the most recent years of experience, in which I’ve performed a double role of Consultant and Strategy Director at the same time. What I’ve witnessed has been a major shift in the agency’s culture and internal processes from the moment strategy enters the pipeline. It’s exactly as they say in medicine: the organ creates the function. When you start to get the gist of having strategic brains in the briefing pot, it’s amazing how the agency culture starts to grow and bloom around planners,” says Cristiana Belodan.

She adds that one can shape the culture of an agency. She wouldn’t expect all agencies to be flowery greenhouses with super friendly climates for strategists. However, if she were to choose an add-on to the Strategic Planner role, it would be the Consultant’s monocle.

“Grafting a consultancy mindset onto strategic planning enhances the level of data transparency and trust in your strategy experts, both from internal teams and from clients.”

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