Advertising guru Pat Law on the gamble she took to start Goodstuph & the need for brutal honesty

Lessons on Leadership: “Honesty — it’s a filter, right? There will be people that will appreciate it. There will be people offended by it,” said Law.

Andrew Koay | April 03, 2022, 10:27 AM

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The first thing I noticed when I was greeted at Goodstuph’s offices by its head honcho Pat Law was the piece of jewellery hanging around her neck.

It was a simple object, one that eschewed the “screaming-for-attention” aesthetic of sparkling gemstones for carefully arranged letters in a black heart-shaped pendant that formed a straight-forward and elegant phrase — “f**k yes”.

There are many things about Law that you may have read or heard; some conclusions that you might have drawn from watching the advertising maven operate on her social media accounts.

Here are a few that I can report, having spent the better part of an afternoon hanging out at her office and chatting with Law about the journey she’s been on so far:

  • Law is intimidating — as several of my colleagues who met her that day attested to — despite her petite stature.
  • She is honest and forthright almost to a fault, except when it comes to the matter of her age. “I’m a Chris Evans millennial,” she replied when I asked.
  • She sure does love to pull out a good swear word every now and then (though she clarifies that she does not direct it at employees).

Whatever you may think of her, what can’t be denied is the success that Law’s enjoyed, having founded one of, if not the top up and coming, local advertising agencies in the region.

Image of awards won by Goodstuph The agency’s multitudes of awards crowd shelves adjacent to its entrance. Image by Andrew Koay

Living paycheck to paycheck & resigning from Ogilvy

Goodstuph came together in March 2010, when Law came home and watched her father drop his mobile phone on the floor.

“It was clear that he was losing his motor skills,” said Law.

“Like half of his body went limp.”

The family rushed him to the hospital, where Law found out that her father had actually been to the hospital 72 hours prior for a similar incident.

Tests revealed that Law’s father was suffering from a tumour in his brain; he would have to be admitted for treatment.

Complicating the matter, was the fact that the elder Law — who worked as a hawker — had no medical insurance and not much to speak of in his CPF MediSave account.

As the eldest child, Law felt the responsibility to take care of her father’s medical bill, yet she wasn’t in the strongest financial position.

“At that point in my life, I was a very typical millennial,” said Law.

“I was living pay cheque by pay cheque, and it was very embarrassing because by that point I had clocked in maybe eight-ish years in the industry [but] I didn’t have a single cent in my savings.”

By the end of her father’s first week in hospital, Law had no choice but to pull him out, despite the doctor’s recommendations that he stay longer.

“It was very emotional in that it felt like it was my fault. If I had savings, him being in the hospital would not be an issue. But I didn’t.”

“So I did the math in that week,” Law recalled.

At the time she was working as a digital strategist for Ogilvy, running social media campaigns drawing around S$6,000 a month.

If she wanted to afford her father’s hospital bills, while still maintaining her lifestyle (“being vain enough, and still very vain today,” she explained), Law would need a significant pay raise — three times her current salary.

“I’m not saying don’t ask for a pay increment. I’m saying for me to go up to Ogilvy, the HR department, and go ‘Hi I need you to triple my pay’, even I would shoot myself down.”

The most viable option it seemed, was to strike out on her own.

Within two weeks of her father’s admission into hospital, Law tendered her resignation.

Staggering growth

Today, sitting in the office of Goodstuph — where the agency’s multitude of awards crowd shelves adjacent to its entrance — leaves no doubt that Law’s decision paid out in spades.

Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Singtel, and Netflix are among the companies that have run campaigns with the plucky outfit which turns 11 this year.

Looking back on her decision to leave Ogilvy and start her own agency, Law said that her confidence came from coolly calculating the risk involved.

“I was [thinking], ‘Okay, there are not many agencies doing social media then. Can I try and rough it out on my own?’ And I thought about it and it made sense,” she said, retracing mental steps.

In its early days, Law’s endeavour was supported by a S$10,000 loan from the actress and businesswoman Irene Ang.

The pair had gotten acquainted when Law, as a fresh-faced account executive working with Nestle’s pet food division, staked out a bar owned by Ang for four hours to deliver an elevator pitch.

“I remember her manager paid close attention to me because I went in and ordered water,” giggled Law.

“I couldn’t afford anything else.”

The result was a year-long cat food sponsorship for Ang’s cat and the start of a professional and personal relationship that would only strengthen over the years.

