Interesting conversations with interesting people Spencer Lane

Viv Gibson-Thomas is a brand strategy consultant who has spent her career exploring the intersection of creativity and business. Viv spent the first half of her career as a creative at advertising agencies in Australia and New York, working at large multinationals and independent shops. With both copywriting and strategic experience, Viv has created countless strategies for brands from every sector of society and picked up multiple industry awards along the way.


 


One of the main questions Viv has wanted to answer for herself is how do you bring together left-brain and right-brain thinking, how do you utilise both analytical and creative thinking? We talk about how this played out for Viv initially in her choices of subject at school and then in the world of Advertising Agencies.


 


Then talking more specifically about brand and brand strategy, what does it mean and how does she approach it? We talk about what ‘good strategy’ looks like, some examples of it, what happens when it goes off the rails and what might be some of the reasons for that.  We also talk through the types of problems that brand strategy can be used to solve for businesses and the benefits of it.


 


Finally, Viv gives her advice for someone starting their career in the same space.

In this episode, Emma is joined by Jane Levin. Jane is a content specialist, researcher, copywriter, editor and producer with more than 20 years’ experience, who has built a successful career utilising both part-time and freelance work.
The desire (from employees) for part-time work seems ever more popular and as yet doesn’t seem to be reflected in the availability of part-time roles. So how do you set about achieving your goal of part-time?
 
Jane has worked in a freelance capacity, working directly for clients she reached out to herself and found what for many, is the holy grail, a permanent, part-time role. The main thing that stands out from our discussion, is that she had a strategy. She knew what she wanted to achieve and worked out the steps it would take to get there.
 
In our conversation, Jane shares how she did this and the strategy she employed. In simple terms, where am I, where do I want to get and what skills do I need to get me there? She talks through the steps she took to help answer each of those questions and how she proactively set about putting herself out there and making it happen.
 
If it’s something you’d like to achieve in your own career, we hope that hearing Jane's story and understanding the approach she took will give you some ideas and a strategy you can implement for yourself.