Olivia Rayner on Finding the Opportunity to Tell the Story

Olivia Rayner has been in the creative industry for over 20 years, across a variety of disciplines from advertising campaigns to branding and most recently (the past 10 years) experiential.

Working with some of the biggest, boldest brands in the world from Coca-Cola, to Mattel, L’Oreal, Diageo and beyond, to shape award-winning campaigns that push creativity, craft and innovation.

Being a huge lover of humans influences both the need to understand and inspire new audiences but also involves everyone. ‘Inclusivity is a huge area that I am personally passionate about. Having a daughter with autism means I see the world through a lens of disability. She and others need to be a part of the story.’ An advocate for strategic creative, shaping a project (and building a team) through insight and research is paramount, taking clients and stakeholders on the journey to get to creative, ambitious work, plus having fun doing it, if possible!

Person

I think I’m a slightly contradictory human, I can be both gregarious and introverted, needing both equally at times. I’m a huge overthinker, I think this really helps the work as I’m constantly mulling over options and ideas, but with it brings a restlessness which makes it hard to then switch off and find peace, I have to force this at times.

Removing the terror and tragedy that is currently happening, the world is an incredibly beautiful place if you try to see the small things. I sat and read the journals of my late father and was completely absorbed by the tiniest details that he observed in his surroundings. He was just so present, a skill that feels like its rapidly deteriorating. Everything is inspiring in some way, from the lines of a building, to watching a group of people interacting, and even the stolen moments in nature Dad was so obsessed with. Trying to switch off my phone (and my brain) and just be curious is what I’m trying to do more of.

I gravitated toward the visual as a young child, but developing the tools to be able to tackle a creative challenge or brief are definitely learnt. I remember early on in my career feeling totally overwhelmed when I received a brief, circling it for hours on end, researching, reading, but not actually diving into it as I wasn’t sure where to start. As I got more experience under my belt, I found ways to dissect as a starting point and a process to undertake, I saw more in the world, so had inspiration to use as ‘a jumping off point’, the confidence in the certainty that ‘I will crack it eventually, so there’s no need to panic’ set in, and that was purely learnt behaviour. All that said, I think you either have a creative ‘eye’ or you don’t

I definitely thrive off some level of routine, I take comfort in the same rituals of the day, sitting in a particular location on the train, grabbing the same coffee order from the same café, even walking on the same side of the street. But then (without sounding pretentious) personal growth and courageous ideas come from a level of discomfort. So I try to say ‘yes’ to as much as possible and experience different things as much as I can. A level of spontaneity feels very important to keep moving forward.

I’m also a complete design geek, that lives through graphics, interiors, ‘grand design’, crafting, fashion and more. I find there’s often quite a lot of cross over with experiential, with influences across a range of different mediums coming into the live moment, storytelling and aesthetic treatment we concept. It feels really important to keep up with cultural trends, going to events, stores, festivals that wouldn’t ordinarily interest me is how I understand what is driving audiences that I don’t personally sit within.

Product

That’s a really hard question because creativity is so subjective, so you have to find the objective criteria to determine the success of a proposal. Assessing whether the final piece of work answered the task or challenge with flair, checking that we’ve understood the audience and what motivates them. Delving into the brand and therefore drawing common ground between brand/product claims and audience passion-points, considering a bold and impactful spatial design that draws the eye, leaning on key aesthetic trends and of course creating a simple and enticing experience concept that people ‘get’ quickly and answers a need.

Creating mini aesthetically driven ‘brand worlds’ seems to have become more and more important in brand experience. This is because our audiences need to ‘escape’ and transport themselves into a completely different immersive space. Also, the huge drive on creation, these spaces need to feel like ‘content machines’, with multiple touchpoints that inspire and allow for creativity.

Looking back at my portfolio of work there’s three that stand out to me as some of my proudest work.

The first was the Coke Ahhhcade. It was jumping on the '90s trend ahead of it being mainstream, and was one of the first experiential pop ups following Covid, allowing our audience much needed ‘IRL time together’ through a Coke inspired gaming arcade.

The second was our most recent Madri ‘soul street’, which transported festival-goers to the streets of Madrid, allowing them to explore installations to find a code and then exchange it for graffiti tagged merch at our street kiosk

Lastly, a completely different campaign that I did for National Lottery scratchcards called ‘Surprising numbers’. We challenged ‘win belief’ by bringing to life the amount of winners made on a daily basis with a wide variety of time-based, reactive billboards that gave context to the large number of successful cards.

