Here's how to get to the top of the advertising industry, according to the new boss of Google, HSBC and Ikea's marketing agency

M&C Saatchi

Camilla Kemp was recently appointed chief operating officer of M&C Saatchi — one of London's leading marketing agencies, which has worked with Google, Boots, HSBC, Natwest, and the UK Conservative Party. She started at the ad agency five years ago, but in her new role, Kemp has been given responsibility to oversee the 11 companies in the M&C Saatchi group.

When Business Insider interviewed Kemp, she provided four simple tips that helped her to quickly rise to the top of the ad industry.

And working hard is not one of them. “I think everyone works hard, don't they?" Kemp said.

Be conscientious

"Always thinking that you’ve done the vey best that you can do (is the secret to getting to the top.) Yeah, I think a bit of conscientiousness... I've probably got quite high standards as well.

"I don't need huge amounts of sleep, I don't think. I've sort of worked out that I'm actually ok without. I'm not a ten-hours-a-night kind of girl. Six — that’s alright. That’s ok. Yes I think I work hard, but it’s not about the number of hours you do. It’s about the difference you make in the hours that you're making them. Your brand is created on the work that you do. Your reputation is about the excellence of what you deliver for your clients."

Work in a team

"I think making sure you’re always working with people who are probably better than you and can help you answer the problems. I think it’s really important — particularly in a business where you're using creativity to solve business problems — that you have different types of brains to do that. So, I'm a big believer in working together with a couple of other brains around me to solve something and you get there faster and it’s more exciting and it’s more fun to do it that way. I think that’s a big part of it."

M&C Saatchi

Retain a consistent set of values

"I think there are sort of consistent values that you have when you have a strong sense of culture. So, for example, you know the agency was founded by some very entrepreneurial people and that entrepreneurial spirit is something that rings true and has been one of the key things for how the group has been formed. We don't go in for just going in and buying an agency that already exists. We do it through organic growth and finding someone who's super smart who wants to set up their own thing and we’ll back them up and the create a new unit within the group."

Understand and embrace technology

"What's interesting about marketing is that I feel that we’ve actually evolved quickly and adapted more to the changing landscape of technology (than other industries.) And, ultimately, the people in the real world — we’re going to call them consumers but they’re people — are happy to be entertained and they're happy to be informed. So, if a brand is able to be able to provide those experiences, they're happy to watch what the brand has put in front of them and they’ll opt into it. There are lots of examples of brands creating digital experiences and content platforms."

How to set up a marketing business

Kemp also told Business Insider that's it's actually surprisingly simple to set up a rival to M&C Saatchi.

She said: "It’s actually very easy in a way to set up a marketing business. You just need some people and a laptop and some connections, you haven’t got to build a factory or invest in packaging, it’s about intellectual capital really and ideas and people who are smart and who have ideas. So there's a phenomenal amount of competition from all sorts of people who think they can do what everyone else can do. And lots of people saying 'Yes we can do that.'"

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