The Strategic & Creative Power of Earned Media: Lessons from Weber Shandwick Playbook

New hires, diversified offering and capabilities, and unexpected award-winning creative work has kept Weber Shandwick busy this year. In May, it brought in the former executive creative director at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Yan Elliott as its chief creative officer. Reporting to Amy Garrett, Weber Shandwick’s UK president, Elliott now manages a team of creatives across Weber Shandwick’s UK offices in London, Manchester and Scotland.

The Weber Shandwick Collective (TWSC) was awarded 37 Lions at the 2024 Cannes Lions a Grand Prix win in Brand Experience with “The First Edible Mascot” for Kellanova (which was part of Kellogg’s until 2023)– marking the first time any PR agency secured the honour in this category with an idea credit. The earned media communications agency is on a mission to look beyond rapidly changing trends and use data and insights to help brands from Budweiser to Direct Line to eBay to embed themselves in culture and drive growth.

The digitally-driven cultural shift of the past two decades has fundamentally changed how earned media is viewed as part of the marketing mix. Various studies have proven that earned media offers marketers a way to use creativity to connect brands to customers with greater impact. So how exactly do creative campaigns deliver more impressive business effects and higher return on investment when they are culturally salient? When marketers are feeling an increasing need to prove the effectiveness of their work, how is an earned-first agency helping brands earn their place in society, culture and people's lives?

Creative Salon sat down with (pictured from left to right) Elizabeth Gladwin, head of analytics and intelligence, EMEA; Gen Kobayashi, chief strategy officer UK & EMEA; UK CEO Helen Bennett; UK president Amy Garrett; and Yan Elliott, UK chief creative officer to discuss how the earned-first mindset is redefining Weber Shandwick's ambitions and its business and helping win new clients. Kobayashi believes the brands that will thrive in the future are the brands that understand that in order to earn value, it has to contribute meaningful value. "We call this the 'Earned-First Mindset' and it’s how we approach work with all our clients. We don’t just believe in 'earned first', we can see the tangible effect of it in our research conducted in partnership with the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising)."

It's an agency that can now both articulate and demonstrate how it can build greater currency and potency by demonstrating the value of earned-first mindset as a business driver. This year the agency achieved a 76 per cent conversion rate in the UK, with recent client wins including Primark and Greggs.

Weber Shandwick globally put on a hugely impressive show at Cannes Lions this year, with 37 Lions. What ambitions are you setting for yourself to continue this growth and success?

Helen Bennett: From a UK perspective, we strongly believe that our breadth of capabilities gives us a significant competitive advantage. As we analyse cultural, societal, and political trends, we navigate the entire stakeholder landscape through our diverse offerings. Our creative ambition is rooted in taking these insights and layering them with our earned mindset, which has always been part of the agency's DNA. We aim to fuse this earned sensibility with a solution-agnostic approach to every brief.

The key questions are: How do we align with what a brand or business wants to achieve? How do we consider the external environment? And how do we create value for that brand or business in the process? Our journey in the UK has highlighted the strength of our collective talents while elevating our craft and sensibility. With leaders including Amy, Yan, Gen, and Elizabeth, we’re combining everything that’s core to our business with an elevated ambition and swagger around our craft. Fortunately there appears to be a market opportunity for this approach, as brands seek to differentiate themselves and disrupt their presence in the market. There’s a vibrant culture of innovation and experimentation, and we’re excited to bring that energy to the table.

Yan, your appointment earlier this year was a significant signal of the agency’s commitment to its creative ambition. What has surprised you most about the agency?

Yan Elliott: I did a six-month stint working with these guys to really understand what life at Weber would be like, as I had no idea what to expect. I was interested in the challenge and the potential for improving the creative work and output.

What I found—and ultimately why I decided to go full-time—was that there seemed to be plenty of opportunities here. In my previous roles [he has worked at Mother, Lucky Generals, The &Partnership, and more recently AMV BBDO] I often struggled to find great opportunities, but at Weber I see brilliant prospects ahead. Clients often come through the door seeking one specific service, but we can now offer them a broader, more comprehensive creative solution—something they might not have expected, but has been received very well.

It’s all about the people you work with. We all know this job can be challenging, so working alongside decent people with whom you can have meaningful conversations makes a significant difference to day-to-day life. I genuinely believe that matters a lot. I didn't know what challenges lay ahead, but I felt aligned with these guys; we share the same ambition, and I knew I could achieve it alongside people who were honest about what they wanted, rather than presenting a fake scenario. That’s why I decided to join full-time.

Gen, it's been more than three years for you at the agency, what kind of work at Weber continues to excite you?

