Earlier this year, Alpha Agency was delighted to welcome Al Baird, who joined us as Creative Director. Having hit the ground running, it has been a busy start for him, but we wanted to take the opportunity to sit down with Al, discover more about his background and ask some burning design questions.
Joining Alpha Agency represents coming full circle for Al, who started his career more than 30 years ago in an agency that specialised in financial services. “It was a real mix of asset and private wealth managers, as well as banks."
After a few years, however, Al’s attention started to drift. “I was young and toying with the idea of being a DJ,” he says. “I quickly realised that didn’t pay the bills, so I focused on my career and moved to another agency. It was like going back to school because it completely changed my perspective on the power of creativity and design beyond financial services.”
That agency was later sold to Publicis, one of the largest creative agency groups on the planet. Al and his colleagues were folded into MSL, which is effectively their PR & comms agency. After that, for a period of about six years, he decided to “go off and do my own thing”.
“I worked primarily with strategic partners across Europe and America, for quite a diverse group of clients, from Swiss law firms to huge multi-billion-dollar hospital support providers.”
The remote work started to take its toll, however. “I wanted to work in more of a team environment, with a strong culture.” As fate would have it, a couple of years ago, he crossed paths with Alpha Agency senior partner Twink Field.
“I eventually got to work with the team on a couple of projects at the back end of 2024. I really liked the people, and I saw the potential. I thought, ‘I can have an impact here because I’ve learned a hell of a lot coming full circle’. It also satisfied my burning desire to get back into more of a team culture, working with likeminded people.”
Given his more than 20-year absence from financial services, what is Al’s biggest takeaway?
“How little it has changed in terms of its conservatism, sea of blueness and masculinity,” he says.
Design is something of a nebulous concept, like all creative endeavours. It’s subjective. But what does Al think constitutes bad design?
“I’m kinaesthetic,” he says. “A lot of creatives are neuro diverse or sensitive. They are very in tune with their emotions. The way things look connects to the brain as well as the heart, so bad design can make people feel sad."
He adds. “You can tell when something has been shoddily put together or it hasn’t been applied with passion and love. You can see through all of that, and it speaks volumes about the people behind it – both the commissioner and the doer. Bad design, in my opinion, doesn’t communicate a positive or meaningful message; it doesn’t tap into the brain or the heart.”
That being the case, what is good design?
“Simply put, it’s the opposite of all that. When done well, good design conveys a simple idea that connects with your brain and your heart. Good design can be witty; it can be slick and beautiful and elegant – it can take many forms. Ultimately it can make you feel good in a similar way that music can.”
He adds: “I don’t think there is enough wit in financial services. I think there’s an opportunity there. Not necessarily to be funny, but to be more emotive.”
Other than a dash of humour, what advice does Al have for the financial services industry?
“Design is not an add-on,” he answers quickly. “It’s not a nice to have. It’s a method, an ethos, a process of communication and any business that communicates in any way, shape or form should put design at its very heart.
“It’s about communicating with people on an intellectual level and an emotional level. It is not about colouring in.
“When done well, it links everything back to the company’s purpose, mission, values and strategy. Everything is connected by a clear thread. When it’s done well, it can improve business performance, the customer experience and the employee experience. People need to stop thinking about design as being nice-to-have,” he adds.
As noted above, not much has changed since Al last worked at an agency specialising in asset and wealth management. So, what is it he wants to achieve at Alpha Agency?
“It’s still a very risk averse industry,” he notes. “There are firms pushing the envelope, but it’s not always successful because the agency behind it doesn’t have a deep enough grasp of the audience or the target market.
“What’s great about Alpha Agency is you’ve got that blend of deep sector knowledge and a creative team that can bring insights and experience from outside the industry. I think we’re going to see some great things happening, helping our clients to push the envelope but backing everything up with market knowledge – not just doing creative for creative’s sake.”
He adds: “The goal is to ensure everything is based in absolutely solid thinking that resonates with the market and the audience, while at the same time is ambitious and trying to push the sector forward. We need to get out of this mediocre malaise which, in my opinion, hasn’t changed in the years I have been working."
If you are interested in finding out more about how the Alpha Agency creative team can support your company’s efforts to push the envelope and resonate with your target market, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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