Women Who Will: Emily Taylor

Welcome to 'Women Who Will' , an LBB series pitched in by DDB Group Melbourne creative director Becky Morriss and senior art director Alayna Kunitake. 'Women Who Will' aims to champion women across the industry and around the world, and sees interviewees share their ambitions, highlight who they look up to, and nominate others, creating a ripple effect of recognition and inspiration.

Co-founder of Bureau of Everything, chief strategy officer, and Gruen panellist Emily Taylor has spent the last 20 years creating strategically rigorous foundations for brilliant ideas, in the UK and Aus. Having worked in management consultancy, brand, digital, and branding agencies she’s a seriously ambidextrous thinker. Although, she’s not very serious.

Through her time at AKQA, VCCP, BMF, Leo Burnett, and M&C Saatchi, she has accumulated experience in nearly everything, from tourism and gaming to technology and retail.

Emily has also worked with some of the world’s biggest and most innovative brands including Xbox, Expedia, Samsung, Tourism Australia, and Woolworths. She has a shelf full of Effies, Lions, and Pencils to show for it all. Plus a regular spot on the ABC’s Gruen show. She also co-founded an ethical investing app with her husband, which they sold in 2021.

LBB> How did you get into the industry?

Emily> I started in management consultancy, but it wasn’t my jam. Then one of my very best mates from school, who was working in PR at the time, said, “There is a role in advertising called a planner. I think you’d be great at it."

This resolved my existential crisis. So I moved to London and hunted down a job as a planner in a digital agency called DNA. Which was a brilliant first step. The rest is history.

LBB> Who are some of the people along the way who have helped you most?

Emily> Obviously, my mate Vic, who spotted the opportunity for me. Then there have been a ton of great brains, both in the UK and back in Aus, who have helped me really ‘get’ what makes great strategy.

There are too many to name, but in this market, I’d give a big shout-out to Christina Aventi, Simon McCrudden, Dave Hartmann, Emma Montegomery, and Graham Alvarez-Jarratt. Plus all the great creatives and account management people and clients who teach you through their lens -- that Cam Blackley guy is pretty good on that front. Wonder what he’s up to these days?

LBB> Who have you looked up to throughout your career?

Emily> I’ve been lucky to have some really great heads of strategy and CSOs in my time. People who lead with heart (and of course brains), who teach you how to do your job but also build a team culture that is the envy of other agencies (and sometimes the other departments).

You can’t look past the wonderful Christina Aventi for that, but before that I was lucky to have people like Michael Lee at VCCP in the UK too. I’ve also had some shithouse bosses, who were the complete opposite, massive a-holes. But I won’t name names.

LBB> Who do you look up to now?

Emily> I definitely still look up to that list of people I rattled off before -- I catch up regularly with Christina, Dave, Graham and I always walk away with a new perspective. I’d also say, the broader a ‘business’ hat I have to wear running our agency, the more I turn to my hubby too. He’s a CEO and a smart cat.

LBB> If you could give your younger self one piece of advice on navigating the industry, what would it be?

Emily> Find your people. Find an agency and environment where you just love the people, the culture, and where you can feel some energy. The crew I had at BMF back in the day was special, likewise at AKQA in London and Leos (which I still can’t call ‘Leo’). You spend so much time at work -- don’t spend it with dickheads.

It can be hard to really get a feel of the culture in the interview process, so sometimes you will get it wrong. It’s okay to pull the rip cord, jumping ship is okay once or twice, as long as you don’t end up with a CV jammed full of ‘mistakes’.

LBB> Tell us about a piece of work that best reflects your ambitions.

Emily> Any of the many that won an Effie. If it works its arse off, it reflects my ambitions. Our ‘Come and Say G’day’ campaign for Tourism Australia definitely holds a special place in my heart.

So important for the country, it lives on today, and it’s working its little butt off. Our more recent work with Music Australia, getting people to ‘Ausify Your Algo’ is another. The kind of work that’s culturally important, but where you can still make it populist and fun.

LBB> How has a woman best helped you in your career, and/or you helped other women?

Emily> I’m grateful to have a ton of women who have helped me, whether as a boss or as a colleague or team member. I’m still friends with many of them, we do regular catch ups and goss sessions (read: wines). Although the shittiest boss I have ever had was also a woman (see: a-hole reference above). But the best ones, like the great men who have helped me, are brilliant at what they do, partly because they lead with empathy. I try to do the same.

Once I’d had my daughter and returned to work, I really tried to set an example from the top too. A great friend introduced me to the idea of ‘leaving early and leaving loudly’ so that others felt it was okay to do the same. No shuffling out feeling guilty, as long as you get the work done. So I try to live that.

LBB> Where do you hope we are as an industry in a year’s time?

Emily> I hope some of the volatility and uncertainty has settled. There are some great people being impacted at the moment. I hope we continue to make it easier for working parents -- we’ve made some good inroads, and it’s promising.

LBB> And five years’ time?

Emily> To have regained our strategic and creative consistency, there is a lot of disposable shite out there at the moment. A return to glory driven by the wave of unconstrained indies. With that momentum, a bunch more jobs for more youngsters in the industry -- 50% of them women!

LBB> What’s your non-negotiable?

Emily> Fun. I can’t do super corporate, stuffy environments. Great strategy and creative comes from cultures where people can be themselves, ask questions, debate and have a laugh.

LBB> Nominate the next woman you think should be part of this series.

Emily> Christina Avenenti -- BMF. Vanessa Graham -- Freelancing (for us!). Sarah Palmer -- The Human Co.