Gen Kobayashi: I don't think there are many agencies that genuinely shape culture. While many claim to do so, it’s not new to talk about culture in that sense. What sets us apart is the clear distinction in what we're building here from an earned perspective compared to other agencies. We excel not only in the creative and planning disciplines but also have a significant advantage with Elizabeth and her team, who bring exceptional analytics, insights, and intelligence to the table.

When I first joined the agency, I was genuinely impressed by the strength and breadth of our analytics team. The expertise of this team powers much of our planning and strategic work, enabling us to make credible cultural claims. While many may assert they can influence culture, we have the capability to back it up with solid data and insight.

Elizabeth Gladwin: Coming from a data-centric background, my experience in various digital advertising agencies has taught me the importance of understanding your audience. The bottom line is crucial. However, the key difference here is that we're not confined to traditional swim lanes. This flexibility allows us to challenge assumptions about whether we have the right audience in the first place, enabling us to disrupt the brief in meaningful ways.

While technology and data can lead everyone to average insights quickly, we’re committed to avoiding that trap. Instead, we focus on using data positively to explore the extremes of different audiences and to reconsider who our target audience truly is. Because we don’t stick to conventional approaches, we can leverage our agility effectively. Technology can make us quick, but it can also lead to blandness. Our goal is to use technology to unlock bigger, bolder creative ideas.

Moreover, we consider not just the potential benefits but also the reputational risks involved. By taking a full-service approach, we provide clients with the reassurance they need to stand behind bold creative concepts.

Yan Elliott: What sets us apart in the creative realm compared to the advertising world is our philosophy: we're not brand-out; we’re culture-in. In an ad agency, clients often come to you with a predetermined message they want to convey. We flip that approach and ask, "What is the actual conversation? What do people want to hear, and where is the talkability around that?"

As a result, we don’t have a one-size-fits-all solution for any brief that comes through the door. I love that we’ve tackled diverse projects like the Breathalyser for Direct Line—a breathalyser that doubles as a toothbrush. Then there's the IKEA Shelter idea, which advocates for more homes. We also created the Knorr Super Cube, designed to change the taste of food for kids who struggle to eat their vegetables; it actually removes flavour instead of adding it. Every day here brings a new and exciting challenge with unique solutions.

Helen Bennett: We’re quite opportunistic, which is one of the things that differentiates us from other agencies. From a creative perspective, we don’t rely solely on waiting for briefs to come in. Instead, we actively spot client challenges and come to the table with solutions. It’s in our DNA to work at the pace of a newsroom, allowing us to respond quickly to what’s happening in the world and bring that insight to our clients.

Many of our ideas stem from our team noticing trends and thinking, “This could be relevant for this brand.” This approach energises us because we’re not tied down by pre-defined expectations of what the output should be. Instead, we empower our teams to think broadly about what we can achieve for the brands we represent.

Gen, you wrote a piece for us talking about how planning is always done best when it is the driving force for creativity. Tell us about your creative partnership with Yan.

Gen Kobayashi: You don’t choose to work for an agency based solely on the name above the door; you choose to work with the people inside. That connection means a lot. Regardless of your career stage, it’s essential to have a shared vision and goals, which we certainly have. From a creative and strategic perspective, Yan's hire was crucial. We needed a creative leader to be a beacon for what great work looks like, while also partnering with me and my team in strategy to achieve the best possible total creative solutions. Working side by side is the only way to do that.

As an earned communications agency, we have many differences and nuances compared to traditional ad agencies. I’ve noticed that people here are naturally more collaborative and open than you might typically find in traditional agencies, which often have a culture of kingdoms and fiefdoms. At their worst, those environments can be combative, but that’s not the case here. Our culture is much more open and collaborative, which feels entirely natural. This environment extends beyond just strategy and creative.

Yan Elliott: It was crucial for me to have a strategic partner in this relationship. I believe that great strategists also make excellent creatives, and vice versa—great creatives inherently possess strategic thinking. This was a key factor for me in joining, as I wanted the opportunity to partner with you.

Amy, as the person responsible for Weber in London, Manchester, and Scotland, you oversee a powerful UK regional footprint. Does this strength give you an edge as a business, particularly for UK marketers seeking more than just a London-centric service?

Amy Garrett: Having a strong network and the ability to assemble teams across the UK is really exciting. What sets us apart in how we respond to client work is our capacity to build bespoke teams across the UK that fit the brief. We're fortunate to have this flexibility from both a planning and creative perspective, as well as in terms of craftsmanship.

Quite often, our pitch teams and client teams consist of a diverse, multi-disciplinary UK group, which enhances our work and helps us understand audiences much better than if we were based in just a small corner of East London.

The shape of the communications business has changed significantly over the past decade, and continues to evolve at pace. What are marketers truly seeking from their agencies?

