London’s most respected ad guru on why data giants Publicis and WPP have it wrong
Richard Pinder’s outfit matches the carefully curated monochrome backdrop of shelves, books and miscellaneous artefacts that he is perched in front of.
Turtleneck-clad Pinder, who used to be the chief operating officer at one of the world’s biggest advertising agencies, Publicis, is one of London’s most-respected ad men.
But he has rebelled against what he calls the old ways. The advertising industry, he said, is an “old fashioned term” for what it has become.
“It’s an industry that has moved from being a bunch of creative shops to being these huge Leviathans,” he explained. “You’ve got Publicis, WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic Group; they have become tech leaders.”
Ad giants use data analytics to determine how to reach the right people with the right work at the right time.
There is something to be said for this approach. Publicis has the highest market cap of all the ad giants at over €27bn (£23.2bn) as of May 2024. WPP has a market cap of just over £9bn while Omnicom’s is nearly $19bn (£15bn).
Some brands still launch with a TV and poster which blows my mind because that’s such a stupid way to do things.
However, in a shift away from his traditional data-driven background, Pinder is now moulding a new way as chief executive of a small but fast-growing London-based agency – founded by British photography icon Rankin – which he describes as “creatively led”.
It was formerly called Rankin Creative, after the snapper who has photographed Queen Elizabeth, Kate Moss and Madonna.
But Rankin has recently undergone a re-brand to ‘The Hunger’ to align the company with its own magazine of the same name, also founded by Rankin.
Like its home in the artsy borough of Camden, The Hunger shuns all kinds of hackneyed and straight-laced thinking.
“It’s much more of a conversation about who represents your brand, who you’re talking to. How do we bring them together? How do we put them in the right place? What messages should they get?
“You build a brand today by engaging an audience who shares your view of the world in a culturally relevant conversation,” Pinder said.
He won’t do a TV ad and a poster and go to the pub because the number of traditional television audiences are falling fast. Ofcom’s latest UK media report recorded the steepest-ever decline in the percentage of viewers tuning into broadcasters on a weekly basis in 2023.
“Some brands still launch with that, which blows my mind because that’s such a stupid way to do things.”
Despite its nontraditional approach, The Hunger is not playing on the periphery; former clients include Rolls Royce, EY, Mercedes and Henkel.
Pinder’s most unusual project was actually a book—also in an online format—called “How to Die Well” for the life insurance company Royal London. It was published during the Covid-19 pandemic “to engage people in what it means to cope with death and loss.”
When questioned about his methodology for creating innovative campaigns, Pinder touches on artificial intelligence. His team uses AI to generate a synthesis of the best ideas in a chosen category. “And that is exactly what we now don’t want to do,” he said with a grin.
The advertising industry veteran runs an office of just over 60 people, which he reckons is the optimum size for a creative company. Any larger than 100, he says, and “the big machine tends to flatten them”.
But Pinder’s ambitions are not so small. He is planning to take The Hunger to the US soon, a move that is in the final stages of planning.
He has a warning to potential clients though: “Don’t come to us for comfort”.