5 Questions for: Brad Bennett of Keystone

The best people to answer the biggest questions of the day are our members. At the 4A’s, we want to provide a way for our members to share ideas and insights. In this latest installment of the series 5 Questions for…, Brad Bennett, principal and CEO of Keystone (powered by Wildfire) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, provides his thoughts. Bennett began his career at the American Heart Association. Today Keystone’s clients include Lowe’s Home Improvement, BB&T and Kraft. 

1) What’s the biggest challenge or opportunity facing the ad industry right now?

The biggest challenge has to be finding great talent & providing enough training. Talent is harder to find than ever because innovative companies and startups are pulling from the same talent pool, and millennials fully expect to job hop.

Along with that, it’s hard to provide adequate training as clients continue to cut budgets and are bringing more “agency” type work in-house. That then leads to entry-level people feeling undervalued and unprepared, and leaving for other employment—either with startups (for increased opportunities/freedom) or established companies (for more structure/training). Agency turnover rates are always high because people leave for other agencies, but I’d love to see the percentage of people leaving for non–agency positions over the years. I bet it’s increased significantly.

Our biggest opportunity has to be the potential for digital influence. Large clients all have a social department now. And the c-suite and marketing directors understand at least the basics of social. But most don’t feel totally comfortable with SEO, comprehensive content strategies, digital advertising tactics, analytics, etc. The client still has the marketing department doing some of these things, interactive department doing others, but some channels and tactics are not being tackled at all. Past developing and executing the most innovative strategies, agencies can help clients see the full digital picture for their brand.

2) What is the single most significant change you need to make in your agency in the next 12 months?

We need to expand digital training for employees, regardless of position, and increase digital service offerings for clients.

3) What products/services/unique skills do ad agencies offer that guarantee the industry’s survival for another 100 years?

We can automate just about anything now with enough time and effort, but algorithms can’t tell a compelling story—not yet anyway—or innovate an entirely new idea. Clients come to agencies because either they can’t do something, they don’t know how to do something, or they don’t have (or want) the people to do what they need. As long as agencies provide products and services that support those three needs, and bring new perspectives and approaches, agencies will be fine.

4) What attributes do you look for in your next generation of leaders/managers?

• Natural inquisitiveness. The type of people who are going to try to figure something out on their own, or learn something new by themselves, instead of just expecting the subject matter expert to handle it. They have to be subject matter experts themselves with enough knowledge to think holistically. With how fast the industry is changing, this isn’t optional anymore – a leader/manager can’t stay current without it, and ideas don’t work well in silos.
• Detail-oriented. Clients have tighter timelines, smaller agency teams, and more channels and tactics. Things can and do slip through the cracks. Good managers need to always be on top of things, now more than ever.
• Good leaders need to expect that they can be the best one day, and constantly work to get there. They have to be always trying to improve themselves, and by extension, their work for clients. Complacent leaders do/direct complacent work.

5) If you weren’t working in advertising, what would you be doing as a career?

I’d be doing two things. I’d go back to my not-for-profit roots and take on an executive directorship of a human-services or arts-based cause that needs leadership. Second, I’d hit the speaker’s circuit sharing lessons learned and ways to open minds in a new way to attack today’s world.