5 minutes with… Chrissie Malloch
Ahead of our June 16 Workshop: No signal found – creating great campaigns without TV in Wellington we spoke with facilitator Chrissie Malloch to learn about her background, common campaign misconceptions, the work she is proud of – and what participants can expect from the Wellington event.
Can you describe the creative path you took to get where you’re at now?
I hopped from media agency planner to digital agency social strategist, then skipped over to creative agencies to explore all things strategy. I’ve stuck with creative agencies ever since because I love seeing the ideas come to life.
What does your typical day at strategy involve?
There’s no typical day and I’ve had to learn to love it, but I can confidently say that I do now. I could be on the phone for a few hours interviewing people, running a half-day workshop, holding a brainstorm, giving creative feedback or writing and rewriting strategies. It took a while to adjust to this style and pace of working but it keeps it interesting.
What do you enjoy most about your role as strategist at Strategy Creative?
I love the all-hands-in culture here. Our creatives really lean on the strategy and are part of the strategy process. We have open discussions, we share our work on the walls and we brainstorm together. I enjoy knowing our creatives value the role of strategy. I wish I could say I want to learn about design as much as they want to learn about strategy. Adobe creative suite is not a friend of mine.
What project, personal or professional, are you most proud of and why?
I have been involved in bringing so many weird and wonderful ideas to life. A couple of the most memorable ones were filming Chris Isaak serenading people on a tram in Melbourne for a bank, to seeing individual lentils painted with a whole scene for for a charity auction, to launching the new Mercedes-Benz X-Class in Australia and NZ via a podcast and documentary featuring Henry Rollins discussing a new kind of tough.
But, you asked for proud not memorable and I think it’s the work we’ve done for NZ Government agencies including the Drive programme (NZTA) which is creating safer young drivers and Raise the Standard (Tenancy Services) which is driving awareness of the Healthy Homes standards to improve the quality of rentals around NZ. Plus, some of the work I am most proud of I am currently working on!
What is a common misconception about campaign development or delivery?
That strategy work is not creative work. It definitely takes a creative strategy to have a great campaign. The strategy needs to fuel ideas, then take those ideas to new levels, then helps to apply the idea to environments/places/formats. Strategies help ideas to build and that takes creativity.
What should participants expect from this workshop?
Well, because good strategy is creative (just as good creative is strategic), we’ll be thinking, brainstorming and getting creative. We’ll have a few frameworks that are easy to understand and apply to help make all campaigns more strategic, more likely to succeed and more enjoyable to create.
Finally what do you enjoy most about sharing knowledge / facilitating workshops?
- Simplifying strategy so it’s not so scary or academic.
- Showing how good ideas can be great with a bit of strategic guidance.
- Reminding people that they can have great ideas no matter their job title.
