Transfer to the head of Saguez & Partners

Olivier Saguez, after founding Saguez & Partners in 1998, you will pass the baton to a trio at the beginning of 2024…

Olivier Saguez. I founded the agency with a school in mind. I attended schools myself: Raymond Loewy’s school, another school, CLM, Philippe Michel’s. But there were holes in the racket because the collective expects you to exist less personally. From the beginning I have thought about what I call the Permanent University. It is no coincidence that we had an integrated design school – which closed during the corona crisis. I’ve been thinking about transferring the agency since day one, for a simple reason: it’s not just an agency, it’s a team. And the team must be stronger than the individuals. An agency must continue to exist, even if the founder is no longer there necessarily or in the same way. I had a generation of historical collaborators around me. I am 69 years old, my historical partners are 10 years younger than me: Patrick Roux, Valérie Parenty, Sophie Ling and Virginie Parisot… With the acceleration of time caused by covid, I said to myself: can’t we skip a generation? and give the keys to a generation of over-50s?

Did your employees hear it this way?

BONE They already stay connected. I managed to make them hear this transfer very well. They even helped me. For example, Patrick Roux remains general manager of the group and fulfills a coaching role. I told them all: “The quadras come from the Saguez school. You’re not home from school. » The energy of youth is important to fit into the facts of contemporary society. We had to work towards a stronger recovery. We go deeper. We are more part of the future. What Covid has made me understand as a chess player is that you either make the next move or the next move after that.

What will be your involvement with the agency?

BONE I wasn’t just a creative director. I was also the boss. Now the new management team has to rebuild its agency, but I still remain the main shareholder. They come to ask my opinion, ask me to inspire them. To be the person who has perspective, has experience and thinks about tomorrow, about social facts, yes! But the rest, taking care of the recruitment etc., no! I see that Séguéla has stayed in the same environment at Havas and is in the office every day and it is a great asset to the agency. But as far as I’m concerned, the best way to fulfill this role is to stop being there. I come to the station three or four times a month, no more.

What was the trigger?

BONE The acceleration is actually the covid that forced us to work differently. First of all, we faced economic problems: we earned 30% internationally, but that dropped to almost zero. We are happy there because we are leaving with new projects, airports, international department stores, in the United States, Morocco, Northern Europe, Central Europe… Today the agency achieves 37 million turnover, 19.3 million gross margin with 120 employees, of which 71% women and the average age is 34 years. Everything on our two ‘legs’: brand identity and important locations.

Olivier, how did you prepare for the transfer?

BONE I started entering the field during a difficult period, that of Covid, when the numbers were complicated, it was tense for them… My concern was to say to myself: I don’t want to convey fear to them either. Ultimately, we didn’t lose any people along the way. Since the beginning of January I’ve been more in the mood: I’ll give you the car keys, you take care of it. But I have had a home office for a long time that it was intended for, as they say. It’s a small lifeboat. You have to find a balance point. I leave a lot of projects completed, but I look at them. I sometimes say to myself: hey, you decided something, I wouldn’t have done it that way, but it’s not stupid! In short, they make Saguez without Saguez…

Boris Gentine. Letting go allowed Olivier to find time to travel, etc. I think we really had the time to develop this specific approach of the agency, which consists of carrying out projects that are neither fashionable nor in the spirit of the times, but are sustainable, to process in our heads. Fashion passes and style remains…

BONE It is my experiences that are interesting. It’s my powers of perception. I have time. For now I see the country. I made a trip that inspired me enormously: Singapore. I wanted to see the urban mixed with nature, and as such Singapore is ten times more innovative than American cities. Singapore is the Los Angeles of Southeast Asia!

How will the roles be divided in the new management team?

BONE The new management consists of three partners. Boris Gentine is general creative director, Pierre-Olivier Pigeot, general consulting director, and Thibault Saguez, general manager of strategy, development and investments.

BG I prefer to embody the creation part. I went to the Boulle school, just like Olivier. I joined the agency in 2000 and started working on global design topics. I didn’t think I’d stay this long, but over twenty years later I’m still here. When I arrived there were 15 people, today there are 120. The agency has always evolved in its markets. In twenty years it has never been the same approach. They say cats have seven lives, but I think I had maybe ten at the agency.

