It’s one of those ideas that you’re amazed nobody had before. Will Scougal, however, was the one to finally give it wings as the Founder and MD at Make My Day.
The idea in question was using augmented reality to bring brands into people’s lives in meaningful ways, whether through the experience itself or the impact it has on the brand. He calls it “augmented performance marketing” and it’s a truly fascinating new idea the former Snapchat Creative Strategy Director has struck upon.
To learn more, let’s hear from the man himself, shall we?
How was your company born and where are you based?
I’ve spent the majority of my career building creative businesses around teams driven by craft and its ability to deliver commercial results. I’ve been fortunate enough to do it for companies like Twitter and Snapchat and also for some great creative agencies. I’ve wanted to build a creative business around an idea of my own for as long as I can remember, and over my seven years at Snap I started to become increasingly interested in augmented reality not only as a deeply immersive advertising format, but also in the number of people using it across social platforms; I wondered why brands weren’t leaning into it more.
It reminded me of the time when things like social media and mobile video were in their nascent stages and not broadly adopted. I started to think about whether there was a role for AR in full funnel digital marketing strategy, and how the experience AR delivers can help brands turn up for their customers in truly valuable ways. Over a series of discussions with colleagues, friends, peers, agency leaders, my long suffering partner, and with anyone else who would listen, the idea for Make May Day developed into a business plan and, ultimately, a discussion with Jim Coleman and the team at We Are Social.
There was really only one agency in my mind as the ideal launch partner when it came to Make My Day. The last piece of the puzzle came into place when my co-founder and Strategy Director, Mark Carroll, said ‘yes’ to coming on board to help lead and shape the journey. We're based in We Are Social's offices near Old Street in London, and have access to the agency's 250-strong UK team which is invaluable across areas like strategy, design and creative for a start-up like us.
What was the biggest challenge to the growth of your company?
There’s been so much positive feedback from people in the industry, in particular from brands, and there’s a real appetite to do things differently. We’re working with brands, agencies and platforms to give AR a perception reset. We’re breaking down the idea that AR is complex and expensive, that it can’t be targeted or measured and that it can only run on one platform. All the data is pointing to AR being the next great digital advertising format, so we’re focussed on removing the complexity from AR and making it easy for marketers to add it to their tool kit.
Luckily, we’ve been here before and perception of a format, or an audience behaviour, aren’t unfamiliar foes. I can remember a time when mobile video, branded content and social media in general were all new ideas with no teams dedicated to creating or buying in the space. Look at them now.
Which was the first huge success that you can remember?
We tend not to look over our shoulders too much - the future is much more exciting. I think most people remember the first time that one of their ideas got bought, or the first award, and those are undoubtedly moments that I hold dear.
There have been a number of innovation and technical successes I've played a small part in. One that stands out from my time at Snap is when we built an early version of an expert AI and integrated AR to design and launch a sneaker at the design museum.
The AI was educated by some of the best sneaker designs in the world and when we launched it the AR experience integrated colours the user was already wearing in a really cool moment of real-time co-creation. There’s so much innovation baked into that idea but ultimately it was just simple, fun and interesting for people to use. We also worked with the Design Museum and architect Mariam Kamarra to reimagine the facade to adapt to and leverage extreme weather conditions.
Outside of individual campaigns and activations the successes I think about more are about industry change and are a result of collective success involving lots of talented people.
Before Twitter, live, data powered, reactive marketing didn’t really exist at scale. Trends existed as an idea and movement but not as an ad format. Before Snap, vertical video wasn’t a thing, nor was the story format. Being able to contribute to some of that and help brands navigate those changes has been a highlight to date. As our first work as Make My Day goes live over the next month that will certainly be a big and memorable moment for us.
What’s the biggest opportunity for you and your company in the next year?
The topic of attention is high on many agendas at the moment. In some ways I find it strange that we’re only really talking now about measuring the one thing that’s needed to make all ads, or any communication, work. Everything that’s needed to create great advertising; attention, relevance, intent and scale exists in AR in abundance.
More importantly, it’s the time and attention of the people who are supposedly some of the hardest to reach. Helping brands make the most of this is our biggest opportunity. The augmented reality audience is the most engaged audience on mobile: that’s not just an opportunity for us but for the industry as a whole.
Can you explain your team’s creative process? What makes it unique?
Creating the right environment for your creative output is essential, and that’s always been a theme throughout the businesses I’ve worked for. Personally, I like to walk and find space to daydream. I find it can be a great way to start to form ideas that can become the basis for something bigger.
Collaboration and interrogation of ideas is also critical; creativity is not only more fun with others, it makes better work. We’re creative as part of our jobs and there is a process for efficiency and focus but the output is a result of everything else we do. Be curious, interested in the world, nice to people, read, listen, explore, experiment. All things I think you’d find creatives everywhere doing. While that’s possibly not the most inspiring answer I think sometimes people can be intimidated by ideas and in particular the idea that AR is complex, which is a barrier that needs to be broken.
Outside of that, I have a totally unique partner in Mark Carroll. We will analyse and dissect work, the world, news and research endlessly and we love it. We also have the benefit of working with the fantastic teams at We Are Social. It’s a pretty powerful and unique starting point to be able to draw on such a diverse pool of talent.
How does your team remain inspired and motivated?
The name Make My Day is about how we turn up for each other and our partners and how we help them turn up for their customers. We spend a huge amount of time with each other and we want people to spend time with us, like we want them to spend time with the communication experiences we create.
