Agencies should be consultants first: Sophie Simpson

Last week, when COP30 opened in Brazil, there were a lot of questions asked about the inherent conflicts at play.   

COP30’s decision to hire Edelman, long criticised for its oil and gas work, to craft the summit’s narrative felt especially tone-deaf. As did the decision to honour JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, with a sustainable business award.

In a world where companies are wrestling with how they communicate sustainability, does it fall on industries such as advertising and communication to ensure that brands own up to their climate responsibilities?

Sophie Simpson, managing director (MD) of Ruder Finn Atteline, the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) arm of the Ruder Finn group, is clear that the role of communication agencies is that of a consultant.

“Do I think that an agency can’t support different industries? Absolutely not. But I think that you have to be a consultant and you have to do what’s ethically correct,” she told Campaign.

“Our role [as agencies] is to sit down with companies, not to provide a service but to say, let’s audit this. What does this plan/campaign/action mean for us and for our market? What is the potential impact of us not being transparent about what we’re doing?”

If you are the right sort of consultant, Simpson said, you will make the advice and then, together, you can decide how, and if, you go forward. “But you have to be genuine with your advice and follow through with it,” she noted.

Since founding Atteline in 2016 (it was acquired by Ruder Finn in 2023), Simpson has maintained one principle: choose your clients as carefully as they choose you. And when values were not aligned, she said, she has turned business away.

Lost in translation

Some of the other golden rules that Simpson followed to ensure that Atteline was built on the “most solid foundations” were no short-term projects, focusing on their strengths over offering a bouquet of services and ensuring that in-house teams had grassroots knowledge of the markets they were in.

“In MENA, which comprises of 22 countries, it’s all about hyper-localisation. What may work in Egypt won’t work in Qatar or Saudi Arabia. And even within those countries, you’re localising for different communities: Emiratis, Brits, Indians, Russians, which makes the job a lot more nuanced,” she shared.

The people working on that brand or entity need to understand or they need to have been in the market, she cautioned. “If you’re talking to Qataris, what you don’t want is someone sitting in Saudi Arabia or the UAE doing it because you will lose relevance. You need someone who has grown up or spent significant time there to understand the local nuances.”

This is also why they do a lot of influencer campaigns. Influencers allow us to dive a lot deeper; it’s authentic storytelling and they’re very specific in terms of their audience, she shared.

Additionally, it helps them tap into younger audiences who are fast becoming the main demographic in many GCC countries. Saudi Arabia, for example, has 71% of its population under the age of 35.

Balancing act

While discussing hyper-localisation, Simpson pointed out an interesting similarity between communications in India and MENA: both are hyper-local but both want to be positioned on the global stage. This unlocks a new challenge for agencies: the ability to localise while being globally relevant.

The opening of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, she said, is a perfect example of this. “They brought in local history, Egyptian artefacts. They had these wonderful pop-up exhibitions that celebrated the rich history of the Middle East. But at the same time, to acknowledge that they were on a global stage, they brought in some of the biggest art pieces throughout history from around the world. That harmony allowed them to localise the brand in the market whilst still putting it on a global stage.”

Understanding the market is critical. Simpson said brands will often approach them touting how well-known they are in other parts of the world and how they would like to now enter MENA. But they fail to understand that just because you’re known in one part of the world, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll find a customer base in MENA, she said.

“Brands come in and do pop-ups. Those are nice for an experience but consumers have no loyalty to you. They’re more discerning, they understand that you’re not truly embedded in their culture and they demand that,” she explained.

There’s a reason why high-fashion brands do their trunk shows or have ‘Black Book’ pop-ups in the Middle East, they want to build relevance, she said.  

The upside, according to Simpson, is that consumers in the MENA region are very passionate about what they believe in and truly loyal to the brands they support.

The reverse also holds true. If you don’t follow through as a brand, you will be boycotted, she cautioned.

Anticipate rough waters

A decade ago, communication agencies had the luxury of waiting a couple of hours to align stakeholders to address burgeoning crises. Today, with social media, that window has narrowed to a few minutes. Brands are expected to issue a statement almost instantly, even before they’ve gathered all the facts.

To ensure they meet that micro window, Simpson said Ruder Finn uses Sonar, an in-house platform that simulates crises to allow corporations to practice their level of crisis preparedness.

“Often, the bottleneck [in crises] is working with the leadership who is going to make the decisions,” shared Simpson. “The speed at which you have to be organised and confident in your response is probably one of the most challenging things to accomplish now. Being able to create live simulations to get your clients to live the reality of the agility and gain confidence in your decision-making becomes critical.”

Equally important, auditing. This helps agencies get ahead of the crisis and anticipate anything that may not land well, Simpson said. “We have whole client portfolios where all we do is audit. Audit officials, illustrators, photographers. What’s their background, their values? Is there anything that wouldn’t land well from a Middle East perspective?” she shared.

Asking these questions in advance takes away the unpredictability and minimises the escalation of potential crises. “It’s like a risk register every single time.”

Understand the market

What’s exciting about the MENA region is the speed at which the region, and by extension communications, has evolved.

“UAE, for example, is about to celebrate its 54^th Union Day (December 2). It’s been less than 54 year since the country was formed, that’s not even the duration of someone’s career in one agency,” Simpson said, sharing how communications in the region is evolving at lightning speed as these countries try to put themselves on the world map.

Speed doesn’t necessarily translate to building brands that last, and Simpson agrees. “Being relevant and not being transient in the market is very hard,” she shared.

This is where knowing the market comes in handy. For the UAE, Simpson said, communications is about staying ahead, sometimes even creating the trends. It’s about positioning yourself/your clients as the thought leader.

“If, however, you go to a market like Saudi or Qatar or one that's more localised, it's about making sure you build trust in communities. If you can build relevance and trust through your comms, then you will stand the test of time,” she shared.

Know your story, own it

The media landscape is in a moment of flux. As the way people consume content evolves, so do the stories brands tell, and how and where they tell them.

In an era of trust erosion, where 64% of people report struggling to distinguish credible news from disinformation, it is more critical than ever for brands to own their values, not just when a crisis hits but from the start.

A clear narrative that defines you and reflects your values, and regularly communicating that to your audience, will go a long way to helping brands build and maintain trust in a rapidly evolving media landscape.