Emma Gregson: Why it was right to put Bieber in his Calvin Kleins

Once we have the right individual in place, we have to think not just about getting a celebrity voice out there, but also getting a voice heard. How do you make a campaign stand out from the crowd? How do you turn commentary into an organic, two-way conversation? And how do you balance your campaign to avoid alienating one demographic in favour of another?

The response to all those questions is often counter-intuitive; by taking a risk. The strongest results are often delivered through being provocative. My job is all about balancing risk to get the talent and the creative construct right.

Ultimately, the brand’s reputation rests on the decisions we make. Get it wrong and you will have social media meltdown and customer backlash. But invest the time to assess the objectives, risks and opportunities intricately and you are much more likely to pick the right personality and create a winning formula.

Nicole Kidman this month faced criticism for fronting Etihad’s new campaign, viewed by some as in conflict with her role as UN Women’s Ambassador. Brad Pitt fronting Chanel’s female fragrance ads had high hopes of delivering swooning women into stores but creatively it missed the mark and was widely parodied.

But a great example of that risk paying off was the recent Calvin Klein campaign featuring Justin Bieber, a controversial and potentially polarising character. In the 24 hours following the launch, Calvin Klein was the highest-trending term on Twitter in 28 countries.

The three campaign images shared on Instagram are the brand’s most engaged posts of all time, outperforming its previous record by 122%.

Social media is a dominant force for brands to get their message across to customers but it is also a crowded space. Celebrities’ own social media platforms are becoming almost more valuable than the billboards on which campaigns are plastered.

Kylie Jenner’s post generated 1.2 million likes for our recent #getpumped campaign for Reebok, 112 times more than the brand’s own post of her image (not to mention bonus press with pap shots of her actually taking her images widely circulated). That’s not a trend that brands can ignore — they need to build upon it.

We work hard and we play hard at ITB. Our office is an open-plan, creative and inspiring place. Everyone brings something unique and important to the table, which stimulates great debate and ideas.

There can be glamorous “pinch me” moments on the French Riviera working with movie stars but also long hours and hard graft to make deals come together. There is a lot of pride when a deal is done and you see it influence popular culture and generate sales.

Certain campaigns can be particularly rewarding. For example, talent campaigns can also have a real power to change and shape good. Working with Chivas Regal and Havas Worldwide on its Win The Right Way campaign, we put a unique suite of “social entrepreneurs” together, with a powerful narrative driven by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Oscar Isaac to encourage a new generation of social entrepreneurs to stand up, give us their ideas and make a positive change.

Another example is the work we did with Pharrell Williams’ collaboration for G-Star and RAW For The Oceans. The campaign provoked a powerful debate about sustainability and ocean conservation by creating an exclusive collection that featured denim made of fabric and yarn woven from plastic taken from the sea.

The collection was sold in G-Star stores and, as the creative director of Bionic, Pharrell provided an authoritative and credible voice to stimulate the subsequent debate on sustainability issues.

Ultimately, talent is always subjective. Brands are unlikely to please everyone with the celebrity choices they make, but in my view that is not the point. Love them or hate them, celebrity in all of its many forms gives brands a hook to drive and sustain a conversation.