Currently juggling media strategy & innovation at Mindshare, WPP.
For over a decade I’ve been helping brands be less boring…
Currently driving brand transformation and growth at WPP, the world’s most awarded creative marketing agency. Between best in class strategic consulting, digital innovation & creative uses of paid media, I deliver disruptive outcomes for clients across the globe. I believe the top agencies produce the best holistic strategists and media professionals in the business. Add my extensive global experience, technical media skills and an obsession with how we push brands beyond their comfort zones… there are few folks that are better versed in how to write a successful marketing playbook. Have questions or want to chat about a creative project? I am all ears…
BRAND PORTFOLIO
Building best in class media and marketing strategies, along with designing omni-channel frameworks for execution.
Creative uses of media. My approach to big, bold ideation and digital innovation is unmatched.
Brand partnerships & JBPs. I have mastered the art of evaluating, designing, executing & measuring marketing partnerships at the global and local level.
Thought leadership and training on how we define and shape a human-first, ethically bound, sustainable media & marketing landscape.
Unearthing how brands can be more relevant and exciting in culture. Ask me about cultural agility.
Outcomes frameworks that are grounded in quantitative and qualitative metrics and can measure success across a modern marketing mix.
WHAT I EXCEL AT.
LGBTQ+ marketing: The audience, their needs, what they want from brands and how to reach them.
Brand audits to find gaps in knowledge, talent, readiness & efficiency and driving brand transformation projects to solve for findings.
Unifying teams, nurturing talent, harmonizing media & creative and leading a full funnel strategic operation to drive brand growth.
In the weeds, technical ,digital platform skills. I cut my teeth for years as a media buyer & investment whiz, acting like a performance trader across search, social and programmatic channels.
My 3 pronged approach to all things marketing:
THE HUMAN LENS
Everything from the brief, to the strategy, to the execution should put human understanding at the helm. Unfortunately, most brands reach versus understand their audiences. The industry is rife with soulless demographic, behavioral and interest data because of efficiency & scale being a priority. Data, insights and tech alone do not solve for true audience understanding. Innovation and critical thinking does. Shiny, happy segments also do not reflect what society is currently experiencing or what people need from brands in today’s world. This is crucial for us to understand and layer in as we think about customers, their journey and how to stay relevant in today’s world.
PAID MEDIA POTENTIAL IS UNDER UTILIZED
Future proofing a brand means realizing the value and potential of a well executed paid strategy. The key is to expand our definition of ‘media & marketing’ and how it works alongside creative, PR, & omni-channel consumer touch points. By stretching the potential of paid, we open up paths to innovation and growth that transcend traditional marketing silos and unleashing a living, breathing brand ecosystem. Paid efforts are also the key to experimentation, learning quickly, failing fast and optimizing this ecosystem. It is a long term competitive advantage that is largely under utilized by brands.
ciaraasmith1@gmail.com
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ciaraasmith1@gmail.com 〰️
CREATIVITY AS RESISTANCE
In our current landscape, technology rules, the onslaught on AI has begun and we are seeing machines replace people at an increasingly fast pace. The debates around the pros, the cons, the ethics and the opportunities for human advancement are in every trade newsletter we read. And yet, people are more impacted by inequality, political issues, human rights attacks and many other societal issues than ever. My take is that we need to infuse this into what we do everyday as marketers. To understand and radically accept the state of the world is a key component in our role as strategists and consumer advocates. We must resist complacency and the ‘it is what it is’ narrative. I have thought long and hard about how we can do this by rebelling against standard marketing organization, strategy & processes i.e using our own creativity as a form of resistance. Ask me more about how we can start doing this today…