Former FCB New Zealand CEO Sebastien Desclee. Photo / Supplied
OPINION:
When we think about countries and what they represent, we generally have some biases in mind. For example, my home country of Belgium conjures up images of beer, chocolate, fries (not French!), Kevin De Bruyne (for the football fans) and possibly Tintin.
Two years ago I was privileged to be hired by an American advertising company to help transform one of their beacon agencies, FCB Aotearoa. Of course, I approached this opportunity with some biases about New Zealand, which helped confirm my choice to move here.
Beautiful natural landscapes, wine-producing Kiwis, a strong sporting culture with a passion for rugby, and famously friendly people were probably the key implicit biases I had at that time.
After a rough MIQ experience which didn’t create the best first impression, I got the chance to start the journey.
The beauty of working in advertising is that you get to meet and learn from extremely diverse groups of inspiring people already, through the nature of talent in your agency. Creatives, account handlers, strategists, digital and data experts, producers. Everyone with a purpose to create ideas - and therefore behaviour change - with broad audiences. Thanks to the diversity of the clients I had the pleasure of working with, I was able to understand economic issues very quickly - and because we also work for the Government, I was quickly introduced to a much deeper understanding of Aotearoa than I had prior to joining.
Understanding how progressive companies like Air New Zealand are committed to zero emissions, how Foodstuffs is investing in communities, or how sustainable your energy supplier is (through working alongside Mercury) was directly impactful to me.
In understanding its journey, I was impressed to witness how progressive New Zealand has been in many fields, for example, the first woman voters in the world and recognising LGBTQ+ communities before much of the rest of the world.
Looking for help in that immersive journey and understanding the importance of cultural competence, I was fortunate to meet someone who had worked in large organisations to help them embrace diversity. This revealing encounter opened my perspective of Aotearoa’s richness and diversity and urged me to leverage my fortunate role as an ad leader to live my Aotearoa journey in full colour and elevate the role I could play.
This transformative relationship completely changed how I looked at Aotearoa.
I began to appreciate the importance to this country of honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the meaning of a place like Waitangi. I understood the impact of celebrating indigenous heritage in a meaningful way - not only because it is the “right thing to do”, but because of what Te Ao Māori brings to this place and its people to make it richer. Because embracing diversity is making Aotearoa a better place, a unique place. Understanding that we all have a pepeha (tribal motto) and that tā moko is not a simple tattoo but a unique expression of cultural heritage, that starting and ending a meeting with karakia (prayers) elevates the moment and elevates our gatherings.
The way Aotearoa as a country is trying hard to celebrate and honour its indigenous heritage should be praised and known. While an uncomfortable journey for many, it should be considered a source of pride and inspiration for all the countries that are nowhere near Aotearoa on this journey - and there are many.
Thanks to a generous friend who is an art expert, New Zealand also quickly appeared to me as an extremely profound place with a strong and unique art heritage. A country with many iconic artists as well as nurturing and providing voice and space to very engaged artists, poets, playwrights, photographers, painters and visual artists, using their sophisticated skills and talent to deliver important messages to their country, to the world.
Aotearoa is a country that can really act as a team of five million with solidarity, helping people recover from exceptional natural events like the recent floods and cyclone. Auckland’s City Mission and its HomeGround initiative is testament to the city looking after its less fortunate, whatever the weather.
As I prepare to leave these shores and close a chapter of two years in Aotearoa, I am of course still enamoured with the idea of “100 per cent Pure New Zealand” for its beautiful nature, which certainly didn’t disappoint. But I return home with another kind of love for this place - for its efforts to honour Te Tiriti, its culture, its people, the opportunity this country has to inspire the world to be a better place.
This week I was gifted a pounamu, symbolising a journey over water. My journey has been physical and spiritual, and I now am proud to be a passionate ambassador, as I leave for Belgium, taking with me a little bit of Tiki for Tintin.
Noho ora mai.
- Sébastien Desclée was the chief executive of FCB Aotearoa