About this episode
Inside Saatchi & Saatchi. Sit down with the CEO of one of the most iconic agencies in advertising, a name that carries both weight and expectation, to understand how CEO Claire Hollands leads for today.
This is a conversation about ambition. Not in the abstract, but in how it shows up in the work, in the culture, and in the relationship between agencies and clients.
We get into how Saatchi & Saatchi is positioning itself around growth, why creativity still holds commercial power (even if the industry occasionally forgets it), and how agencies are rethinking their value, from billable hours to business outcomes.
There’s also a clear view on where things are shifting: the role of AI, the reality of pitching, and why agencies need to be more deliberate about the clients they choose.
Running through all of it is leadership, how you make decisions without perfect information, how you build a culture of high challenge and high support, and how you balance legacy with the need to move forward.
What you’ll learn:
Why agencies need to reposition themselves around growth, not outputs
How creativity still drives commercial performance and where it gets undervalued
What actually builds trust between agencies and clients
Why most pitch processes are flawed and what better looks like
How to think about agency value, pricing, and remuneration
The difference between growth brands and transformation brands and why it matters
What “high challenge, high support” looks like in practice
How great leaders make decisions without having all the answers
What AI is changing in agencies and what it isn’t
Why hiring for attitude and curiosity matters more than experience
Timestamps
About the podcast
That’s What I Call Marketing is a podcast for marketers who care about how brands grow, how advertising works, and how the industry is evolving through conversations with the people shaping it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapters
- 00:03:00Finding your people in the industry
- 00:06:00Why account management sits at the centre of the agency
- 00:07:00Building trust in client relationships
- 00:12:00How decisions are really made at senior level
- 00:15:00Culture, values, and collective ambition
- 00:19:00High challenge, high support: what it means in practice
- 00:23:00Managing pressure across career and family
- 00:25:30Where the agency world is heading
- 00:29:30The evolving agency model
- 00:32:00The role and reality of pitching
- 00:33:30What needs to change in pitch processes
- 00:37:30Hiring for attitude, not just skill
- 00:39:00What excites Claire about what’s next