Corporate Vision March 2017

70 CORPORATE VISION / March 2017 , As Founder and CEO of a successful advertising agency, Michael Moszynski talks to us about the industry and what makes the firma natural choice for clients following his success in winning the CEO of theMonth- Greater London (Advertising andMarketing) award. London Calling LONDON Advertising is a global advertising agency designed for the 21st century. Michael Moszynski, Founder and CEO, tells us more about the firm and its inception. “The company was incepted two weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008,” he begins. “My creative partner and I left the Saatchi Brothers after 21 years to risk all by setting up our own global agency to challenge the traditional networks. “Our mission was as simple as it was audacious: To deliver London-quality creative work in any language, in any media and in any market from one office. We had already identified that clients around the world see the city of London as the best place to create international advertising. That is why we called ourselves LONDON Advertising. “We use the internet to transform the processes and distribution model of the traditional networks which are based on having expensive offices all over the world. Our 16 man team has run work in more countries than WPP (which has 190,000 staff) has offices. We work with clients on every continent across a wide range of sectors: luxury, travel, finance, fmcg, drinks, politics etc. “Our internal mantra, emblazoned in neon in our office, is “Be Brilliant”.” Michael is proud of his dedicated staff and the strong agency culture that the firm has developed. “It allowed us this year to pull off the remarkable feat of re-uniting the Beatles,” he embellishes. “Mandarin Oriental, London was undergoing renovations which required a white shroud to cover its extensive frontage in Knightsbridge. “When we enquired whether we could print an ad from our international ‘Fan’ campaign on the shroud we were told it was impossible as Westminster Council would never allow an ad to be displayed on such a landmark location. So, rather than give up, our account team, Henry and Jack, got the bit between their teeth. Their first breakthrough was to secure agreement in principle from Westminster that if an ad was not allowed, that a work of art might be possible. “The next step was to recruit the ‘Godfather of Pop Art’, Sir Peter Blake, to do our ad/artwork. We then secured 100 the hotel’s ‘Fans’, from Dame Judy Dench to Morgan Freeman, to appear in the ad – without paying them. Also as it was the 50th anniversary of Sir Peter’s iconic Sergeant Pepper’s album cover we went in pursuit of Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr who agreed to take part. “Since launching it has generated front page media coverage at a value of over $4m and has been shared on social media over 11 million times.” As an award-winning leader, Michael employs keeps himself motivated by continually searching for difficult challenges to overcome. For example, he put his reputation on the line by predicting in the media the result of every major UK election in the last three years. 2016 EU Referendum “Vote Leave will win by 52-53%” Result: 51.9% to Vote Leave. 2015 General Election “The Conservatives will win a single seat majority” Result: Conservatives won by six seats. 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum “Yes Vote will be less than 45%” Result: Yes vote 44.7%. Being a successful CEO is not without its challenges, however Michael clearly loves a challenge and takes it all in his stride. “The key challenges I have had to overcome as a CEO is to achieve things that people kept telling me were impossible. When I came up with the name “LONDON” our lawyers said we could not use it as we could never own the IP. I replied “perfect – then no-one else will do so”. “My personal attributes are exuberance, energy and a thick skin. I also think it helps that I am deaf in one ear so I don’t hear half the brickbats sent my way!” As for the future, Michael has aspirations of further growth for LONDON and foresees the industry moving back to traditional media build brands. “We identified that the UK advertising sector was mature with low margins so we targeted international high growth markets as a more profitable route to go. The fact we have grown our profit 300% in the last three years and make a margin over four times the UK industry average is a testament to that. “My aspiration for next month is that the “the glass half full party” I am hosting with Lord Bell on March 23rd after Article 50 is triggered will help build confidence in our ability to secure more of the 85% of world trade that occurs outside of the EU. “My aspiration for the future is that one day all other agencies will be a little bit more like LONDON.” K Company: Michael Moszynski Name: Founder and CEO Email: [email protected] Web Address: londonadvertising.com Address: LONDON House 3 Baltic Street East, London EC1Y 0UJ Telephone: +44 (0)20 7608 7222 1703CV29