“The Key - Quick Conversations on Creativity” Ian Gough (WPP’s Open X)

❝ Clients are the champions of great creativity...Without our clients... work doesn't get beyond PowerPoint❞

Ian Gough, Global Category Lead WPP's Open X

🛻 Ian Gough is always a pleasure to catch up with, especially as he is someone I worked with many moons ago on the global JLR business at WPP.

This “Quick Conversation 🎤 ” is packed with insights. Ian was brilliantly thorough and shared some great examples from his current role leading Sprite & Fanta at WPP’s bespoke The Coca-Cola Company team, Open X.

Here’s what Ian shared about “The Key” 🔑 to great creativity:

1️⃣ Great insight 📊

- Creativity needs precise strategy and audience tension to flourish.

- Ian emphasises that big ideas only thrive when the brief is tight.

- Today, WPP’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) data and behaviour insights can be queried instantly, because he literally has these tools in his pocket (on his phone).

- AI tools within WPP Open let strategists extract immediate insights from enormous datasets, ensuring creative work solves the right business problem.

2️⃣ Great talent 🧠

- Ideas can come from anywhere.

- Ian highlighted how a strategist on a recent pitch turned their insight into the pitch-winning idea, and the creative team embraced it.

- Diversity in age, background and capability ensures breakthrough thinking: OpenX frequently brings in specialists from behavioural scientists to WPP’s Food Group to build stronger connections between soft drinks and food occasions.

3️⃣ Great clients 🤝

- Ian calls clients “arguably most important.”

- At Open X, The Coca-Cola Company teams are fully integrated into WPP’s process, blurring the line between agency and client.

- They champion the work through their systems, ensuring ideas don’t stay in PowerPoint but become real campaigns.

- Whether it’s giving bold creative ideas a green light or sharing deeper brand expertise, the clients’ partnership makes everything possible.

🙏 Thank you, Ian Gough, for sharing that great insights, diverse talent and empowered clients are the key to great creativity.