Looking at the industry in general, I think we’re in the era of live experiences, audiences are craving them, and brands are investing in them more than they ever have. This is because they can see the value of a deeper longer connection vs a fleeting one. An opportunity to tell a story. Audiences are far more discerning about purchase choices and want to feel the authenticity of a brand. This can only be done through this medium.

Agencies are really stepping up to the challenge. The competition is fierce and that’s only making us all better. Sweating the details, unpacking a tight customer journey and concepting visually stunning executions is the name of the game. It’s a complete beauty pageant out there and I’m enjoying being part of it. The only frustration is the derivative themes. There’s so many cafes, corner shops, gas stations, flower stalls. It would be great for us to move forward with some truly unexpected campaigns.

Process

I definitely find a pad and a big fat marker is a great start to help get ideas going. Dumping down words, thoughts, visual references is a hugely helpful way of starting to form an idea. It also stops you from ‘circling the beast’ and actually diving into attack. Pulling out visual references from a range of different places so I can start to ‘picture’ the space and interactive moments also helps. Pulling together loose idea mood boards is a great way to start shaping and building.

Some people like to write ideas longhand into a word document as a first pass technique. I think I’m just much more of a visual learner. I begin by picturing a space, an activity, a story, an audience and an atmosphere. Once I walk through an experience visually, it makes it much easier to then articulate in writing the core elements that people encounter.

I’m not sure any creative actually switches off. I see things constantly that I keep in mind and then bring into future projects. I think it’s important to be constantly on the ‘look’ and it really helps that I have a huge passion for it all anyway. Anything can influence a project - from a dinner or bar experience - to a retail one, observing what people are wearing - overhearing conversations on the tube - and even going through adversity yourself. These all give you ways to relate to others and approach creative challenges with heart.

I like to work collaboratively and alone as I’m not a huge fan of brainstorms unless they have structure. Announcing the whole brief to a room of people and then expecting it to be ‘cracked’ always feels like a bad idea to me. Taking it away, breaking it apart, finding some areas of interest within the challenge and then putting some of these to the room for thought feels far more productive. We approach projects and pitches as a team, however, and this is fundamental. We’re all on one level and able to have a say on the work we’re putting forward, whilst each have our own area of responsibility. Not having one person ‘in charge’ is crucial to creating work that is fully rounded and the strongest it can be.

Doing something else or getting out for a walk is how to get through the creative block. Churning over the same issue in your head never leads to a great outcome and just deepens the difficulty. Taking a small amount of time out and approaching with fresh eyes is always the way to get through. Also, having the confidence that it will all come together (as it always, always does) means that challenges don’t destroy the project - but help it.

There's always more polish and finesse that can be added, and that’s what makes me restless. But deadlines, budgets and other pressures will always be the factors that make you draw a line. Stepping away from something and feeling truly proud of it is the only criteria I have to then sign off. Knowing that it’s answered the brief challenge and that we have shown care and passion when creating the solution.

Press

I grew up in the leafy countryside but close to London, so we visited often. I’m the youngest of three with a slightly larger age gap between me and the other two, meaning I’ve had to learn a level of resilience and tenacity to keep up with them (and a quick come back). My mother was an art teacher, and my brother was very creative. He’s now gone into documentary making. My father and sister were all about writing and storytelling, which had an influence on my path and passions. I always wanted to make spaces and things more visually interesting; I was always interested in stories and would act out a range of them with friends. I always had a huge imagination that just needed to be directed somewhere.

I studied architecture at university, this gave me a whole level of discipline around the creative process and how to package up and present with a clear rationale to clients. There were some brutal meetings with tutors that definitely ensured I came prepared! I stepped away from architecture, as the balance of creativity vs operations didn’t sit well with me. However, it really influenced where I went with my career. IRL experiences with tangible, sensorial moments became a sweet-spot, between a built design approach and an ideas based campaign, that would evoke emotion and transport people for a moment.

I always say that ‘space’ is the best thing you can give to a creative. Set them the challenge and then leave them alone for a while to work through their process. Understand that they are doing this constantly, not just when they’re sat at their desk. At the gym, walking for coffee, talking to friends, ideas and approaches are forming, so trust in that. Tight deadlines and pressure do help me become uber-focussed. Sometimes you just must ‘make a bloody decision’ on a direction and these pressures mean you set out on a clear path.

My advice for any client looking to get the best out of creatives would be to be open, give all the information you can and be invested in the process. The best projects come from true collaboration where both sides respect each other and have open, honest conversations with the ambition to get to the best possible solution we’d all be proud to show our friends and peers.

When it comes to agencies facilitating creativity in terms of culture and design, I think a culture of ambition and curiosity is the only way. Making everyone feel empowered to have a voice and feel part of what you’re creating can make or break a piece of work. Be restless, always strive for the best.