Cate Stuart-Robertson returns to ad agency land

As Dentsu Creative appoints a new chief client officer, new research also puts the agency-client relationship under the spotlight.

Dentsu Creative chief executive, Kirsty Muddle and newly appointed chief client officer, Cate Stuart-Robertson.

Former Clemenger BBDO managing partner Cate Stuart-Robertson is returning to ad agency land as Dentsu Creative’s chief client officer, after a four-year hiatus working on the outskirts of the industry in leadership roles at Google and creative lead headhunting firm, Hourigan International.

Ms Stuart-Robertson was tapped by Dentsu Creative chief executive Kirsty Muddle to step into the role as chief client officer Gayle While moves to creative agency Host/Havas as chief executive.

The return to the agency industry was not Ms Stuart-Robertson’s original intention when she left Clemenger BBDO in 2019, she told The Growth Agenda. But she said she was drawn back to the agency industry because it’s “where that impact and talent and problem solving can … come together.”

Had Ms Stuart-Robertson followed a traditional linear career trajectory – which started two decades ago in creative, design and visual communication roles – a more likely professional destination may have landed her a position in the upper ranks of a creative leadership team, but her client relationship-building interests let her to pivot into managing client accounts early in her career.

She spent nearly a decade at Clemenger BBDO after she was hired by now president of Dentsu Creative UK, Gareth Collins, and during this time, founded TKT Sydney as a creative consultancy for the Clemenger Group with the likes of Campbell-Arnott’s among its client list. It is well known in the industry that the ad agency-client relationship plays a critical role in campaign success. A World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) and Aprais report released this month showed a clear link between the two. It analysed industry data and found that the strength of an agency-client relationship correlates with effective work.

Among the findings, the study found that 68 per cent of agencies that had been awarded for effectiveness scored above average by their clients. Meanwhile, 67 per cent of clients that had been awarded for effectiveness were also scored above average by their agency partners.

While client relationship-focused roles across creative agencies are not new, in uncertain economic times, strong relationships continue to be a focus for agencies and clients alike.

“To be a great chief client officer, I think it’s about dancing in the grey. It’s about the uncertainty. It’s about building trust, trustworthy relationships, actually leading with trust. Because I think once you build trust with those clients, that allows you to make braver, stronger, more creative work,” said Ms Stuart-Robertson.

From Ms Stuart-Robertson’s cross-departmental vantage point, she said that creativity is not limited to one business function within agencies. “I think that every single conversation, every decision we make is inherently creative,” she said.

“The superpower is, having had a creative background means that you are an agile problem solver. So every single conversation allows you to be much more comfortable in the unknown, but also the ability to back yourself.”

As she steps back into ad land, she added: “What agency people do very, very well is that we colour outside the lines. It’s the opportunities that we’re given to kind of snatch and grab that I like the most. It’s organic conversations. It’s walking the halls.”

Ms Muddle said that this analogy “explains creativity in itself, because clients or problems need you to colour outside the lines. Because if you stay within those lines, you’re just going to keep doing the same thing. And so that creativity, I just love that. It is where growth comes from.”

“Cate understands the creative economy, not just the ad industry, her time at Google being an example,” Ms Muddle said.

“The market is asking for communication solutions with impact but more so; creativity that drives product and service design. We have built our capability around brand transformation and business transformation. Cate will help drive this.”