Three Key Phrases from Henry Stewart’s Creative Operations Conference
By Tim Mulholland
Photo by HS Creative Operations
Fresh thoughts were on display in the ‘Big Apple’ when some of us at Salt Flats joined hundreds of marketing and creative professionals met for Henry Stewart’s Creative Operations New York 2022 event. For most of us, it marked the return to in-person networking for the first time in years and as such the energy was vibrant! Ideas were flowing from rooms at capacity and creative and digital professionals were sharing ideas from all over the world.
Capturing all that was discussed in one blog post would be difficult, if not impossible, but three main phrases stood out as key takeaways.
1) “Staying true to your values engages the communities we serve.”
Multiple speakers spoke of the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion within creative operations, but their demonstrations went well beyond just highlighting their importance internally. Keynote speaker Brian Best, Saatchi & Saatchi, demonstrated how effective representation is aligned to commerce and how connection with the communities we serve can lead to lasting engagement.
2) “Go for it, you can always just ask for forgiveness later.”
This light-hearted mantra of not being afraid to take chances and think bigger was featured in several presentations including Jennifer Drucker, Sartorius, Roman Kuebler, Under Armour, and Janice Brunell, SiriusXM. Attendees were shown examples of how creative operations departments stepped outside their comfort zones and how this pressure led to innovation and creativity.
3) “Process is a Product.”
This theme, highlighting the importance of processes and engagement as an important role in creative operations was discussed in a roundtable discussion with industry leaders and later with Erin Figliolino, HelloFresh. By making “process the product” we can understand how people work, their learning styles, bring fresh energy to the team and avoid burnout.
All in all, the hundreds of attendees of the Henry Stewart Creative Operations New York conference were treated to a full day’s worth of high value content and ideas. The three themes above stood out to take back to our offices but the impact of meeting and engaging with our colleagues will have lasting value.
