Slow and steady paying off: TBWA’s Tom Carroll & Keith Smith

“We made a decision to build the capability office by office, not via acquisitions of global networks, and it’s been a blessing in disguise because we’ve found more than 700 digital people around the network,” Carroll told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Blessing or not, by opting not to bolt on a major digital agency, Carroll was heavily criticised both internally and externally. “People kept asking ‘Why don’t you acquire? Why don’t you buy something?’ So last year, we finally decided, OK, let’s brand our digital proposition—which is how DAN (the Digital Arts Network) was born.”

There is a satisfaction that comes from doing something on your own, added Carroll, and for TBWA it was learning just how strong they really were globally. “Once we decided to brand DAN, we went around the network and found that we had pockets of strength in different parts of the world. It was a pleasant surprise to me how strong we are.”

DAN however is more than TBWA’s move to establish its digital presence externally, it’s an attempt to create an organic culture that spans the globe. “Acquisitions have a tendency to stay siloed," Carroll said. "DAN is not a silo because we forced very office to create its own digital culture and over the course of three to five years, it’s just become part and parcel of how every office operates.”

Keith Smith

The way the system works, explained Keith Smith (pictured right), president international of TBWA Worldwide, is that no single digital company has all the answers in one office but has areas of strength. Asia-Pacific’s, for example, is a hub (or Lab, as TBWA puts it) of excellence for CRM, technology development and mobile—especially in Tokyo. “DAN means we can tap into all of these Labs around the world for client-work at any time,” Smith said.

As a result of this approach, said Carroll, most of TBWA’s creatives are also ‘digital people’. “About 90 per cent of social-media ideas that come out of our network come from creative people. We find it’s becoming second nature for us to create ideas on multiple platforms. It kind of flows now, the continuous technology and product development just seems to pop up. It’s not as difficult as you’d expect.”

TBWA’s product development ‘startup’ Pilot.is, for example, is responsible for developing presentation platform Projeqt and content distribution platform Spotlit.es.

Results of these efforts are starting to show at Cannes, but only just. Although three entries were shortlisted for a Cannes Innovation Award (more than any other single agency), TBWA didn’t ultimately bring home that particular Lion. In Asia-Pacific, however, the network earned a Gold Creative effectiveness Lion out of TBWA Sydney, with the region earning 12 more silver and bronze Lions across several categories.

“We did OK at Cannes, not great," Smith said. "But we won Lions from around the world and picked up the first ever Lion for Paraguay."

Looking forward, Smith and Carroll are even more deeply committed to building the network into “the strongest, most innovative culture in the world”.

And the best way to do it?

“Hiring the smartest and cleverest people you can find," said Carroll. "Lots of them.”