that’s why her hair’s so big. it’s full of insight.
IT ALL STARTS WITH AN IDEA
✦
IT ALL STARTS WITH AN IDEA ✦
sTRATEGIST / STORYTELLER / social listener / PROBLEM SOLVER / PITCH WINNER
SINCE THE SUMMER OF 2023, I’VE BEEN BUSY WINNING BRAZEN (PR WEEK’S BEST AGENCY OUTSIDE OF LONDON) NEW BIZ PITCHES WITH AN ALMOST 80% WIN RATE IN MY FIRST YEAR AS THEIR FIRST & ONLY DEDICATED CREATIVE HIRE
WINS INCLUDE SUDOCREM, ABBOTT LYON, MANCHESTER AIRPORT, TATE & LYLE, PETS CHOICE AND THE WORKS… TO NAME A FEW
BUT HERE’S THE THING. WHILE MY JOB ROLE IS ‘CREATIVE’, I’VE KNOWN I’M PROBABLY DEFINITELY ACTUALLY ALSO A STRATEGIST SINCE THE MOMENT A MENTOR AT SCA 2.0 COMMENTED ON HOW MUCH MY EYES LIGHT UP WHEN I SHARE INSIGHTS
FINDING HEADLINE WORTHY INSIGHTS, UNDERSTANDING AN AUDIENCE’S REAL WHY AND DEVELOPING STRATEGIES THAT MAKE A CLIENT’S FACE LIGHT UP JUST LIKE MINE — THAT’S WHAT REALLY GETS ME GOING
SO HERE I AM. READY TO PIVOT INTO A STRATEGIST ROLE IN AN AGENCY WHERE I CAN LEARN, GROW AND BE A PART OF MAKING BIGGER, BETTER CREATIVE
werk werk werk werk werk
01
SUDOCREM - SKIN POSITIVITY
In what was a highly competitive pitch process to work with one of the UK’s most iconic house hold names, Brazen was challenged to deliver brand growth for Sudocrem by educating and re-engaging lapsed users (not mums) around Sudocrem’s versatility, while also engaging their core audience (mums.)
At Brazen for just four months, I fought hard to convince my CD, SD & MD to pitch a strategy that took this risk-adverse brand into an unexplored territory — acne — as a social media skin care hack; starting a conversation about the relationship between skin issues and family life.
My creative idea ‘My Beautiful Breakout’ is going live May 2025.
02
BUTLIN’S - THE POWER OF FANCY DRESS
I was challenged to build brand awareness of Butlin’s Big Weekenders – action-packed weekend getaways that encourage guests to dress up, let their hair down and make lifelong memories with friends – to drive awareness of the breaks, while simultaneously championing how much great value for money they are.
My insight driven idea: fancy dress isn’t just fun and games. Our famous British reserve goes out the window and, all of a sudden, we’re more confident, less awkward and unfazed by striking up conversations with strangers. Why? A feeling of escapism that makes us feel happier. So, armed with this insight and more costumes than we could shake a stick at, we issued a survey story to identify the UK’s most bored town, Stoke-on-Trent, to hit the high street and remind locals why they shouldn’t underestimate a silly costume.
Results: 181 hits across national, consumer, regional and broadcast, 1,522 engagements, 165,543, impressions, 164 link clicks, 149 sticker taps across socials, 46.5m OTS
03
DR. OETKER RISTORANTE - PIZZA RECLAIM
Dr. Oetker wanted to drive awareness and excitement for their Ristorante thin & crispy frozen pizza with a summer experiential stunt. They also wanted to shout about their new ‘Taste of Italy’ branding.
Introducing… baggage pizza reclaim. Based on my insight that post holiday cooking fills Brits with sheer dread, we loaded Liverpool John Lennon Airport’s arrivals baggage carousels with free pizza - helping holidaymakers returning from the Italian Riviera taste Italy just one meal longer. With unprecedented travel disruption dominating the news agenda at the time, the story really flew.
Results: 400 families took home 2x free pizzas at the airport activation, 34 coverage hits achieved, 5x national pieces, 25m consumers reached, 94% of web coverage linked to a Ristorante rebrand web page, 100% of hits featured brand assets and quote on the rebrand.
04
SUDOCREM - CHEIF PLAY OFFICER
Sudocrem asked us to engage and educate families with a ‘good news’ story; tapping into a key summer challenge that focus on the ‘cuts and grazes’ usage of the product.
Diving into my research, I discovered that 1 in 5 parents admit they have forgotten how to play with their children. That’s right, they’re not just struggling to find the time to play, they are forgetting how. So, we made it Sudocrem’s mission to help every UK parent learn how to play with their kids again by recruiting a serious about silly Chief Play Professor.
Results: Over 155 hits including The Mirror, The Express and The Metro, 13 broadcast interviews, and global news bulletin features
05
WEBBOX NATURALS - LANCATSHIRE
In this competitive pitch process to win a retainer with Pet’s Choice, Brazen were challenged to build brand awareness for Webbox’s Naturals range to help them stand out in a competitive market.
And as a cat owner myself, I was full of insight. Two thirds of cat owners admit to spending more money on their pet than themselves. They also take on average 725 cat pictures/videos per year – that's nearly two per day – and “like” 398 cat-related posts per year. In one study, 810 of the 1,000 surveyed even reported to having a “go-to” cat GIF or meme that they look at when feeling down. All this thinking led us to our winning strategic proposal ‘It’s A Cat’s World’ which we brought to life by transforming Lancashire into LanCATshire; giving famous landmarks an AI feline-themed make over.
Results: Won the pitch but coverage wasn’t great (upon reflection I think the creative needed a stronger insight to actually solve a problem). Got to research & ideate about cats for a week though so a win is a win
06
KENJI - LONDON FINDS JOY
With my CD on AL and no strategy time assigned to this competitive pitch brief, I took it upon myself to develop a strategy rooted in insight. The brief: to drive fame & footfall for Kenji’s new store opening in Westfield London.
As both a born and bred Londoner and resident of Japan for two years, I immediately spotted a problem/solution: what if the proven calming, healing effects of the asian cultural phenomenon “kawaii”' could cheer up this increasingly miserable city? My strategy ‘London Finds Joy’ and creative idea ‘Queue Hopping’ won us the pitch and got London queue hopping with joy into the store.
Results: 8 trade coverage hits, 11 coverage hits, 3,591,092 reach, 18 influencers attended, 547,270 total influencer reach, 43 pieces of content posted, 2 retail trade exclusives.
07
EE - TIKTOK
On my first placement at Saatchi & Saatchi I was briefed to use a TikTok trend to bring to life EE’s propostion: “Count on EE”
08
VISA - COPY
Also at Saatchi & Saatchi, I wrote some copy for Visa’s safe pay promise. My three audiences were Health, Beauty & Gaming. Thrilling.
MASTERCLASSES
At Brazen I’ve really enjoyed sharing my creative strategy learnings from SCA 2.0. I’ve covered insights (to inspire more insight driven ideation across the agency) and creative problem solving, to help remind the team what creativity is all about!
oh also started a podcast
More episodes coming soon!