Life at Nexxen with Adam Mugridge

In this edition of Life at Nexxen, we spoke with Adam Mugridge, AVP, Creative Solutions based in our London office. Adam shared his background in video production, his journey from graphic design intern to leading a team within Nexxen’s Creative Studio, and what’s keeping him busy outside of work these days.

Can you describe what you’re responsible for in your role as AVP, Creative Solutions?

The role is split into two parts. Firstly, I oversee the EMEA and APAC regions of our Studio team, making sure our solutions are curated for the specific needs of these markets and to be a strategic voice for the Studio at events and client meetings. Secondly, I’m responsible for innovation and team culture and development for the global Studio team. Innovation includes looking into new products and solutions and working with Product and Development teams. When it comes to culture, we’re always looking at how to keep our teams engaged and ensuring that we’re supporting their growth and development.

What are the innovations and products that you’re looking into right now?

With so many creative studios in the industry, we need to ensure that what we offer helps us stay differentiated in the market for our Sales teams. Currently, we are looking into how we can create more efficiencies for our team, as well as bringing some self-serve solutions to market for our clients and internal teams. We also are looking into ways to leverage AI, as it’s a major focus of the industry right now. Ultimately, we want to make sure that Nexxen Studio continues to align and amplify our overall Nexxen story.

What is in our current toolbox that we’re highlighting to clients?

We focus on making sure that we’re data-led in our offerings to clients. It’s a core principle at Nexxen and integral to how the Creative Studio works; we deliver the best results with our insights based on data from real people’s responses.

We have two different sides of the Studio team: Creative Insights and Creative Services. Our Creative Insights team is responsible for video research – measuring how people emotionally connect to ads.

On the services side, we take that data, identify where we can optimize the ads, and see if we can improve those scores. Did someone remember the brand? If they didn’t, do we need to add a logo, or do we need to add some extra messaging to help people remember? Identifying those important key selling points can really improve audience reception.

While analyzing insights for a customer, have you ever been surprised at the audience response to a piece of creative?

The Coca-Cola holiday ad, made entirely with generative AI, from last Christmas season. I assumed that audiences wouldn’t like it, because it is a nostalgic advertisement that many people grew up with and still remember. However, we received a great response! Because audiences remembered the old ad, those feelings of nostalgia still resonated. If they had created an entirely new ad, it might not have had a positive response.

This is why we’re always directly asking people about their opinions on creatives from our clients. This also showcases how important it is to have a varied audience, so we can get a full picture response.  

How did you begin your career at Nexxen?

I initially joined Unruly in 2015 as a graphic design intern.

Did you get a degree in Graphic Design?

My major was very specific: Film Production for the Advertising and Music industries.  I always wanted to do something very practical around film production or making ads, music videos, etc., so I leaned more towards a production-focused major than film studies.

During my time at university, I started my own video production company with a course mate of mine, and that’s what I did between university and Unruly. We had clients such as Nike, Vogue and Manchester United.

Before university, were you interested in film production? Growing up, were you making videos in your backyard?

My dad was obsessed with home videos when we were growing up. He would film our holidays and trips on a camcorder and make recap videos with basic editing software. I was always very intrigued by it. In high school, I took some media studies classes and realized I could make a career out of it.

How was the transition from an individual contributor to managing your own team?

I’ve always been a “doer,” wearing quite a few hats in production over the years, but I realized I prefer the people management side. I enjoy leading a team and working to get the best out of other people.

I had a great manager in my Unruly days, who inspired me to think about how I could be a good manager for my own team. I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by great mentors and leaders throughout the last decade.

What is your management philosophy? How do you encourage your team to bring their best efforts to their work?

We spend so much time at work, so I believe in creating an environment that motivates people to not just perform well, but to support each other and achieve our goals as a team. Everyone should enjoy what they do and have the opportunity to come to work as their true selves.

I also ensure that my team is working towards their long-term aspirations, not just short-term goals. It’s a balance of listening and unlocking barriers for my team, alongside making sure they are realizing their full potential.

In your free time, what do you like to do outside of work?

My wife and I love traveling and exploring new places, although we recently just got a puppy back in November. For the short term, our travel plans are on hold while we look after him. It’s all about puppy classes and being up at odd hours of the night with him.

Outside of that, my wife and I are training for our next HYROX competition – we just completed our second one in March and we are already training for the next one in December!

So my last question has to be: what kind of dog is your puppy?

A long-haired Jack Russell Terrier called Spud. He causes a lot of mischief in the house right now as he is a terrier. Please reference the included photo to see that he is very cute though.