Feel The Force: Why A&EDDB Reckons Emotion Is A Brand's Most Powerful Tool

Emotional magic for brands is what comes to mind when you think adam&eveDDB. It takes a masterful touch from an agency to really move people, and the team within this agency are the experts of the masterful touch.

One of the world's most-awarded agencies - known for its distinctive and highly effective creative craft, adam&eveDDB has launched a clear articulation of its approach to creativity: 'Feeling First' - the craft of leveraging emotions to drive creative effectiveness and grow businesses. From John Lewis' 'Monty's Christmas' and 'Tiny Dancer' to CALM charity's 'The Last Photo' to Marmite to Twix, the agency has always excelled at moving us through the purposeful and the silly. As Rick Brim says: "The best ideas punch you from different angles."

The launch event at the V&A museum of the agency's absolute ambition to create emotionally charged work included an interactive session using the latest Electroencephalography (EEG) technology to demonstrate the impact of emotional advertising on our brains. And keynotes from Orlando Wood from System1 on how to harness the power of emotion and Les Binet, the agency's group head of effectiveness, on the impact feeling brings to the bottom line underlined the business case for emotionally powerful brand communications: feelings drive growth.

The 'Feeling First' positioning coincides with the announcement of the network's fourth office, on the US West coast. This will see adam&eveDDB extend its reach across the US with the launch of a San Francisco operation and has also created a new-look brand identity to sit across its four offices: London, New York, Berlin and now San Fran. The adam&eveDDB network will continue to be led by chief creative officer Richard (Rick) Brim and Miranda Hipwell, who as chief executive heads up London and Berlin. Overseeing adam&eveDDB West will be Caroline Winterton, who already leads adam&eveDDB NY.

The move also follows a successful run of new business, with wins such as Amazon and Eurostar, alongside organic growth from the group’s existing global client roster including PlayStation, MARS, Unilever, SharkNinja and the International Paralympic Committee.

We sat down with Rick Brim and Miranda Hipwell to talk 'Feeling First' and what that means for brands and businesses, and how the positioning will weave into every aspect of the shop.

Creative Salon: 'Feeling First' feels very true to your body of work. So tell us more about this re-centering of the business around this positioning. And why now?

Rick Brim: It came from a conversation a couple of years ago, at a global DDB conference. Sheryl (Marjoram - DDB Group Sydney CEO) said about us: 'The thing about a&eDDB is that they can give a brand an emotional advantage. And in a way that no other agency in London can give you that.' And Miri and I looked at each other and said that we don't talk about ourselves like that. But when you start looking at our work - from John Lewis to how we made people laugh at Harvey Nichols or making people jealous of the work we do on Marmite or the Lloyds work - everything comes from the place of being emotionally charged. And that's where the positioning comes from.

I've always been really anti 'having a thing', like a 'Humankind' or 'Lovemarks'. And I don't want 'Feeling First' to be that. But I do think that in an age where everything's moving away from humanity and more into data and numbers and statistics and figures, this is what keeps us honest. Feeling First gives us our North Star - it connects us on a deeper level across the a&eDDB network and helps us get to the soul of a brand.

You're right to point out that this has been part of our DNA for ages. Now it is a set of principles for us and holds us accountable to our brands and our people and our talent, and it just feels right.

Miranda Hipwell: So two things really....

When I took on the CEO role (in November last year) we were already having some of these conversations internally, and to Rick's point it was about being more externally facing about the articulation of our approach to creativity. The positioning is so much more than having it emblazoned on a t shirt, instead, it is something to use with our clients.

And the second point is around our global expansion. And Rick's point about having a North Star as our offices expand is so important. So if you are a&eDDB, what does that even mean? Being about Feeling First is so helpful as we bring more and more people into the fold of this network. And then the other way that we've found the positioning really useful is in turning it internally to shape how the agency will continue to grow whilst looking after its people and its clients. For instance, what does that mean, for our diversity inclusion strategy? What does it mean for new talent when they join the business? It's the way of being for adam&eveDDB.

The embracing of Feeling First, is this going to refocus you as an agency when it comes to winning new business? Or the kind of clients you attract?

Hipwell: Definitely. It really helps us to solidify our offer for people that don't know us because they still might see us through the lens of John Lewis. Feeling First is a very succinct way of unpacking all of our DNA and everything we're about. So I think it does start to resonate with those clients that maybe see us from a distance. And we've already started having some of those conversations where we can show that when you put Feeling First, the impact on the bottom line is really, really strong in terms of sales.

Brim: This not some airy-fairy positioning or some waffle going on here just saying we are going to make people feel. It's scientific and backed with data - with Les (Binet) and all the work he's done with Peter Field. We have that rigour that is needed to show that in a world that's getting more and more homogenised, this gives our clients the competitive advantage.

Hipwell: As Les says - and can prove how it will achieve results and lead to growth - it's about catching people when they're not interested in your brand or your company and changing how they think and feel about you as a business. Feeling First is about building memories that will affect how people behave later on and that tends to work at the emotional level.

It helps us to start thinking about the customer experience and how you put Feeling First across all those different channels and touchpoints and how you do it across the whole ecosystem. And for all those clients that over the last few years have pivoted massively into personalisation at scale and data marketing but are now starting to slightly rebalance, looking at their businesses through the lens of Feeling First is the right thing to do. And this is not just a theory, increasingly we have direct measurement of the kind of effect that it has on the bottom line of businesses and how emotions can be the driver of growth in whatever category a brand is performing.

With a&eDDB extending its reach across the US with the launch of a San Francisco operation, does this mark a new chapter for the network?

Hipwell: Yes it does mark a sort of new chapter for us in terms of the types of clients that we can work with, you know, because we're constructing an agency that does have a global footprint to serve our clients. We've always had a desire to create the right constellation of adam&eve in DDB offices for clients. But now being able to do a constellation of just adam&eveDDB offices means that we know we're connected by this Feeling First way of sentiment and working. I think that it does open us up to a fresh global set of clients. That's really, really exciting.

Brim: I can't stress enough how different a&eDDB NYC is because America is different anyway. And now we have the West Coast, and also Berlin and there may be other ones about in the offing. What is truly exciting is connecting our network through our North Star - Feeling First - and having that clarity of what we stand for, which is not just another DDB office. So what this does is it gives us a very definite differentiation point. Like I said earlier - it's about the kind of talent we hire, the clients we attract and the work we deliver - giving us a 'punch in the feels'. When it's right, it connects on a deeper level getting to the soul of a brand. So it gives us a level of accountability towards our people and clients.

What work do you think really embodies the Feeling First positioning?

Brim: Our first piece of work we've done for Amazon for women's football, that was very much about what it feels like to be a true female player in all its confident grit and glory. And our latest Lucozade work is all about energising the nation going into the summer of sport. It's so completely energetic and it's full of life. System1 gave it something like a 5.4 rating, which I think is completely unheard of. And so we're most definitely using it as a barometer, because that's how we're being judged.

Hipwell: Historically, John Lewis. But that's what people know us for anyway. The work we did for Frontline really encapsulates everything we just talked about. The feelings there are just so harrowing and deep and meaningful and moving, because it's just such an important thing that we need to draw people's attention to. It's a really hard hitting piece of work, and the feelings are incredibly intense.

The Lucozade work definitely too. And if you look at our Quorn and puppets work - it's just silly work. It's funny, it's silly. It takes a really serious subject about people giving up meat, but in a way that just makes people laugh. And again, according to System1 that's been very effective.