Future Moves with James Whatley, LEGO's Senior Strategy Director
We can hardly believe that the glorious promise of not one but two extra days off in May (for those UK-dwellers amongst us) has now been fulfilled. That means we’re back to the desk with a very exciting instalment of Future Moves for you.
For anyone new to the party, Future Moves is here to ask business leaders and experts all the big questions on brand-building for tomorrow's world. Brought to you by us, Jess + Nat, award-winning founders of brand consultancy, Mac+Moore.
Let’s dive in…
James Whatley, LEGO's Senior Strategy Director
💫 How being interested makes you interesting
💫 Why being unafraid of being wrong will be the reason why you win the pitch
💫 How going to Thailand and shaving off all your hair may be the best decision you’ll ever make
I’ve been following James (in a non-creepy fashion) for the past 10 years on various social media channels. I’ve always loved and recommended his newsletter, Five Things on Friday, for anyone who wants to understand a bit more about Adland, technology and general cool shit happening. He’s the opposite of a tech bro or an unapproachable CSO. Which can only be a good thing.
So I bit the bullet and hit reply on one of his posts to ask him if he’d like a chat. Lucky for me he said yes. What’s lovely about the outcome of this conversation is that James really is the person you connect with in the newsletter. Generous with his time and thinking, he’s energetic, optimistic and fiercely intelligent. I can understand why he’s a well-known and respected figure in the creative community. Nice guys don’t come last.
Following James’ own advice to follow what interests you, we talked about his brilliant entry story into the industry, how his love of theatre sharpened his pitch and people skills, how to craft a successful newsletter and why you should always follow your interests.
Jess: Welcome James, tell me a bit about yourself…
James: Right now, I’m a freelance Senior Strategy Director at Lego working on game-related world-building things such as LEGO Fortnite, LEGO Islands, and LEGO x Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), which gives creators the ability to build their own LEGO islands within Fortnite (here’s some more on that). So I’m now working on the comms around that, which is fun! Prior to that, I was Chief Strategy Officer at a small independent gaming agency, and then before that I did ten years network agency side with three years as strategy partner at Digitas and seven years at Ogilvy. Before that, I was a strat lead/director at 1000heads, a London-based word-of-mouth marketing agency.
Jess: You’ve worked on some great campaigns along the way. Any stand-out moments?
James: A recent standout experience is easily winning seven Lions at Cannes for the work on Oreo and Xbox. Got to get that one in. But I’ve got to say, the best summer of my life was probably working for Lucozade as a content creator on the Lucozade Energy Challenge campaign. Basically, way back in 2009, if you opened a bottle of Lucozade and won, you and three friends would be taken somewhere in the world to complete a challenge. Two people were hired to go on every trip. There was an amazing guy called Sam, who was brought on to look after all the competition winners and then there was a person in charge of their social media and content creation - and that was me. We went sandboarding in Namibia, cattle ranching in Wyoming, glacier climbing in the Alps, white water rafting in Zimbabwe (with a bungee jump thrown in for good measure) and Yacht racing in the Caribbean. I honestly have so many memories from that one job - it was an absolute career high.
Jess: Most of us get into this industry by accident, how did you end up working in ad-land?
James: I went down a completely different career path. I was an accountant for a long time and was not having fun. And then I had this huge moment in my life where a relationship ended and I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Whilst this was all going on I had the BBC News app on my Nokia 6600 Symbian phone and… it didn't work. Because I'm a nerd, I figured out what was wrong. So I wrote to the BBC and told them. They connected me with this company called Refresh Mobile who had made the app and they said thanks so much for looking into it and solving why it wasn't working - along with a note to say ‘here’s a bug bounty reward’ for you. But at the bottom of the reward email it said ‘Or instead of a reward, you could come and hang out at the office. You never know we might give you a job, we’re always looking for young exciting talent’. Well, I did that, tried to get a job and they said thanks very much, but we're not looking for any accountants at the moment…
Fast forward a few months (and to deal with said significant break up), I went to Thailand, shaved my hair off and completed a full-body reset detox. You don't eat for seven days. Mad. But in the process of doing that I just properly found myself. Admittedly mainly under a palm tree somewhere in Koh Samui but still. I came back home and realised “I need to change everything”.
