I live in Fourways, work in Bryanston and play in the Cradle of Mankind.
Finding someone to love and marry and bringing up two wonderful kids.
Exciting, brutal, rewarding.
Camping in the bush (or with the kids in the garden if we can’t get away), mountain biking, trail running and sunsets… these are a few of my favourite things.
Discontinuous change, the need to continually evolve, sometimes quickly and dramatically. There’s always a need to learn and improve what we do in order to stay ahead.
I love the unique personalities that make the industry work, from the crazy and colourful creative types to the equally crazy and keen data scientists. Advertising is so diverse, open and grounded in culture that it’s hard to think of a better industry to be a part of.6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
There I check emails, digital meeting, coffee, HR meeting, coffee, Africa meeting, have lunch if I’m lucky/maybe go for a run, strategy session, IT meeting, coffee, global call, client meeting, check emails, start answering emails, 6:30pm leave for home.
Then it’s catch up time with the family for 30mins, 7:30pm get the kids to bed, dinner with my wife Jacqui while we chat or watch a series like Billions, Suits or Game of Thrones, and 9:30pm bed.
Next day repeat… repeat… travel… repeat.
Laptop, Google, Office365 and some really cool strategic and implementation tech that IPG Mediabrands has built over the years.
I think the smaller, digitally focused agencies are getting it right. The ones that operate in the world that exists between the traditional media and creative agencies.Their speed and agility is making them exceptionally important in a space where high volume, low-cost performance digital and disposable creative exists.
The type of talent we employ and how we then invest in educating this talent are the two areas we can really improve on as an industry.
An acquisition and a restructure.
Data-driven marketing! Performance digital! E-commerce! Few people are getting this right, even fewer clients are adopting this to its full extent.
Me: “Be great, do great sh*t!”
While I’m on holiday or away from work, usually.
I do tend to bring out the Moonwalk every now and again. What a joke, I don’t even know how to do the Moonwalk!
Probably a bit of both, I love the latest tech and gadgets, but need my 10-year-old daughter to teach me how to use them.
Very little, I’m a minimalist. I do, however, have Toon Blast – the perfect companion for travelling.
You really need to have grit to cut it in this industry. It can chew you up and spit you out pretty quickly if you can’t handle the pressure. There is a section of a poem I love, called ‘Thinking’ by Walter D Wintle that I think defines the approach people should have to crack it in our industry:
Life's battles don't always goSimple as that. Follow Smale on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; and IPG Mediabrands on their LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds for the latest updates.
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or later the person who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.