Pierre-Olivier Pigeot. For my part, I went to business school: I graduated from the Essec group. I was interested in consultancy and creative careers without quite knowing what I wanted to do. I was almost at the end of my studies, I already had experience in fashion, with Agnès B.. Like Boris, I didn’t think I would stay so long. Why am I here after twenty years? The agency, I think, really makes it possible to realize yourself, carry out entrepreneurial projects, develop activities and business lines. Olivier and the historical staff have always been very attentive and have left plenty of room for everyone with ideas. I was never bored with the agency, which went through very different and evolving cycles.

Thibault Saguez. I am Saguez by birth, but the youngest at the Saguez agency! I arrived here in 2017. What really impressed me within the agency is that there is a very strong sustainability of the people and of the entire management: between 15 and 20 years. I had a hybrid path between HEC and a university education: philosophy and history. I participated in the Phénix program, which recruited Master 2s from the humanities at major companies, Danone, HSBC, Renault and Price [PwC]. I chose PwC because I felt there was a good association between the ultra-competitive spirit of the American audit and consultancy firm and the French art of living. These companies also have a certain talent for retaining the best. We try to apply it here, especially through further training by managers in a form of mentoring: Pecha Kucha [bavardage, en japonais]monthly sharing sessions in the form of small stand-ups.

How is your board structured?

TS It is a trio where everyone is general manager, with complementary expertise. We share some cross-functional topics, but there are three of us who make all our decisions together within very tight deadlines. If it is Olivier, he will decide alone and quickly. The three of us do everything we can to avoid inertia, because we are very reactive in our decisions, they don’t take three times as long. We have worked together for many years.

POP. In reality, the trio has been operational since January 2020, but we also needed this time to consult among ourselves: how do we coordinate? What is our roadmap?… We are very aligned with our needs and our requirement to respond quickly to issues that arise at the agency. Our specificity is that we are not a separate general management. We advise clients and each of us has projects that we follow. This allows us to keep our footing while continuing to run the agency.

TS The historical partners have built a brand called Saguez & Partners and we must continue on this path and strengthen it. It is a quality house, just like the LVMH house, with a passion for good work. We also want to be a benchmark in sustainable development. In this respect, our materials library is one of our best arguments!

POP. We are truly in a culture of transfer, not expulsion. I don’t know who we’ll ever pass the baton to. How do we train people in the meantime? The strength of the agency is that this has been successful.

Olivier, what vision on design do you give to your teams?

BONE First of all, let’s not forget the importance of ROI in our businesses. The word design has a double meaning. First of all, it is thinking about the use and therefore at the service of the user, the functionality. But we are not decorators. We are not artistic directors. We are designers! We respond to an assignment and there is necessarily a business purpose behind all our missions. Design is not about looking pretty. Our challenges are business challenges. Another crucial point: many brands will disappear due to differentiation, which is one of the most important issues of the future if everyone calls themselves ethical and responsible…

What will be the news from the agency in 2024?

BG We are developing a partnership in the United States with an agency in New York called Dash, so the partnership is called Saguez & Dash. It is an agency of 25 people that makes hotels and senior housing.

TS We will be working with the Ritz, Kronenbourg, Thales… We also have a major project for Michelin, as well as on the brand identity of a major French international consultancy. Often strategic projects are very closely managed by general management. We are a premium agency, we are more expensive than many other agencies and we assume that. Because hiring the agency is not about spending your money, it’s about investing in your brand. But we are always on human level. We will always be on the side of the people.

POP. We work for a wide variety of clients, from retail to transportation to health education. But we are fortunate that most of our new budgets are coming in, and we also reserve the right to say no.

What does a typical day look like for Olivier Saguez today?

BONE I take care of the Saguez Foundation, which focuses on sustainable and inclusive design. I meet people, for example I went to visit the mayor of Saint-Gervais to understand how he managed to transform his city. Before I would have seen him between phone calls, now I can take my day off, I can go deeper. I still want to learn. I still have plenty of trips planned, very focused on my adopted themes: health, nature in the living world. Intellectuals, I can read their books and then meet them… We are people who always want to find desire and meaning. How am I useful? Isn’t design about creating something beautiful and useful? The search for your profession is also the question of your usefulness on earth. So I still have a lot to do, I let the trio take the lead and then I have to be there every now and then… I’m very happy with it and it’s already going very well.