As you may have read in MediaPost, Campaign or AgencySpy, Rob FitzGerald has been announced as We Are Social’s President in the US. Former President at Big Fuel Communications, Rob has a wealth of global experience at agencies including GlobalHue, Initiative and Omnicom Media Group, spanning Japan, China, Hong Kong, Europe and the US. Here, he explains why he chose to join We Are Social.
Rob (centre) with We Are Social co-founders Robin (left) and Nathan (right)
My first taste of a career in social was all thanks to Kanye. He approached a previous agency of mine, looking to monetize his considerable social following by producing a daily documentary/fly-on-the-wall content for a subscription fee. As COO, I was asked to lead the venture and saw it as an opportunity to move into social content creation. As you can imagine it was a baptism of fire, but it was an experience that has stood me in good stead for everything that followed (and is still to come).
Joining We Are Social now, from a background of media and strategic planning and more recently, digital and social, it feels like a lifetime since my experience with Yeezy. The marketing landscape has changed beyond recognition over the last decade – even in the last few years. I chose to join We Are Social because, with its mission of putting social thinking at the centre of marketing, it will be one of a handful of agencies that helps the world’s biggest brands define what it means to succeed in today’s – and tomorrow’s – social age.
For me ‘social thinking’ perfectly embodies the evolution of social away from the daily execution of always on content and community management into more complex social/digital experiences. It’s also in line with what’s happening within US businesses at the moment; the increased expectation from senior clients for agency partners to drive and challenge how social is approached inside their own organizations. It’s something that not every agency is going to be able to offer – but We Are Social has been built to understand social behaviours, develop social insights, and offer clients ideas with social at their core, not just executions in social media.
The team here in the US is already doing some fantastic work, with an impressive client roster featuring names like Heineken, Banana Republic, Hyatt and National Geographic. It’s clear that thanks to Leila Thabet’s leadership over the last three years, we have a talented and passionate team with a strong culture of ‘togetherness’ and desire to make a huge impact in this market.
So, as social, creativity and innovation comes directly under the spotlight of CMOs and SVP Brand Directors, it’s the perfect time to take We Are Social to the next stage in its US success. With a focus on larger campaign experiences, innovation and strategic frameworks, we’ll blend the speed and agility of social executions with what were always viewed as the more ‘traditional’ agency attributes of rigor, discipline of strategy and client leadership, to allow us to deliver first class, socially-led creative work that always hits the mark.
For now, my immediate focus will be on attracting the best talent to compliment what we already have, ramping up our creative and strategic firepower and growing the agency, both organically and with new business wins. With all this, We Are Social has the right formula in place – the talent, the culture, the support and the ambition – to become the most significant social agency in the US.
Rob (centre) with We Are Social co-founders Robin (left) and Nathan (right)