What can top marketers not survive without?

Zoe Waller, executive producer, Studio Yes: “Sometimes, relying on a system or piece of technology isn’t just about preference. It’s really important to consider the experience of people with neurodiversity. It can be hard moving from one system to another for everyone, but for someone with dyslexia (like me), the experience can feel like a bad acid trip, like your eyes are popping out of your sockets and you suddenly can’t do the basics of ‘send’ and ‘receive’ any more. It can feel like you’re back at school again, struggling to do the basics of reading and writing. I left a job previously because I couldn’t cope with a move from one system to another and I didn’t know how to ask for help. Luckily, I do now, but it’s still not easy.”

Tamara Alesi, chief executive officer (CEO), Mediaplus North America: “They can take my meetings, but they’ll never take my Copilot (or my cappuccino). As a CEO, I rely on two Copilots: 365 for work and one for my garden. The first keeps my day sharp – summarizing, synthesizing and helping me lead with clarity. The second helps me grow with intention – planning, planting and pruning my way to peace. Both are non-negotiable. Take them away and I won’t just write an op-ed, I’ll lead a full-blown media rebellion, complete with a killer playlist and a garden metaphor or two.”

Steve Wildish, creative director, Wildish & Co: “As a designer, I can’t live without PowerPoint. A well-respected account manager once told me, ‘It is the most powerful design tool there is.’ How right they were. PowerPoint has been blazing the trail for years with autonomous, assisted design built in. What other design application will resize your text and images to its whims rather than respecting your creative decisions? PowerPoint knows best. Fonts? PowerPoint has them (and in every style, as long as it’s Curlz or Myriad). There’s no need to load in your own (because you can’t). PowerPoint can make images bounce into frame and spin. It’s like adding After Effects to Illustrator with a pinch of Photoshop. ‘What’s that? There’s a new 50-page PowerPoint layout job in the studio? Me, please!’”

Lyle Jenks, executive creative director, BondX: “What couldn’t I live without? Adobe Stock Mockups. Every creative knows that a solid presentation lives or dies on the mockup. Adobe Stock’s ready-made Photoshop templates for billboards, phones, tote bags and the like save me hours of Googling or building templates from scratch. Take it away and my decks just aren’t as convincing.”

Ted Kohnen, CEO, Park & Battery: “Three things surely no agency can do without. One, password managers (marketers juggle more logins than ad formats; take this away and entire teams lock up). Two, the agency tote bag (without it, how will they signal ‘creative but strategic’?) Three, the ‘power water bottle’ (A Stanley or Hydro flask simply must be in frame on every Zoom).”

Valerie Renda, director of data strategy & analytics, Kepler: “The power of a single source of truth for company knowledge is essential. Before having our knowledge management platform Guru, our company knowledge was scattered across old documents, buried email threads and disjointed presentations. Now, the ability to instantly find a verified, up-to-date answer is more than a convenience; it’s our engine. Every time I find what I need in Guru instead of breaking a colleague’s focus on Slack or asking repetitive questions in large channels, it’s a small victory that compounds into a massive gain in speed and autonomy for the entire company.”

Jamie Maunder, chief creative officer, Mādin: “I’ve got a miniature slinky on my desk that’s basically my sidekick during calls and brainstorming sessions. It’s not just a toy; it’s how I keep my brain from turning to mush when I need to focus. I’ve even started gifting them to the team and now some of them use theirs without even realizing it’s there. That’s the sneaky magic of a slinky. It just slides into your routine, keeps your hands busy and, suddenly, ideas start popping. Take mine away and I’d either lose my mind or be forced to actually sit still and think. Terrifying thought.”

Sarah Fairhurst, creative director, Dalziel & Pow: “What do I rely on? Channeling my roots, I’d say a proper cup of tea. Tea is the quiet hero of the creative world: a warm hug in a mug that brings everyone together. It doesn’t care about job titles or deadlines and it’s there for the good and the bad days. A good tea is how we start conversations, how we celebrate wins and navigate challenges. In a world where there seems never to be enough time, tea reminds us to pause and connect. Long live the agency brew!”

Lizzie Hutchison, senior copywriter, AML: “There’s only one* thing I love more than being at work. And that’s being in a spa. Luckily, my agency is happy to provide a hybrid. Admittedly, it’s not quite work-from-sauna level, but give me time. AML subsidizes a bimonthly masseuse, so for 30 minutes every other week, the stresses of the day are kneaded away and the brain can go completely blank. Which, if you’ve ever given mindfulness a shot, is actually quite hard to achieve. As a gangly gal whose spine seems to store all the tension of a thousand creative briefs, a massage goes down an absolute treat. It’s as the scientists say – happy body, happy mind. Happy mind, happy ideas. Happy ideas, happy clients. See, it basically pays for itself. (*Let’s not get into numbers here.)”

Chris Hassell, CEO & Founder, Ralph: “What could I never live without? My autonomy. Some clients expect jazz hands and air kisses from their creative partners. They want all the adulation, none of the consultation and even less constructive criticism. When dealing with these kinds of clients, the temptation to grit your teeth and feign enthusiasm for a bad strategy or idea can be overwhelming. In those moments, I remind myself that our expertise, honesty and desire to have a little bit of fun is the reason people hire us in the first place. The joy of running your own business is that you don’t work for people, you work with people. Having autonomy is crucial for me. There’s no point to a partnership if both sides don’t feel free to challenge each other, help each other be at their best and try to have a laugh along the way. The movie Braveheart is my business school. You’ll never take my freedom to tell you what I really think. (And yes, I will occasionally expense a cheeky pint or a pack of cigs to your shoot budget.)”