A corporate vision in action: Implementing the Disruption X method into TBWA\NEBOKO

Abstract

In a competitive marketplace, brands need to stand out to stay relevant. This means that it is important to keep evolving as a company and to find the whitespace to grow. The brand centered in this research is TBWA\NEBOKO, a big advertising agency located in Amsterdam. Their job revolves around finding this whitespace for other brands and creating advertising campaigns to initiate this growth. This is done by Disruption, where the strategists hunt for conventions and construct a vision, to eventually create a Disruptive idea for the brand.

To stay at the top of the list of advertising agencies, TBWA needs to keep innovating and start implementing change, to find their own whitespace. TBWA\Worldwide initiated this change, by shifting its focus from traditional media campaigns to disruptive experiences and focusing more on where to find growth in business. This requires a new methodology to be implemented within the organization. However, the new methodology, Disruption X, is not adopted by the Dutch TBWA\NEBOKO.

This project aims to implement Disruption X into the organization by creating a solution that will enhance and connect the three components of the TBWA\NEBOKO intangible asset: human capital, information capital and organizational capital. The strategists, Disruption X and the TBWA\NEBOKO culture respectively. By using the context mapping approach, this research uncovers why the implementation of Disruption X has been unsuccessful up until now. The research focused on the strategists from the Dutch teams and included a couple of people from the account teams to gain a broader perspective. With the use of sensitizing booklets and by conducting interviews useful data was gathered. The analysis of this data revealed that Disruption X was not actively used and not all employees were aware of its existence. Most data pointed back at the teaching method and appearance of Disruption X. People have to watch hours of difficult online lectures on their own initiative to educate themselves while they do not have time for this. Besides this, Disruption X appeared to be enormous, too difficult, lacking purpose and thus frightening, making the entry to the method too complicated.

The AIDA funnel is used to cluster all the relevant data conclusions and pinpoints how Disruption X needs to be enhanced for adoption within the strategy department of TBWA\NEBOKO. Narrowing the scope of the project leads to a focus on the Desire and Action phase of the AIDA funnel. A simplified presentation and clarifying its purpose need to generate Desire to use Disruption X. Delivering this tool in the “right” way will get the strategists in the Action phase.

An iterative design phase, where the concept is constantly validated by the strategists, results in the final product. The Disruption X Compass functions as a platform that invites, guides, assists, shows and inspires the strategists with Disruption X. The platform helps strengthen the intangible asset of TBWA\NEBOKO by enhancing: the culture through the celebration of achievements; the strategist by learning new working methods and Disruption X by delivering the method in a comprehensible way that incorporates all necessary information and data in one platform.

Since the platform solves only a small part of the whole challenge, the final part of this research will present an implementation plan. The plan initiates and suggests several activities for the successful adoption of Disruption X, including the finalization of the platform, the launch of the platform and how to track and improve the platform. Combining the Disruption X with the implementation plan will hopefully serve as a stepping stone to reaching the TBWA ambition.