New Year is No Excuse, Says Jon Biggs

How would you describe and reflect on 2015 for the industry, creatively speaking?

It’s been a really interesting year. I think 2015 was the year people truly started thinking creatively about technology in ways that have pushed its limits and started to explore its full potentials. We’ve seen a considerable amount of work using technology in a considered and innovative manner, telling stories rather than just ‘doing stuff because it’s new and cool’.

What about your company’s creative performance; how much do you think you’ve grown this year?

I think we’ve managed to do that really difficult thing of growing in scale but continuing to deliver top-quality creative work for our partners. This year, we've grown from 300 to 400 employees with seven offices worldwide, including the latest acquisition of production house Stopp Sweden and Los Angeles. The combined capabilities of MediaMonks now include VR, digital, games, big builds, mobile and film production which will be of exceptional value for the creative agencies we work with.

Creatively it was great to win 24 Cannes Lions and also bringing home that coveted number one spot at the top of the FWA awards programme, with a grand total of 135 Favourite Website Awards.

What has your own best personal achievement been in the past 12 months and why?

I’ve loved how eclectic our projects have been this year. Amongst others we’ve made a Pizza ‘Crustomisation’ tool, an exclusive 360 tour of an F1 pit-garage and a cocktail-making robot-bartender who you could have an actual conversation with. Where else in the world could I work on such an amazing selection of projects?

And looking ahead to 2016, what are you most excited about in terms of the industry and advertising?

The thing that I’m personally excited about for 2016 is welcoming our new Monks at MediaMonks Stockholm. Stopp (its previous guise) has always been a shop I’ve massively admired and I’ve been (secretly) a little bit jealous of their work - but don't quote me on that. Having them onboard is really, really exciting regarding the VR work we'll be doing more of in 2016.

Give us an example of a strategy/approach from a brand you’d like to see more of in 2016…

I’d like to see the industry diving further into e-commerce websites. We seem to follow a really safe, standardised approach for everything in this area. I’d love to see brands looking at how they weave the sell into the brand story rather than just as a destination.

Which campaign, piece of work or moment will you remember this year for and why? 

It’s been an odd year for really stand-out work. There’s obviously been lots of good stuff, but I don’t think there is a real stand-out piece of work that has ‘defined’ 2015.

How do you think your region has performed this year in comparison to other leading markets?

I think London has thrived this year. Agencies are demanding top-quality work and reaching out for top quality production to make it happen. It’s definitely been a year of ‘make it brilliant’, not just ‘make it cheap or fast’.

What’s your New Year’s resolution, workwise or other?

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions. I’m not really sure why New Year seems to be the excuse and moment to fix stuff’.

What one piece of advice would you give to the industry to take with it into 2016?

I like the fluidity that it has, things constantly change, trends come and go, people invent new tools and we fight as hard as we can to stay ahead of the game. What isn’t there to love?

What do you hope you’ve achieved by this time next year in terms of work?

To keep having fun and making things that we’re really proud to tell people about.