Why is this man smiling? Read on and find out…
Vaughan Emsley is feeling good: optimistic, energized, focused.
After more than 30 years in the advertising business – most recently serving as Saatchi & Saatchi’s global head of planning – Vaughan has thrown his hat into the ring with Tongal, and he’s very bullish on our future.
We thought it might be a good idea to talk with Vaughan here at the Tongal Blog, so you could get to know the face – and the voice – of a man who will be working to shape that future on a daily basis.
So, let’s do as Vaughan would do and get right to the heart of it:
Q: How did you come to the decision to join Tongal?
Vaughan: I had a medically-necessitated time out, three whole months of “enforced leisure” – and decided in the midst of that respite that when I returned to work, I would take the opportunity to make a change. I love the kind of work I do, but I wanted to follow my instincts – all of which were telling me that the business I’ve loved is undergoing a transformation. I felt I had a clear choice to make between taking a defensive stance in the face of that change, or becoming a part of it. Obviously, joining Tongal, I’ve chosen to become a part of it.
Q: What brought you to Tongal?
Vaughan: Working intimately with P&G at Saatchi, I came to know about Tongal through Ann Francke – Ann was a strong supporter of Tongal, loved the platform and the model and the results, and my own curiosity took over from there.
Q: Was there a lightning bolt or epiphany for you, regarding Tongal?
Vaughan: I was struck by the culture right away. I think culture is the most important thing about any business. I had the opportunity to attend The Tongies – the awards night for the best in our creative community, and the enthusiasm and energy in that room was tangible. You can’t miss that. Also, it was truly a great party – that’s what happens when creative people, who respect and support one another, get together. It can’t be faked.
Q: What was your takeaway about the community?
Vaughan: I felt I had grasped the power of the numbers. 120,000 people all over the world. Such a tremendous advantage for agility. But what struck me as most important about this group was not just their numbers but the variety and depth of their passions. In the Tongal community we have people who are passionate about…well…everything: cars, whisky, toys, sports, candy bars, their hometowns and their alma maters – even everyday rituals like bath-time or laundry. People electing to do the work, to share their ideas and insights – coming from a place of passion, that’s a crucial competitive advantage. Especially in a landscape that’s increasingly defined by the digital-culture: where audiences are basically 100% in charge of what they watch, share, say….
Q: Can you say more about what you feel are the current challenges for brands?
Vaughan: First and foremost is the need to have a truly scalable solution for creative. There are so many more venues, so many more viewing options for consumers. This has put a premium on ideas, campaigns and stories that have their roots in shared experience, human truth – that’s the only way these stories can evolve, develop, keep people engaged. Meanwhile, with traditional advertising, given the pressures to perform, the slashed budgets, the increasing dominance of quantitative thinking – it’s become a losing war of attrition. Digital, nowadays, is an afterthought for most agencies. But of course that’s precisely where you can reach people, where you can experiment, get creative, and find a path to build an audience. Doing all of that requires a creative solution that can scale.
Q. You feel that is a unique advantage for Tongal?
Vaughan: Yes, the ability to scale, driven by the depth and quality of the creative resource – that is a huge advantage, right here and now. It seems to me to be a particularly crucial advantage as brands try to create content that can build an audience for them.
Q. What do you think is the main opportunity for Tongal? What will you be focusing on?
Vaughan: If I can put it in a word: Momentum. The Tongal community has been on a virtuous cycle of growth and development for several years now – a very impressive run, when you drop back and look at it. Keeping that momentum...building on it, is vital. And I think a big part of making that happen is helping brands get creative with the kinds of content they can develop with this kind of radically scalable resource.
Q. Okay then, one last question: what would you say is the most important thing you’ve learned personally in your career?
Vaughan: As I hinted at earlier, I think all of the best creative work has its source in shared experience. Call it human truth, insight -- and every great story has a revelatory quality to it – something that makes you see familiar things, anew. For Tongal’s part in this? Well, you couldn’t ask for a better set-up, really: a global community electing to do the work, helping us to discover these truths, to find the stories, the places, people; all with real enthusiasm for the subject-matter -- and talented filmmakers in that same community bringing it all to life. To me that’s a model perfectly tuned to do the kind of creative work I’ve always loved most. And I think it's the kind of work brands need more desperately than ever.