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“I can’t remember whether I asked or she offered. It might have been a bit of both,” said Law.

“But I remember she just went, ‘Look, go and try it out on your own.’ And like, ‘here's the money, don't worry about it.’”

With that start-up capital, Law’s expertise in social media, and an initial pitch that included the line “same person from Ogilvy, but one third the cost”, Goodstuph quickly saw the business rolling in.

Within months she had repaid Ang’s loan.

“The reality is, that yes, you do make more when you own a business,” explained Law.

“But the responsibility is on you as well. So I’m very glad that I staggered the growth of Goodstuph in a way that I could slowly learn to deal with the risk that comes along with it.”

Perhaps the largest of these responsibilities, Law impressed upon me, is that of a business owner towards her employees; the need to ensure that Goodstuph would be able to look after the individuals working under its banner.

Such a duty had been imprinted into Law’s thinking from the experience of watching half of the agency she was working with as a 20-year-old getting retrenched.

“It was f**king sad and drama,” Law recalled. “And that really scarred me.”

It meant that Law ran the agency as a one-woman operation for six months before hiring.

“To me, every single hire — even till today in Goodstuph, even when we don't have any new business — we must be able to keep that person for at least a year. That's something that we take very seriously.”

If it’s any sign of the company’s success, Goodstuph has now grown from just Law to a total strength of about 100 employees, half of which are working regionally in offices in Jakarta and Bangkok.

Partner in crime

Of those 100-odd individuals, one who helped significantly in Goodstuph’s early days was Eugenia Tan, a former colleague at Ogilvy who first got to know Law when the two were part of a group picked for a leadership training course.

“Firstly, when we got selected for the leadership programme, I was genuinely thinking: ‘Wah I’m going to try a lot of wines. I'm gonna go golf and all the atas stuff’ right?” said Law.

“So when I saw the indemnity form for Outward Bounds, I was thinking: ‘What the f**k?’”

Tan’s disposition to the outdoors, however, was a bit different; “Genie is the sort that when she commits to doing something, she does it all the way — properly,” Law said.

The clashing proclivities made for an almost comical beginning to the friendship.

On the second day of proceedings, the participants were asked to report at 7am for a run.

Law, already grumpy about the whole programme — “I’m not outdoorsy, I’m very gu niang” — had overslept.

“My first moment when I truly took in Pat Law was when she arrived late in her boxers. And I was so mad,” recalled Tan.

“I was like: ‘These people are so late… It’s difficult for everyone [to wake up at 7am], but we’re all here waiting for you!’ So my first glance at her was probably a glare.”

Image of Eugenia Tan Eugenia Tan first met Law when the two were picked for an Ogilvy leadership training course. Image by Andrew Koay

Yet, it wasn’t till Law’s departure from Ogilvy that the two formed a bond.

Curious about why someone who seemingly had a stellar career lined up for her in a prestigious multinational company would leave so abruptly, Tan approached Law at her farewell party.

“When I found out about the story and it felt so sad, I told her ‘I'm sorry that you had to go through this. Stay strong’,” said Tan.

“And then the next day — I found out the very next day, that my mum had stage four cancer. So the first person I called wasn’t my best friend. It was actually [Law]... because we were in similar boats in a sense.”

“You didn’t call, it was MSN! Last time got MSN,” corrected Law as the pair burst into laughter.

"Are you okay if I treat this company like my own?"

If exchanging commiserations for each other’s unfortunate circumstances sowed the seed of a friendship, Goodstuph would provide the greenhouse for it to blossom.

Tan eventually left Ogilvy for a less demanding job to spend more time with her mother, whose illness would prove terminal.

And while she was grateful for the more regular hours, Tan remembers missing the fast-paced world of advertising.

The fear of missing out was compounded by dinners she would have with Law, where the pair discussed the happenings with Goodstuph, and the times where she got a closer glimpse at the agency’s operations while helping Law with administrative tasks or at events.

“I actually truly felt bored. I really felt unchallenged. I didn’t voice it out at that point in time, but every time I met up with her it would be amazing because there’ll be ideas that would be popping up and all these amazing start-up entrepreneurial things that were happening.”

However, when Law raised the possibility of Tan joining Goodstuph, the latter wasn’t immediately on board.

“I thought about it for quite a while. And I remember the part that finally sold me was I asked [Law]: ‘If I join you are you okay if I treat this company like my own?’”

