South Africa, July 24 -- That changed in 2018. I had just joined a new account at another agency when I encountered something different. The team at Carat didn't just respond to briefs. They leaned in despite being briefed separately, we reached out to each other, not out of obligation but out of curiosity. We wanted to solve the problem together. And for the first time, it felt like we were one team.

There was alignment. There was energy. There was synergy.

Two years later, when Carat invited me to join their strategy team, I didn't hesitate. I had seen what was possible when media and creative worked hand in hand. The results weren't just better. They were smarter. We weren't building isolated plans. We were solving brand problems tog...