Ten Questions with Gareth Evans

Cogent MD Gareth Evans was recently appointed as IPA City Head for Birmingham and the Midlands. Here he answers ten questions about his career, his favourite ads and his biggest hopes for the industry.

What are you most looking forward to about your IPA role? 

I’m a proud Midlander, and the IPA City Head role is a wonderful opportunity to champion the incredible agencies we have here doing some amazing work. Here in the middle of the country, we have a proud history (and present) of innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurialism - so what a privilege it is to get to meet and spend time with some of the people laying the foundations for even more of the same in the future.

How did you get into the industry? 

Like many, I took a slightly ‘indirect’ route into the industry. There were some fun stops along the way in the jewellery industry and then the music industry first, before getting my first job in agency land. I started in New Business and never looked back. I did do work experience at an ad agency aged 14 though, so it seems the die was cast early…

What advice would you give someone trying to get into the industry now? 

Be flexible, put your hand up, and take every opportunity to learn. Agency jobs are becoming less and less about ‘get in your lane and stay there’ - people who can turn their hand to many things - and are up for giving things a go - are hugely valuable. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for advice from people in the industry.  You’ll find those of us who have been around a while are happy to share our experience and offer advice - we’re really friendly, promise!

What do you wish you knew when you started? 

It’s ok to ask when you don’t understand. When you first enter agency land it can feel like an almost mythical place where super smart, creative people use language, terminology and references that somehow seem out of reach. Over time you learn that often the most valuable - and sometimes hardest - thing to do is break all that down and distil a problem to its simplest form. To do that, you have to ask questions - and it’s better to ask ‘why?’ than to question yourself.

Who/what has been the biggest influence on your career? 

It’s hard to identify just 1 person. I’ve been lucky enough to have worked with - and be influenced by - some very smart, inspiring people over the years. And every experience shapes you in some way. The piece of advice I keep coming back to was given by one of my university lecturers: ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, it’s what the other person hears that counts’. I try to remember that piece of advice every day - so I guess it must have influenced my career.

What is your career highlight so far? 

I guess each forward step I’ve taken in my career has become a new highlight - and it’s a great privilege to be part of the team building on Cogent’s illustrious 93-year history and guiding its future. We’ve just launched a co-working members club, event venue, production studio suite and university campus called the Fold. That’s a definite highlight!

What is your favourite ad (that you haven’t worked on)? 

Given how many awards and accolades it won I’m hardly breaking new ground here, but probably the one I reference most often is Guinness Surfer. It’s steeped in audience insight, dramatises a unique product truth, flipping what could be perceived as a negative feature into a unique product virtue (waiting for it!); it’s visually arresting, beautifully written and has a killer soundtrack. And according to all the papers and case studies on it, it worked really, really well.

What is your biggest hope for the industry this year? 

That we each get a moment to take a breath and give ourselves a deserved pat on the back. It was always a demanding, fast-paced, changeable, intense world to work in - then Covid happened; presenting a whole new set of challenges which we tackled head-on and with Dunkirk spirit. Then just when we thought it felt safe to feel safe, we had the Great Resignation, economic uncertainty, war, the impacts of Brexit, the advent of generative AI and many, many more things. Obviously, the ad industry isn’t alone in feeling the effects of these things but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve to take a moment to recognise it’s been exhausting and feel proud of how we’ve dealt with them, together.

What does the future of advertising look like to you? 

Exciting! One of the things I love most about advertising is the pace of change, juxtaposed with some things that don’t change at all. So while there’s always opportunity presented by new channels, technologies, techniques, cultural shifts etc, we can apply these things to a series of reliably constant challenges - understanding people, and finding ways to communicate with them that influences their behaviour in some way.  I’m especially excited to see how the worlds of advertising, film and gaming will continue to converge.

Advertising can…

... Help pull us out of recession. Advertising helps consumers to make spending decisions and helps businesses to deploy brands as tools of growth. Times will continue to be hard, but imagine how much slower our economic recovery might be without advertising helping to fuel it.

Gareth Evans is MD at Cogent and IPA City Head for Birmingham and the Midlands.