Helen Bennett: Famous last words, but I genuinely believe that 2025 will bring new opportunities. There’s a sense among clients that this year has seen significant change within their organisations, with a lot of scrutiny regarding the right models moving forward. We're definitely hearing from clients that they're gearing up for 2025, all while recognising that they must adopt an always-on mentality to react and adapt to shifts.

I don't see many clients looking only at the next year or two; that would be the wrong approach. Instead, it's about gearing up to really engage and listen intently to what consumers and audiences want. Particularly as we approached summer, we've seen a surge in briefs that carry intriguing ambitions and objectives, along with a desire to scale up the experiments we've been conducting this year. So, we're cautiously optimistic about next year, but we're certainly not resting on our laurels.

What is a big un-harnessed opportunity for Weber Shandwick?

Helen Bennett: Having been at the agency for a while [Bennett has been at the agency for 15 years] I've seen us build greater currency and potency by demonstrating our value as a business driver and competitive advantage for our clients. We're now much better at articulating this than we could 15 years ago, when it felt more instinctual and akin to dark science—a matter of trust in delivering a PR programme. Today, it's about harnessing all our capabilities. As Amy mentioned, in a world where ROI is crucial, we’re showing our ability to prove and even predict our impact. This serves as a safety net for many of our clients who are uncertain about their next steps.

We’re focused on how to amplify what we’re doing, elevating its role right into the boardroom. I believe we have the competencies to do this credibly. While many agencies focus primarily on the creative product, which is undeniably important, for us, it must also drive value beyond the work itself. That’s definitely what motivates me, and I think we've built a strong foundation around that vision.

Yan Elliott: It's important to shift the emphasis here. Historically, Weber has often been seen as an endpoint in a process, but what we're aiming to do now is move to the start point. If we want to engage in meaningful conversations with the public and culture, that's where we need to begin our work. So, it’s no longer about being the endpoint; it’s about being the start point.

Gen Kobayashi: What we’re doing in a way is a bit of a category job for the earned industry. When most people hear the word 'earned' they immediately think of earned media or earned attention. But we're trying to reframe this idea. It's not just about channel or PR; it's about a different way of starting the thinking process. We should begin with culture and its inherent value, rather than treating it as something to be tacked on at the end.

Helen Bennett: We resist being seen as a bolt-on agency for amplification. Sure, we can do that in our sleep; our capabilities in that area are incredible. But that's not how we want to engage. We’re becoming increasingly confident in positioning ourselves as more than just a partner for PR. We want clients to see us as integral to framing the brief.

Amy Garrett: We're witnessing this change in real-time with our clients. Legacy clients are now understanding the full breadth of our capabilities and how we can contribute to the conversation. It's evident in the work we’re producing and the opportunities that we are seizing.

As an earned-first agency, what are the initial questions or KPIs you typically encounter from clients when discussing their needs? Have you noticed any shifts in focus, particularly regarding AI?

Gen Kobayashi: AI has certainly captured a lot of attention in our industry, and all our clients are focused on it, just as we are. However, we believe there's a missed opportunity when it comes to using AI in the context of earned and creative output. Much of the current focus seems to be downstream, concentrating on production and execution, which, while impressive—just look at the recent Cannes Lions awards—is limited in terms of its shelf life for garnering earned attention.

We’re taking a longer-term view, believing there’s significant potential for AI to play a strategic role, beyond just downstream execution and creativity. A lot of this comes from the tools and resources Elizabeth has been developing within her team to generate better insights and understand where the conversations truly matter.

Elizabeth Gladwin: The questions clients are asking often revolve around whether we're using AI as an efficiency driver. That's concerning because it brings us back to cost-cutting rather than enhancing creativity. While it's crucial to assess how new technologies disrupt daily operations, we must also acknowledge the pitfalls, such as bias. However, there are ways to leverage these challenges to our advantage.

AI isn't new to us; we've been utilising large language models in various forms for quite some time. The real shift has been the speed at which we can access these tools and the fact that everyone now has equal access. This brings us back to my earlier point about avoiding mediocrity. We must be cautious not to fall into the trap of simply Googling more efficiently. The concern is that people might rely on AI-generated summaries from top search results without considering the quality of the data behind them.

In the healthcare sector, for example, we're seeing initiatives like the Women's Healthcare Indicator that examines gender bias. By understanding the mechanics behind such biases we can gain deeper human insights and truly get to know individuals. So, while AI adoption is essential, it’s [also] vital to consider how and at what stage we apply it.

Yan Elliott: If we conducted a straw poll on the first questions clients ask when they walk through the door, I suspect we'd find a similar trend across many agencies. However, at Weber Shandwick, given our diverse pillars—consumer, corporate, health, and a relatively new creative side with 68 creatives—clients will likely ask a wide array of questions. We even have an innovative digital team and a social agency all on the same floor, so the variety of inquiries we receive is truly unique.