John Muszynski was hired in 1981 as a trainee at what would become the Starcom USA agency he now leads. During his tenure, the chief executive climbed the ranks by contributing to the success of some of the world’s largest global brands, including Kellogg’s and McDonald’s. Now one of the largest and most celebrated agencies in the world, AdvertisingAge and Media magazine have both made Starcom their Agency of the Year multiple times, and AdvertisingAge also named Starcom to its Agency A-List for 2008. Muszynski recently shared his story with Brand Connections’ Brian F Martin, revealing what it takes to keep an agency’s star on the rise.
Muszynski’s media career began with what was then a division of Leo Burnett. Some of his first experiences came through the Kimberly-Clark account. The young man’s first rotation in the client service training program was with the media planning department, which he enjoyed so much he promptly abandoned the client service track. “I thought things were going to be changing, and I thought things were really looking up for the whole media landscape,” he recalls. The move turned out to be nothing short of presentient. “It’s been just an absolutely fantastic ride as this entire media landscape has changed and evolved and is frankly moving so quickly that it’s difficult to keep up.”
Much has changed from those early years. Today’s media planners (once a footnote in client meetings) are often included early on in the process, Muszynski notes. “We are part of the establishment of the strategies, both from a marketing and from a creative standpoint. We influence the actual contact plan before the creative is even produced. And I think the most critical piece to it is that we have shown our creative partners that we can actually add value in the process and that we are truly marketers, like themselves. We can bring a little bit of a different perspective, but we can contribute to the same area that they’re working against. Our clients have recognized that and our creative partners have recognized that.”
Muszynski’s initial success earned him a speedy promotion and a chance to work on McDonald’s local and national business. He then transitioned to Kellogg, where he spent the bulk of his client career. Muszynski still considers these 12 years among his career highlights. “If you had cut me back then I would have bled Kellogg Red,” the CEO jests. “I firmly believed back then – as I do now – that while my paycheck said Starcom, I worked for the Kellogg Company.” The former Mediaweek All-Star still takes a hard line when it comes to client and brand loyalty. “My attitude has not changed. I have a General Motors vehicle sitting in my driveway and Nintendo is the only electronic game allowed in my household. I feel very, very fortunate to work with some of the greatest brands in the industry, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t support them.”
This support may extend to brand loyalty, but begins on a more fundamental level. “I believe our job as an agency – as a client partner – is to understand that business as well as the client does,” he says. “We have to dedicate ourselves to that business and to truly understand that piece of business and to understand that category I believe you have to eat and sleep it.” Buying from a competitor brand, for Muszynski, amounts to sleeping with the enemy.
While the agency strives to understand clients’ businesses as well as they do, Muszynski acknowledges the goal is at times unachievable. Insight is Starcom’s true currency. “Without having those insights, all you’re doing is putting a media plan together,” according to the CEO. “We want to put a connection plan together. We want to be able to connect with consumers and captivate consumers, and the only way we’re going to do that is by truly understanding their passions and having insights into how they interact within the media landscape, as well as within that category that you’re building that plan against.” He also stresses the need to avoid the “media geek” label, while entrenching Starcom as a valued business partner that specializes in media strategy.
One of those major insights relates to how consumers interact with media and messaging. Despite dramatic changes in where, when and how consumers are marketed to, the key remains consumers themselves. “As long as you understand the consumer – and what motivates the consumer and what captivates the consumer – finding the connection points is actually the easiest part,” asserts Muszynski. At Starcom, the burden of consumer mind-reading and pulse-monitoring falls on the shoulders of the consumer contextual planner (CCP).
Finding, training, and maintaining top talent to fill CCP positions and other posts is becoming harder for agencies, says the Starcom topper. Keeping pace with the constant and accelerating pace of changes in modern media constitutes another major challenge for today’s marketing firms. Clearly Muszynski’s group is rising to the occasion, as AdAge lauded Starcom’s combination of talent, innovation, accountability and passion in naming them Agency of the Year a second consecutive time.
Starcom’s success is no accident, and Muszynski sets much of the tone from the top down. “Be part of the company, not just an employee of the company,” he urges new hires. The advice holds for other ambitious minds in the industry. The CEO says he also values clarity and honesty, but believes new ideas are invaluable. “Don’t settle for what’s been done in the past,” he concludes. “Make innovation part of your DNA.” With a game plan like that – and the know-how to execute it – you’ll never need to wish upon a star.