Law’s reply? “I was like, ‘Abuden, otherwise have you for what?’”

With her heart set on joining Goodstuph, Tan consulted her mum, worried that taking the plunge would mean a return to working long hours that left little time for hospital visitations.

“[My mother] was like, ‘Don’t waste time. Just go and do it. You know, sometimes in life, you won't get a second chance on this kind of thing. So just go grab the opportunity,’” said Tan reflectively.

She would join Goodstuph in 2012 as director of strategy, before becoming managing director in 2017.

Together, Law and Tan have built Goodstuph into one of Singapore’s premier creative agencies.

Brutal & sophisticated honesty

The secret sauce (or at least one of the secret sauces), they told me, was a dedication to candour between colleagues.

“We have honesty has a core value, there is no bullshit between us,” said Law.

“And when we talk, there’s no fear of insulting each other; you don’t fear offending each other. You must get to that point with a business partner.”

Nonetheless, both Law and Tan play out that honesty in different ways, as is consistent with their personalities.

“I'm very rough on the edges. So when I'm honest, I can rub people off the wrong way,” admitted Law.

Image of Goodstuph's office. Art on the wall reads "Not going home today" "Don't go home today". Law's penchant for dark humour features frequently in the decor of Goodstuph's offices. Image by Andrew Koay

Tan, on the other hand, is much more sophisticated.

“You don’t even know when she’s insulting you,” Law joked, before explaining that diplomacy was something she had been learning from Tan.

“I didn’t always understand it, but if you’re going to provide feedback, and somebody is going to be affected by the way it’s said, it’s going to be counterproductive for work... Eugenia will be far more thoughtful, it’s almost poetry in how she would say something.”

Delivering that feedback and refining pitches is imperative in an industry where ideas are the currency being dealt with. Different methods aside, Law and Tan appear to have gotten it down to a tee.

Law, who once described her management style as akin to Gordon Ramsey (“Internally, I will shoot down nine in 10 ideas,” she said in an interview with High Net Worth), told me that she didn’t care much for quantity, favouring well-reasoned proposals instead.

“If you’re brave enough to show me just one idea that you believe in, that’s a person I respect,” said Law.

“You need to back up everything that you say. And I tell my people that too. If you disagree with me, let me know. Let’s talk about it because at the end of the day you end up with a better product.”

Unapologetically true to itself

Honesty, however, isn’t just an internal policy for the creatives at Goodstuph. It also extends to how the agency deals with clients, even those who have yet to commit to doing business with them.

Law remembers an incident in the early days of the company that reinforced this principle.

Goodstuph was in the midst of putting together a campaign for Standard Chartered Bank when the agency was presented with a brief that contained several key performance indicators (KPIs) Law thought were unrealistic.

“You also know that you can take the money, smoke the KPIs, and blame [the client]. The post-campaign report — I can write it in the way that I want to. So I told the client — and I really liked the client — I said, ‘The money's very tempting, the budget is great, but you're not about to hit your KPI, it cannot be done’.”

Law suggested that instead of paying for a fruitless campaign the bank should save its marketing budget and wait for a better opportunity.

That candidness earned her a new brief with Standard Chartered, who after taking Law’s suggestion to heart, rethought their objectives.

“Honesty — it’s a filter, right? There will be people that will appreciate it. There will be people offended by it,” said Law.

“I owe it to [Standard Chartered Bank] because I will always remember that moment when we have situations like that now.”

Tan told me that she tends to view client relationships through a very simple paradigm.

“You go into every meeting, and when you meet every client, and your thought process is just, ‘How can I really help you?’” she said.

“Of course, there are times when we meet the client, and we’re honest with them — not rude — honest with them that ‘hey, this particular brief that you have will not be solved by the things that you want. Why don’t you think about it another way?’”

Inevitably, evaluating potential business relationships through this lens means that some clients are just the “wrong fit”; when there truly isn’t a solution that Goodstuph can offer, the agency isn’t afraid to walk away.

It’s in this way that Goodstuph is perhaps most like Law — outspoken, confident, and unapologetically true to itself.

“Winning clients is not hard. Keeping clients is hard. Because when you’re winning it’s a one night stand right? You’re going to score and get laid,” explained Law.

“But to keep a client and to keep the relationship going year on year on year, you cannot pretend to be somebody you're not.”

Image of Pat Law and Eugenia Tan Pat Law and Eugenia Tan. Image by Andrew Koay


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