We truly believe that we can help brands contribute to the daily lives of their customers through AR. We can invite people to try new things, we can make a sale, we can surprise people, we can make someone smile and reach out to friends with the content they create. AR has the power to change the way brands communicate and spend time with people. Outside of our mission there are some incredible businesses doing amazing things in AR - the inspiration is everywhere.
I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do something I don’t just love but that is an absolute compulsion for me. I want to build teams that bring their unique perspective to that excitement, optimism and energy to contribute to the whole. The pace of change and innovation is thrilling and there’s so much to come.
Coming into work everyday, feeling like we’re just getting started, being with a brilliantly diverse group of people that share a passion for that idea is incredibly motivating and something we nurture and cherish.
Which agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?
I have so many heroes in the industry. I’m like a one person advertising fan club. I’ll start with my partner, I won’t name her but she’s definitely a hero of mine. I also have some very close friends in the industry who I love and admire immensely.
In today’s AR space there’s a crop of AR creators emerging who don’t just do incredible work but have created a new type of influence built on digital craft. People like Damara Ingles, Clara Bacou, Max Van Leeuwen, Ommy, Akhe, Piper ZY and Ines Hill are drawing huge crowds with their creativity and pioneering spatial computing as an art. We love their work and working with them.
I have a deep love of film and draw endless inspiration from it. I am also an absolute believer in its value in advertising. The current trend for ‘faux’ advertising is a really interesting one because in the majority of examples I’ve seen there can be a real extension into AR. In some respects the films themselves are drafts for what could be an AR build.
We Are Social is an incredible business with a brilliant leadership team. I applied to be a creative director there 13 years ago and have remained a fan ever since. As an agency they have defined the social media era. A lot like Unit 9 and the Mill has defined production for innovation and craft. I didn’t get the job all those years ago but I ended up at Twitter, which was the most intense learning experience I’ve ever had.
The team there helped me shift into a more commercially astute gear and made me laugh harder than I ever have in a job. Joining Snap to help launch in the UK and beyond, and build out the creative strategy team, led me to work with people that remain some of the most inspiring and intelligent I’ve ever worked with.
What is one tip that you would give to other agencies looking to grow?
Have a clear strategy and path to growth and stick to it. Be undeniably creative and effective in what you do. Be a great partner, turn up in the right way and as we say at Make My Day ‘make good things happen’.
How do you go about finding new clients/business? (Pitching, work with retainers, etc.)
My mum once asked me, very early in my working life and after a particularly difficult day, ‘do you know what your job is?’. Half way through an admittedly long winded answer outlining the intricacies and nuances of the advertising industry she interrupted me and said ‘that’s not your job, your job is to get your client and your boss promoted’.
A simple demonstration of the power of reframing a proposition. While I don’t live by these words they helped at the time and have stayed with me. Ultimately, I think a huge part of it is reputation and what people and your work say about you.
My tip is find what you love in what you do and don’t be afraid to show it. Do it brilliantly. Do it simply. Prove your value. Prove your value. Prove your value. Clients buy into people as much as they do ideas, but what they buy even more is work that helps them grow their business and their career. I know that’s what I’d buy.
What’s your one big hope for the future of the industry?
Our industry is going through a(nother) major personality and behavioural shift. I’m starting to think more about the idea of the ‘digital prime time’ of attention that AR offers, where else it exists and what that means for real creativity on the rapidly changing digital canvas.
Digital has long been thought of as the enemy of attention, feed based, click bait and fast scrolling, and while there is a role for high frequency, low attention, mass produced advertising, it has been to the detriment of what’s possible and the reputation of the digital advertising craft.
But, with the emergence and increasing popularity and importantly scale of high attention digital media such as podcasts, gaming, augmented reality and long form video on some social platforms, there is an entirely new intent driven attention for creatives to capture with beautiful craft. The opportunity for attention is as rife as it has been since you could captivate a family at 7pm on a Saturday.
What I find particularly interesting about this is I believe we’re shifting from ‘disruption’ to ‘contribution’. Great prime-time advertising was about craft, story, humour, sexiness, shock. It was entertainment. For me it was about making the moment not disrupting it. In high attention digital spaces brands that disrupt are dismissed with a swipe or a tap.
Those that contribute to the moment are the ones people chose to spend time with. Digital prime time is here and augmented reality is currently the most scaled and immersive opportunity in this space.
Do you have any websites, books or resources that you would recommend?
Slightly shameless plug but our instagram page makemyday.ar is a hotbed of the latest AR creators and trends. Outside of that if you’re currently bringing up a soon to be teenage daughter I would suggest ‘Why Girls Fall Out’ by Holly, Naomi and Andrew Hampton. Actually it’s genuinely fascinating even if you’re not. If you’re into deep long alternative history I enjoyed ‘Pillars of the Earth’ by Ken Follett recently and am currently reading ‘His Only Wife’ by Peace Adzo Medie which gives a glimpse into a new bride’s life in Ghana.
I wish I could say I fully understood all of the ideas in ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ by Daniel Kahneman but those I did understand helped me hugely. What would it be like to be the person writing books like that? The best book on creativity I’ve read this year is ’12 Notes On Life and Creativity’ by Quincy Jones. It’s not the most revelatory or instructive, although his tip for getting into a flow state is brilliant. His story is singularly inspiring and one of the truest of a person who had a relentless compulsion to create against any and all odds to deliver an undeniably effective output.