With nothing to lose, I wrote to Refresh Mobile again to check in. I said I was going through some life changes right now, so even if you are looking for a new tea boy, I'm available. They replied saying “we were talking about you yesterday, can you come and see us tomorrow?” So I went in and among other things, was given a brief with 20 minutes to complete it. I did my best and, well, 48hrs later I was offered a job as a Junior Product Manager and I never looked back. I’d been home from Thailand for four days.
Jess: Are there any other moments in your career that have seemed serendipitous or have helped you change course?
James: By far and away the best thing that's ever happened to me, development-wise, was securing a spot on the very first Marketing Academy Scholarship. It completely changed my professional outlook - and gave me friends for life. It gave me a new sense of direction and ambition as well as a clear vision and purpose (that sticks to my laptop everywhere I go). That completely reconfigured everything for me, it was genuinely career-changing.
Jess: You’ve been documenting your life online for years. Has this been strategic or just following what interests you?
James: It wasn’t a choice. I mean, not really. On the work front, you can't be too specific. You need to allow yourself room to grow. For example, on the games stuff, and this was a few years ago now - it was a really really clear choice in my head to go ‘Y'know what, absolutely f*** white male advertising Twitter’. It’s so boring, and any contribution I'm trying to kick off will just get lost in the globule of pale and stale So I thought no screw that, I'm not going to talk about advertising anymore because it's DULL and we've had the same conversation 50 million times and it's nuanced so I'm just gonna talk about video games through the lens of strategy. Why? Because I'm interested in what that category is doing and in the back of my head I was thinking it might lead to me getting a gaming client. We had Xbox in with Pringles at Digitas. And then we got Xbox in again on Oreo for Europe which was phenomenal. And now I’m working with LEGO on its efforts in building safer gaming worlds for kids and honestly I couldn’t be happier.
Jess: As a white man in advertising what is your contribution to making our industry more inclusive?
James: Growing up doing theatre you meet - and are part of - a very wide and diverse group of people, and everyone is an equal no matter what on that stage. You're gonna be licking each other's armpits before the end of day one just to get to understand each other. So everyone is the same person.
When I think about #metoo happening, I was really taken aback by the sheer magnitude and I remember saying at the time that I felt sick because I just thought everybody was like me and didn't do that. Ogilvy was one of the rare agencies where if I recall correctly, nothing was reported on or heard about there. If it did, I would like to think it got shut down pretty quickly. So to hear things about all the other places I was like “how?” because at that point, I was in this completely protected world. And yes, of course my gender and who I am and what I look like meant I had never been exposed to it. I remember writing this on my Facebook and a dear friend of mine sent me such a cross messaging, angrily asking me ‘how did you not know?’ She was livid that I didn't know and rightly put me in my place. I've never forgotten it. So that combined with everything else you then go “right, what else can I do to be better?”
Jess: Where do you think we’re at now with the conversation?
James: I don't know what the answer is. It's kind of one of those things where you clear out one end of the garden of rocks and stones, move to a different part of the garden, lift up a rock and there's loads of other s*** under there that you didn't know was there. I'm not about to say to you that everything's got so much better because it’s not true - horrendous things are happening every single day. That said, sometimes I go to events and I see an effort has been put into the makeup of the audience, making tickets accessible and making sure students from diverse and different class backgrounds are able to go. Those things for me give me hope. I mean, I went to an event a couple of years ago and got properly grilled about my talk by some young black and brown teenagers from the local college. I remember thinking ‘Oh my God, I’ve never had this before’ - which is both bad and good, right? Fun part: they didn't care for or even know who Martin Sorrell was. They were much more interested in what other people had to say. That was reassuring - and brilliant.
Jess: You spent a lot of time in the theatre in your early life. Did this have an impact on how you approach work?
James: Someone who once came to see one of my shows once asked ‘Why aren't you nervous?’ I replied that at the point where you see the show, if I've done my prep to the best of my ability then I've got nothing to be nervous about. If I've got my craft to its absolute sharpest it can be and I've done my work, then frankly you're lucky to be there - so arrogant! Ha! The point is, even if the room was empty, I'd still be doing what I was doing to the best of my ability. I've done all the scary bits in rehearsal. And I'm not afraid of getting it wrong. I've never been afraid of getting it wrong. It's hammered out of you in training. I didn’t know this until someone pointed it out to me ‘Yeah, James, we’re not all like that’ - so I talk about it a bit more now.
