The power of love

He's the biggest name in advertising with the power to make or break a brand. But as Kevin Roberts, global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi tells Diana Milne, the answer to a successful campaign is simple: All you need is love.

Kevin Roberts is the first to admit he's not a team player. He freely confesses to not being happy unless he's in charge and he flatly refuses to do anything he doesn't enjoy.

"It's a little bit shameful, but in a team I don't even have to be appointed captain, I simply assume that position," he says.

"I only do stuff that I like. I don't like playing golf with clients or mixing business with pleasure so I don't do it.

"I hated being the CEO of a public company when Saatchi & Saatchi was public because I hated all that shareholder sh** and the analyst sh** so I never did it at all."

It is this rebelliousness and refusal to tow the line that has led Kevin Roberts to where he is today - head of the world's top advertising agency, which is currently worth an estimated US$593million and is responsible for the creative advertising campaigns of the world's biggest brands.

His company's success depends on its ability to come up with the next big idea - the idea that will stand out from the crowd and be seen and heard above the roar of today's omnipresent advertising clutter.

He does this through always thinking one step ahead of the crowd - or as he puts it "trying to zig while others are zagging".

When asked which campaign he is most proud of he replies "the one we haven't done yet," explaining that what drives him is always focusing on the next big idea.

"I spend very little time looking through the rear view mirror and all my time looking through the windshield," he says.

"I think tomorrow's ideas and campaigns should always be better. That's what I live for, otherwise I'd just kind of stop.

Inspiring that same creative drive in his agency's 7,000 staff worldwide is Roberts' biggest challenge - and one he says can only be achieved through inspirational leadership and not conventional management methods.

"My job is to inspire 7,000 creative people to be the best they can be.

"You can't do that through organisational steroids or management because you can't get eagles to fly in formation.

"We're not a bank or a manufacturing company. We're a bunch of creative people. You can't manage those people to glory. You've got to inspire them.

And there can be few more inspiring leaders than Roberts. Raised in the north of England he came from a working class background.

"If you are born poor in a way you have many advantages over being born rich because being born poor you have some choices to make," he says.

"The choice is ‘am I going to stay like this for the rest of my life or am I going to try to get out'?

Educated at the Royal Lancaster Grammer School of which is he now a Sponsor Governor, he started his career in the 1960s at the London fashion house, Mary Quant.

He went on to be a senior marketing executive for Gillette and Proctor and Gamble and by the age of 32 he was CEO of Pepsi-Cola Middle East and he later went to become Pepsi's CEO in Canada.

He joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1997 and under his leadership it has grown in revenue year-on-year and consistently swept the boards at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

In 2006 he developed the Lovemarks marketing technique - based on the idea that the strongest brands are the ones that establish an emotional connection with the consumers.

The idea won the agency a landmark US$430million contract with JC Penney - and Roberts has just launched his second book on the subject.

Explaining the concept, Roberts says "Lovemarks are a personal thing. It's about how you feel and what brands you love.

"The great thing about Lovemarks is that it's not like marketing or business claptrap.

"Everybody has a point of view straight away. Lovemarks are about creating loyalty without reason and the iPod is a great example of that.

"It has got itself into a position where yes it performs as well as other MP3s at a massive price premium but it has moved from being irreplaceable to becoming irresistible."

There are not many Lovemarks in the Middle East according to Roberts, who has a very low opinion of the work produced by the region's creative advertising teams.

He says he believes creative agencies in the region have failed to embrace modern technology and are producing work that looks as though it has been made in 1995.

"I think it's cr**, absolute cr**.

"They haven't embraced the Internet or mobile technology and they are producing work that on the whole looks like it has come from 1995.

"It's just so disappointing."

He singles out real estate advertising as being of a particularly poor standard.

"Just look at all the money that is spent on real estate.

"And then look at all the work and it all just looks the same. You've got to be kidding me. It just cracks me up."

According to Roberts, it is fear on the part of creative agencies in the region to take risks that is hampering the quality of the work produced.

"I think everybody is frightened to death. They are frightened of clients, of bureaucracy, of risks, they are frighten-ed socially, they are frightened of offending people and they are frightened of the diverse nature of the population."

He reveals that during a visit to Dubai last week to promote his latest book, he told regional members of the IAA (International Advertising Association) exactly what he thought of the quality of advertising in the UAE.

"I gave a lunch to the IAA and I told them all that.

"They were all nodding in agreement. But they are going to tell me excuses. They will tell me it's because the clients won't take a risk, it's because they're research dominated, they can't attract the best talent, or it's because of the budget.