This week we caught up with Dan Keefe, Head of We Are Social Studios, to discuss what it truly means to be a specialist agency in 2023.
How was Studios born and where are you based?
Studios is based at We Are Social’s London office in Shoreditch. It was born in 2018 with the objective of creating a culturally connected production studio that shortens the distance between strategy, creativity and execution.
Being a creative agency that specialises in social, the ability to produce our own work under one roof is key to pretty much everything we create. So we’ve all grown up in that non-traditional production environment, rather than having to adapt to it over time.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of Studios?
Given the ever-increasing speed of change in social media, we’re pretty well accustomed to adapting to new trends and best practice; whether it’s sound-off creative, shooting for every aspect ratio, huge numbers of assets or just generally throwing the storytelling rulebook out the window.
TikTok has brought a new challenge in that creators are an execution in and of themselves, meaning we’re increasingly seeing production budgets diverted that way. Plus, the platform guidelines actively discourage the kind of production values we all typically pride ourselves on delivering.
However, we try to approach this holistically from the perspective of what our clients actually need: the agency has adapted at pace, offering different ways of engaging with creators and different types of always-on content.
Platform guidelines are there to be questioned and challenged; our best performing work on TikTok was also one of our biggest ever productions. But we do collectively need to be able to deliver at multiple levels, often simultaneously.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
The whole process of setting up Black Sheep Studios when I was at BBH was an incredibly stressful but rewarding experience. The creative reputation that we managed to establish felt really different to what had come before; it was a huge lesson and it’s something that I’ve really taken with me into this role.
There are a lot of parallels with We Are Social Studios in terms of how it was launched and integrated into the rest of the agency creatively, rather than being used as a purely functional or cost-saving option.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
This is the year we spread our wings and work with more brands outside of the agency client list. Given the continuing trend of brands in-housing their creative, we’re really well positioned to partner with them to produce the work in a way that better understands what they need and also has access to specialisms that can support the work they’re doing.
We’ve also done some amazing work that we haven’t shouted enough about yet - that’s something we’re working on.
Can you explain your team’s strategy / process? What makes it unique?
We’re somewhat unusual in the sense that our producers are a varied mixture of different production disciplines. Everyone is a combination of agency / integrated / prod co / post production producer all in one, which is amazing training - if a bit challenging at times.
It’s an environment that creates really talented, multi-disciplined producers who have a great understanding of agency and client context, which for me is really valuable. Don’t steal them please.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
We love the fact that a part of our role in the industry is to be a training ground for up and coming director / photographer talent. Since we don’t represent a roster, we’re always on the hunt for interesting new talent to work with, knowing that they may well go on to achieve exclusive representation later.
We actively welcome this - it feels quite wholesome to me and positions us as a helpful part of the industry rather than something that’s disruptive, plus we’re all really motivated by helping emerging talent to achieve success, even if it means we then can’t work with them any more. We’re always on the hunt for the next one.
How has COVID-19 affected your company?
I think most production businesses will agree that COVID really showed us how adaptable we are in our line of work. As tough as it was, it’s in our nature to rapidly adapt to an overwhelming new challenge and become experts in a particular subject for a short time. COVID was a really extreme and not very fun example of that, but that’s something I think we can be proud of.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
Whenever I’ve gone for a new job, the headhunter has invariably said “we’re looking for a Chris Watling type”. I worked with Chris (who is now MD at Somesuch) during my time at Black Sheep Studios and I continue to aspire to be a Chris Watling Type one day.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Listen to clients. I think the production industry can sometimes feel as though it’s in opposition to the brands that fund the whole operation, which becomes less and less tenable as the fragmentation of production continues.
There’s an unhelpful tension between creating work for the reel and making something that actually does a job for the brand. Ideally it will do both, but the point of what we do is effectiveness and I’m always surprised at the amount of people who feel otherwise.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
We’re fully embedded within the new business team in the agency, so quite often opportunities that aren’t quite right for the main agency are diverted into Studios. We also reach out to brands directly and pitch on briefs, but the majority of our work comes through established agency clients with whom we have ongoing relationships.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
We need more diversity of every kind in leadership positions at brands, in agencies and in production companies, not just because it’s important to redress the balance but also because there is a hegemony of aesthetics, ideas and references across the industry that I would very much like to dismantle.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
Binge watching the BBC series ‘Couples Therapy’ has probably taught me more about how to be a better partner, friend and colleague than any academic course or self help book ever could.
