5 Things I Learned in my First Year as an ECD

TLDR: It’s different from freelancing.

I did it. I kept a full-time job for A WHOLE YEAR. Look at me now, mom, I’m a big boy!

Today is the one-year anniversary of stepping into the executive creative director role at Duncan Channon, a San Francisco ad agency.

Last year when I took the job after three and a half years of freelancing, I wrote about why I decided to pull in my shingle. (I also wrote about why, for me, an agency gig felt like a better fit than a client-side in-house gig.)

So it will come as ZERO surprise to my regular readers that, of course, I’m writing up the 5 THINGS I LEARNED IN MY FIRST YEAR AS AN ECD.

1. Assimilation is hard.

To be totally honest, there were some bumps assimilating after being “an agency of one” for so many years.

As a freelancer, you’re rewarded (get your day rate, booked again, etc.) for individual contribution. But the role of a full-time creative leader is different. It’s less about what you as an individual can achieve, and more about what the team and agency can accomplish.

This reared its head in some obvious (and cliché) ways. No, John, you can’t write everything yourself anymore, you have to help others create stuff.

Some of it was about changing the rhythm of my work life. The few-months-on/few-weeks-off schedule of freelance doesn’t really work when you’re trying to help lead a department. And, nope, nobody pays extra for weekend work.

It’s not like I was phoning it in for my freelance gigs, but I’ve definitely put in more hours this past year. And I’m juggling a lot more projects. (That said, I did choose wisely — Duncan Channon is an agency that strives to do great work without the soul-crushing, can-never-get-on-top-of-everything schedule you find at so many agencies.)

Not to get all hippy-dippy on you, but some of it was about being more present. Freelancers are hired guns to solve a particular problem. A full-time leader needs to invest in a place. It takes time to get to know people, to understand the culture, to look for ways to contribute.

The cool part (and this is corny as hell, I know) is that this team can accomplish so much more than I could ever hope to on my own. I mean, we made eight campaigns for eight clients in three months, for heaven’s sake!

2. Making decisions is rad.

You know what’s awesome about being an ECD? You get to make decisions.

After years and years of bitching and moaning about “I wonder why the hell that idea died?” or “If they’d only presented THIS script, we would have won” the buck now stops with me on the accounts that I lead.

That’s cool. And terrifying.

I’d worked as a CD before this job. And I’ve written about the traits that make a good creative director.

But the ECD gig is different. It’s incredibly satisfying to be able to dig in and work with teams and fully understand the business challenge and help craft our approach for that client. From the way the account is managed, to the strategy we develop, to the communications plan, to the creative platforms and tactics.

It makes you humble. The truth is, nobody really knows what’s going to work. So you surround yourself with smart, talented, hard-working people, and you try and make informed decisions.

3. Humans gonna human.

Let’s be honest, people are…messy. Complicated and confusing. They’re also magical and wonderful, but the magic and wonder doesn’t come without a whole bunch of other human stuff.

As a freelancer, I went four glorious years without worrying about performance reviews. Or hiring and firing. Or managing the inevitable complexities that come when you throw a bunch of creative people together.

Turns out that is a HUGE part of the ECD gig. Who knew? 😉

In advertising, as you move “up” in the creative department there’s a very weird thing that happens: the skills that get you your next title aren’t the ones you need in your new job. Great creatives aren’t necessarily great managers. (That head nodding you just heard is everybody who currently reports to me.)

So you…do your best! You try to remember what kind of manager you liked. And you try to remember that different people may want and need something totally different. But until we’re all replaced by robots (coming soon?) you need good people doing good work.

And the ability to assemble a team and motivate and be surprised by them IS super rewarding.

4. You can fall in love with your clients.

Years ago at Cannes Lions (douchey name drop, I know, but bear with me) I heard a CMO say, “The only way to get to great campaigns is for me to have a personal relationship with the creative leads at the agency.”

After a year in the ECD chair, I believe this more than ever. Developing a close personal relationship with your clients is critical if you want to do good work. (It also makes your work life a hell of a lot more fun when you actually LIKE the people you’re working with.)

And it starts with that first pitch meeting. When you and your clients are both real and authentic on that “first date,” it really sets the tone. You need to be able to debate and argue and push each other and work toward a common goal. That’s how you develop trust. And trust is critical if you want to do something great.

No agency really lets their freelancers develop that sort of relationship with the client. I can honestly say that’s been one of the best parts of the gig over the last year.

5. Winning feels pretty good.

You know what else has been super rad about the last year? Winning pitches!

New biz pitches are my favorite part of advertising. It’s a puzzle and improvisation and psychology and team sports and business all rolled into one.

And we’ve had a very good run over the last 12 months, winning more pitches than we’ve lost. That feels GOOD.

Sure, I worked on pitches as a freelancer. But the level of ownership is different now. And I get to be in the room on pitch day, which is super fun.

Plus, I’m at a shop that does it all, so nothing is off-limits. It’s a pleasure to be able to pitch ideas for the full range of marketing problems — from strategy to creative ideas to media to the way stuff lives in the world, whether that’s a TV commercial or an online program or an experiential activation.

Putting that all together, pitching it to a prospective client and having that person say, “We choose you,” makes me grateful that I joined this team.

So that’s the report. Has it all been champagne and roses? Nope. There are definitely things about being “institutionalized” that I’ll never get used to. But it’s a pleasure to work with people that take the work seriously without taking themselves too seriously.

Thanks to all that made year one a good one.

John Kovacevich wrote this at the end of his first year as ECD at Duncan Channon in San Francisco. He has since founded his own agency, Agency SOS. He often writes about the things he’s learned in the advertising biz and you can read them all here.