Headliners: Clario Group's Matthew Della Croce

In this week's conversation with a PR leader who has recently hit the PRovoke Media headlines, we speak to Matthew Della Croce, co-founder and CEO of the new firm Clario Group.

Our Headliners series gets under the skin of PR and communications leaders around the world who have made PRovoke Media headlines recently. The conversation uncovers the risks they have taken in their career, the people, brands and work they admire, their advice for industry newbies, and their guilty pleasures.

In this week's Q&A, we speak to Matthew Della Croce, who, along with fellow industry veteran Lars Rosene last week launched Clario Group, a new global strategic communications and advisory consultancy bringing together more than 30 senior counselors and agency partners across major markets.

What’s the biggest career risk you’ve ever taken? How did it work out?

I spent nearly a decade at Ogilvy in NYC and was in the period of my life where I wasn’t married and career was a major focus for me. I was a sponge.  Surrounded by incredible talent and teams from across Ogilvy, getting to be on award winning client work, feeling like I was getting paid to get an MBA. I was a young Global EVP at Ogilvy doing really well, and then I left for a science-based wellness startup called Phase IV Scientific Performance to be their president and CMO.  Like a lot of startup situations, it didn’t quite grow how we’d hoped (possibly a bit ahead of its time) and I left after two years. While I lost two key years within agency life, it provided me with an entrepreneurial spirit and knowledge. Armed with these skills, I was able to be a valuable part of the Allison + Partners leadership team with the incredible growth we experienced and then brought me to today - launching Clario Group, as strategic communications and advisory consultancy.

What’s the biggest creative risk you’ve ever taken?

As a career corporate affairs counselor focused on reputation management, eliminating risk is a cornerstone for my work. Yet, I believe strongly that creativity and creative thinking that solve business problems is a critical component to building and protecting reputation. A really fun creative risk I took was when United Technologies asked us to help them with a problem – Wall Street was unrelenting in their criticism of UT and management at that time. UT had invested over a billion dollars in a new industry leading jet engine that would transform air travel for the better, but no one was lining up to purchase it, hence the pressure from Wall Street. Our recommendation to solve for this was to let the investment community be and create a campaign that reaches new audiences, through new channels. We said to make the engine and the Mexican American (who happened to be a woman) rocket scientist who built it into the stars - who are solving for noise pollution and environmental efficiency problems, while enabling much longer flights for travelers. We were recommending videos, paid social, dynamic consumer content, events, sponsorships, thought leadership elements… oh, and we needed an engine to be transported from Florida to San Diego so it could sit at the entrance to the Global Sustainable Brands Conference. This was all incredibly risky to a risk adverse organization. The UT communications team was all in, and, in summary, the campaign successfully transformed the focus to our positive narrative.

What do you think are the most important character traits for a great PR person?

I try to align with individuals who demonstrate a strong work ethic, intelligence (or smarts), set a high bar ethically, and have a sense of humor. Being committed to continuous improvement, operating with daily curiosity, being a great listener, desiring to be a part of a high performing team, and always seeking to be inclusive.

Which company or organization do you most admire in terms of PR, branding or reputation management?

There are so many. I’ve had the great fortune of working with so many iconic global leading organizations that I admire. With this said, I’ve long admired Patagonia. I love their product quality and innovation, how they treat employees, their commitment to their vision and purpose – and how the marketing communications execution through every channel is unabashedly Patagonia in tone and content.

Which individual, in any field, do you think exemplifies outstanding leadership or communication skills?

I have a teenage daughter, so we had a period of “Swifties” occupying our home. Whether you like Taylor Swift’s music or not, her public positions or not, what she stands for, or not – as a communications professional there is no denying, she has transformed the music industry, built an incredible and powerful legion of fans and is a tremendous businesswoman. The recent example of her donation to a child in need, which was followed on by her fans’ donations – it’s clearly a demonstration in leadership.

What’s the best campaign you’ve seen recently?

I liked IBM’s “Let’s Put Smart to Work”. I love when I see strong creative campaigns in the B2B space.

Is there an industry trend or discussion you think is over-rated or exaggerated or just plain stupid?

In the agency world I’ve witnessed a deterioration in commitments to the organization’s people and culture. There are too numerous reasons for this, but to me this is plain stupid. A people-first culture is proven across generations to be a key element driving success and business growth.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone entering the PR industry today?

Raise your hand often to work on new things. I believe the communications function has never been more important within an organization. This is the decade of the communications pro. The industry is going through rampant change and that’s a wonderful opportunity to do new things and find ways to add value, while you’re developing relationships that should be built to last.

What’s your guilty pleasure when you need to unwind from the high pressure of PR?

We spend our days as agency professionals storytelling for others. I look to be a part of my own stories and so I love to travel and being in other parts of the world, immersed in other cultures, surrounded by art, architecture, food, drink, languages, religions, customs, topography, climates – all the sights, sounds, smells and being humbled by being lucky enough for the experience and learning.