Member Insights

On a routine strategy check-in call, Bill Carson, a former practicing psychiatrist and current Chairman of the Board of the Sozosei Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on the decriminalization of mental illness, shared an observation that left the Grey strategy team speechless. He told us, “As a physician, it was easier to tell parents that their child had terminal cancer than to tell them their child had schizophrenia.”

I feel like there’s a few things that got set into motion. But what probably just set it off was when I got into paid social, and no one was in it just yet. This is before every brand, of course, heavily relied on Facebook ads. And I had to just figure it out for a bunch of different clients, because I was the first paid social employee for an agency I worked at.

I’m originally from Mongolia and grew up mostly in South Korea before moving to the US in 2009. Before I turned 30 years old, I moved 34 times across 5 different countries. I’ve been storytelling, branding, and marketing myself ever since I can remember to create meaningful connections and build strong relationships.

DDB New York and most of our North American offices have returned to the office in three day a week hybrid capacity – ensuring employees have the balance they need. We are also continuing our half-day Fridays and a small, but important daily reminder to take a breath with a calendar hold from one to two PM each day. Each of these actions remind our people to take a beat and clear their heads.

While the adoption of online shopping continues to grow, the majority (92.6% in 2020) of grocery dollars are still spent in stores. We also recently conducted a survey of 1,000+ grocery shoppers and discovered that 96% are still going into physical stores to buy their groceries.

The TV industry is evolving from a single to multi-currency marketplace.  Throughout the year, we’ve seen indications of a growing appetite for new TV measurement solutions as agencies and programmers announced deals to test new currencies.

I am pretty excited about returning and have been in the office about once a week. I derive so much energy from my colleagues! As the weeks and months go on and more of us are meeting in person we are seeing the positive impact that is having for the culture of our agency.

First, Netflix announced that they’ll begin offering an ad-supported subscription tier. Then, both Peacock and Amazon emphasized virtual product placement offerings during their Newfronts presentations. As viewers continue to prefer streaming services over linear television, I’d expect the Upfront presentations to emphasize more of the same: opportunities to get inside the content in order to reach ad skippers and ad avoiders, and targeting opportunities that offer brands the ability to reach cord nevers and cord cutters through streaming and connected TV ads.

When we talk about sustainable development in the context of business, we mean the company strives to achieve a balance in all aspects of its functioning: social, ecological and financial. In other words, businesses are becoming more human and empathetic in response to problems, such as the global economic crisis, turbulent geopolitical situations and global climate changes.

I’m so proud to be part of an industry whose very existence is about creating change – changing minds, changing behaviors.  That means we have a great opportunity to create broader cultural change by being more representative and inclusive in the stories we tell.