Read our new manifesto
Future 50 Banner

Our Monday was more productive than yours: Why brands and marketers shouldn't be afraid to speed things up


It’s no secret the world we live in demands speed across the board, Facebook’s Mark Zukerberg once said: “Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough,” it’s probably not the first time you’ve heard this quote and it won’t be the last.

But don’t be fooled, the objective is never actually to ‘break’ things – unless you’re talking about Kim Kardashian’s ass-ability to crash the internet – the plan is to get it out of the testing room and into the gaze of your users. And if there happen to be hiccups, nobody died, so chin up and move on.

This startup mentality is one that is slowly but surely edging its way into the mainstream of UK marketing. Agencies like VCCP and their newly built innovation team have introduced the sprint style mentality by inviting clients in to work on a brief for a set period. The same can be said for Hey Human, who invite tech companies in for monthly meetings to discuss how they can do better, faster and more-cutting edge work, utilising new tools and talents.

This lean toward the startup methodology for business is one that can be fully implemented for brands, big and small, and may actually prove to be a counteroffensive move to ensure we aren’t losing all the best new talent.

Trendy youthful Swedish born ad agency The Pop Up Agency, now based in East London, are a fine example of young creative talent deciding to fight the norm and go out on their own, using a faster, startup-like model approach to solving briefs.

In a world where teenagers can create effective viral content from their bedrooms, why do young creative talents need to go to the bottom rung of a big sweaty ad agency when they can spread their wings on their own terms?

These ‘professionals’ are getting younger and younger, the next generation of coding kids are dropping out of school at 15, saying bye to mum and dad, and moving into share houses in Silicon Valley. No longer do big companies have the luxury of waiting for these kids to stumble their way through university, when they’re not even graduating high school.

So where does this leave us adults and looking to the future of how we can keep up and stay relevant? A day like Do It Day is a powerful example that marketers and ad agencies alike can come together to speed shit up.

It’s exciting to see Unilever and IBM throw their hats into the ring, even though spokespeople from both side-stepped when asked if they should employ this mentality all the time, it’s at least a side-step in the right direction.

So let’s see as the results should speak for themselves, the 13 brands taking part should walk away from Do It Day with a budding test case for other brands and agencies to take a leaf, or in this case plant a tree.

Benny Wallington is a creative strategist at Kritical Mass.