Kick-Ass Creatives: An Interview with Award-Winning Associate Creative Director, Olivia Downing

Interviewed by Megan Willis

Olivia Downing is the Associate Creative Director of Uniform, Liverpool. But as she would say, the story behind the LinkedIn title is way more interesting.

Let’s start with something easy: tell us a little bit about yourself!

Before ACD life, I have been a burger flipper, barista, professional bra fitter and even a comedian. These days, I spend my days thinking up thoughts for brands; I'm one of the top women under 30 in the world at it. I've been listed as a 'one to watch' in Campaign Magazine's list of 30 Future Leaders and judged Writing For Advertising for the D&AD Awards 2021.

My day job is a bit misleading because it’s actually less to do with words, and more to do with concepts: how do you communicate a whole idea through words and pictures? I’ve come up with and shot TV, online and out-of-home campaigns for the likes of Alton Towers, Primark, David Lloyd Clubs, Pizza Hut, Petface and Chessington World of Adventures. But I'm also passionate about giving back to the creative industry at large.

I've run an event for four years to promote creative women in our industry called CIA: Chicks in Advertising, in both Manchester and Leeds. I'm also a guest lecturer of Advertising BA (Hons) students at LAU and the University of Central Lancashire. I'm pretty competitive outside of work too, winning an intensive three-month creative competition, School of Thought UK, which took me off to Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

TLDR: I just bloody love ideas, and contrary to our government’s belief, we still need creativity – especially the perspectives of women and minority groups. I’ve tried throughout my career to promote that, in any way I can.

You’ve worn a few hats before becoming a copywriter. What steps did you take as someone who didn’t study advertising or PR in an academic capacity to transition into the industry?

I did English Literature and French as my degree, and while many advertising agencies have graduate programmes, I don’t think a degree in the subject (or at all) is really that important in this field.

I found out about copywriting in the dilapidated back room of a comedy club in Paris, where I was moaning about how I loved writing and performing my set, but wished comedy made more money. A fellow comic (also a creative director, but I wouldn’t have known what that meant at the time) suggested I look into a career in advertising. At the time, I had no idea people even made ads, so I watched Mad Men (okay, it’s set in the ‘50s, but a good introduction to how it works) and was instantly hooked.

I couldn’t believe this was a job. Making up adverts for my favourite brands* was something I loved writing as a kid anyway! I read everything I could get my hands on, and when I got back from Paris, I looked for internships and desperately applied everywhere. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the coveted internship program at AMV BBDO in London, and although I didn’t end up working there – or even in a creative role at first – it was my first step in the right direction. My first role in an advertising agency was as an account handler (so bad at spreadsheets was I, that I only lasted a year), but it was a foot in the door, a good crow’s nest from which to observe all the roles in an agency and how they function together.

My advice to anyone looking to get into a creative advertising role but feeling that they don’t have the creds is to start putting a little book of your thoughts for brands together and annoy as many people as you can to look at your work and give you advice. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to give up their time to help.

*I have a cracking campaign for Beanie Babies still burning a hole in my bottom drawer. If any head of Beanie Marketing is reading this – call me.

What are your favourite parts of the job that you do?

There’s nothing quite like seeing the fruits of your labour out in the wild. Whether it’s a billboard, a TV ad or even hearing your spot on the radio, you do get a little tickle experiencing your work in the outside world. Now I’ve moved into creative direction, the difference is you spend less time actually writing the work and more time shaping the creative vision: ensuring ideas are on strategy but are exciting enough to get people interested. But my absolute favourite part of my job is collaborating with other creatives. I’ve worked with film directors, sound engineers, voiceover actors, illustrators and even puppet makers. It’s always fascinating to see other creatives’ craft.

Can you tell us about some of the challenges you’ve faced in your creative career?

It was tough breaking in, particularly as I didn’t have an academic background in this area and felt I was lacking some of the essentials for the role, such as having a portfolio or a creative teammate. I’ve also faced prejudice in the form of sexism and ageism, which meant I struggled pretty badly with impostor syndrome in my first creative job.

Over the years though, I’ve realised that these challenges can be a great fuel to your fire. Bad experiences can be a good spur to prove people who second guess you wrong. But the best bit about this job is that your creative work does a lot of that proving for you. If you put everything into the work that you do, and it becomes a success for your client, no one can argue with that.

You mentioned that you founded CIA: Chicks in Advertising. Can you tell our readers more about what this is and why you decided to set it up?

Relatively speaking, I was a late starter in my industry. Feeling like I was very much on the back foot, I decided to start attending some of the industry panel events that were going on in Manchester. What really started to get on my tits was going to these events and hearing the speakers talk about women in creative, but not having any actual women on the panel. Or worse, only having one representative (usually white, senior management) to speak on behalf of the entire female experience.

CIA was concocted in my PJs. Initially, it was intended to be a meetup group to hear from a bigger smorgasbord of creative women and to discuss the creative work I felt so passionately about. What I didn’t realise when I set it up, though, was that clearly a lot of women (and men) felt the same way. It grew exponentially over Manchester and Leeds and became a recognised platform to hear from exclusively female speakers, but for all genders and experience levels to feel comfortable attending.

I felt it was so important not to make this an echo chamber, but to allow everyone to hear from women of different age groups, ethnicities and creative crafts – particularly in the debate section of the event. So many women told me that discussing the creative work in this section really helped them speak up in their own meetings and combat their own impostor syndrome. I know people who started their own creative collaborations and got new jobs through networking at my event. I’m really proud of that.

Last but certainly not least: what advice do you have for new creatives getting started in copywriting? Any particular advice for women and gender minorities?

Copywriting, as with any type of writing, is a craft. The difference is, rather than writing as yourself, you’re sort of a method actor – stepping into the shoes and tone of the brands you work for to convey the right messages for them. That’s why it's so important to read a lot as a creative writer – not just books on advertising, but newspapers, comics, tabloids, classic literature. All of it. The more tonalities you can put into your mental toolkit, the more you can flex your tone and style in your job.

There’s still a lot of work to do in terms of diversity (currently only 12.6% of creative directors globally are women, and only 11.4% of industry jobs are filled by Black, Asian and minority ethnic people), but times are changing, ironically because they have to. We are desperate for different perspectives, storytelling and experiences because the world is tired of the same demographic pretending to be relatable to all.

Own your story, and don’t be intimidated by other people: you have a unique perspective that most creative agencies worth their salt would be lucky to have.