This week marks my seven year anniversary at Saactchi & Saatchi X, so I’ve been around a while – certainly long enough to have perspective on our agency and its development. In the advertising world, it’s not so common to stay put at one agency, so I’m often asked about my long run here at Saatchi X. To give a little perspective, watch this video of Andy Murray, our Global CEO , speaking recently at the annual conference for the Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Arkansas.

I’ve seen a lot of changes in my seven years, but what has always been consistent is our commitment to putting shoppers at the center of our work. From the very beginning, Andy and team made the decision to take a different approach to solving business problems for our clients. They believed that brands and retailers could build their businesses by focusing on understanding shoppers and developing ideas and solutions that improve their experience at the very moment they make final purchase decisions – making the shopping experience easier, more enjoyable, more efficient, more satisfying. At at time when shoppers’ needs were often an afterthought if they were considered at all, this was revolutionary. Years later, there is now an entire shopper marketing industry building up around many of the principles that were put forward by ThompsonMurray and Saatchi & Saatchi X, and the industry has certainly evolved and changed over time. But what has remained constant is Saatchi X’s commitment to creating wins for brands and retailers by understanding shoppers lives and creating shopping experiences designed to improve them. It is this motivation at the core of who we are, this commitment to not just getting people to buy things but to actually improve shoppers’ lives that keeps me excited about what we do every day.