Jess: What’s your view on the hot topic of Generative AI right now?
James: Right, Generative AI will not be here in five-ten years. That's my big hairy prediction. I think it's gonna be regulated to extinction because there's not a single thing in gen AI that hasn't been ripped off or stolen from somebody else's original thought. So whether that's being regulated properly from a societal level or whether it's governmental - or artists, culture, the music industry, film industry, writers… whoever it is, it’s talent. One thing I've learned (and I've done a few government contracts) is that the government takes its sweet time catching up. The EU has some strong momentum at the moment, mind. I'm sure there is an AI act being put through by Europe at this very moment and there's one that's just been submitted in Washington as well, which is about paying out license fees to people whose content has been ripped off. Or being able to prove where you got the content for your training models from. And if you look at Steam, which is the shop front and platform for PC gaming, you can't submit an AI-made game to Steam unless you can prove where your training models were made. And if you can't say “they're mine and I can prove they’re mine” then your game can't be submitted.
Jess: What brands are you excited about and why?
James: From an advertising perspective. I think McDonald's is smashing it continuously. My other half is also in advertising and we drive my mother-in-law nuts when she comes to stay with us because we’ll be watching TV and chatting away through the main program and then tell her to be quiet during the ads. LEGO yes, I am going to say it just because of the way that they're going about it. The stuff that they're doing now to ensure children's safety on the internet is phenomenal.
Jess: I discovered you via your Five Things on Friday newsletter. What goes into writing a successful newsletter? When did the inspiration to start come from?
James: The original premise was that I wanted to write down five things I’d done or seen every week that made me happy. In fact, going back to early editions of Five Things on Friday, it's literally just a photograph of my moleskine with the five things that happened that week. I remember I thought “Right, I'm gonna do this because at the end of the year, I'll have hundreds of things that would’ve made me happy and I can read back over them again when I get there. And if I commit to this, then I'm gonna develop the writing muscle. Which is also something I want to do. I want to get better at writing so I’m going to work on the discipline of writing every week and find things that push me a bit further”. I've always written what I wanted to write and the running joke with Five Things on Friday is that it never comes on a Friday and you always get more than five things. I’ve made peace with the fact that if I'm not ready to write then I won't force myself and I'll write when I'm ready and there's nothing quite like waking up on a Saturday morning going “I need to write”.
How We Move Forward (Quick-fire round)
A book, podcast or cultural movement that's made you think differently? There's a podcast called. How is today? My friend Clemmie set it up with her friend. It's about equipping people who haven't been through grief with the tools, questions and ways of speaking to people who are going through grief. To help people have better conversations about grief. I listened to it and the change in the way I approach the topic is profound. And I don't say that lightly. It has completely transformed the conversations I have with people who have suffered grief in their lives.
Which future technology (or application of existing tech) are you optimistic for? I am reading a lot at the moment to learn about how video games are only just getting to the point of being properly established in culture. So for example, within reason - most movies are good enough. You can go back and watch an old movie and still have a good time, is my point. Games have struggled with that, historically. These days however, you can go back and play games of the past five years or so and still have a good experience. That's exciting for me because people will go back and play old games like they go back and listen to old albums or watch old movies. Which means people are changing how they interpret and think about games. So that to me is as fascinating as it is exciting.
Your hope for creativity in the future? Parking all the bullshit around generative Ai and instead talk about the democratisation of digital tools. Everyone can get their hands on a pen and paper but Photoshop has like a £16 starting fee for students - which means these super powerful tools are ready and accessible. I love that anyone really can start a business or develop a thing. I mean the fact I literally signed up to build and publish my own Fortnite Island last week, and I still haven't spent a penny is insane. I shouldn't be allowed to do that, but I can - and anyone can - and it's crazy.
Who do you follow online for ideas, inspiration + advice - Aisha Hakim’s This Week’s Saves is just stunning. I love it. It freshens up my inbox. Jenny Chang’s Constellation Theory is brand new - and superb. I’m also recommending Today do this by Robbie and Daianna
One word to describe your hope for the future - “Empathetic”
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