The Work That Made Me: Kimberly Douglas
Kimberly Douglas is a strategy partner at Leagas Delaney. Her 15 years in the industry have taken her from London to the Middle East and back again, with a Master’s in Social and Cultural Anthropology thrown in for good measure along the way. An eternal student of human behaviour, she advocates a people-first approach to brand building, unearthing compelling insights to inform everything from upstream brand strategies to minute executional details, long-term market development or a tactical advertising campaign.
The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Guinness Surfer. I was about 14 when it aired and I have a really vivid memory of seeing it for the first time, watching TV with my Dad. We both paused, captivated, when it came on – a real advertising moment that is so rare today as we all watch individual content on our phones. It’s a brilliant strategy for an iconic brand and my appreciation for it has only grown over time. Now it’s my go-to case study to explain the difference between strategy and creative to newcomers to the industry.
Speaking of my Dad – who doesn’t work in the industry, but always seems to have an appreciation for good advertising – I have to give an honorary mention to Patek Philippe. He was the person who first brought Patek to my attention many years ago, and how clever its positioning is. When I joined Leagas Delaney this year, one of the first things I told him was that it was the agency responsible for that work. He was suitably impressed.
The creative work that I keep revisiting…
It might sound cheesy, but Les Misérables. It was the first ‘grown-up’ stage show that my parents took me to when I was a kid, and I’ve loved it ever since – in every iteration, from Victor Hugo’s original novel to the 2012 film. It’s such a rich plot of interwoven stories, with fully rounded characters throughout, that there’s always something new to appreciate. It’s the unlikeable characters that most interest me, like Inspector Javert. The glimpses into his backstory and the conflicting values that torment him mean that even the story’s main antagonist becomes a sympathetic character by the end. It's a good reminder that there’s always more to people than what you see at face value. Understanding their motivations and what’s shaped their worldview – this is the lifeblood of a planner.
My first professional project…
As a graduate trainee in account management, I found myself delving into different parenting styles for Dairylea, my first introduction to segmentation studies. The ad we ended up making won’t go down in history, but the insight and brand strategy work I was party to while working on that account stayed with me as I made the move into planning.
The creative project that changed my career…
In 2013 I took a massive leap of faith and moved to Abu Dhabi to help M&C Saatchi establish a new local office with a high-profile founding client: Etihad Airways. We were tasked with launching their flagship A380, and in doing so relaunch the brand. Our in-depth product immersion included tours of the new cabins in their newly built innovation centre and interviews with key stakeholders from catering to cabin crew, during which we realised that Etihad weren’t taking their cues from the aviation industry, but from luxury hospitality experiences on the ground. It was this mindset that had allowed them to push the boundaries of commercial aircraft and create the world’s first private three-room cabin, dine-on-demand in Business Class, and on-board nannies in Economy. The resulting creative idea, Flying Reimagined, became something of a rallying cry for the organisation and its outlook. It showed the far-reaching impact of a big brand platform, extending well beyond the marketing department to capture the imagination of employees.
The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Not a specific piece of work, but my personal pet peeve is financial brands trying to target women with ill-thought-through content. It’s the investment equivalent of a pink Bic pen – I don’t need separate girly content highlighting that women aren’t usually the target for the serious business of money; I want practical advice that understands why women are sometimes less confident investors or that we often have different financial outlooks – and serves me accordingly. It smacks of (probably male) executives realising that there’s an untapped market, but not bothering to figure out what they need.
The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
This Girl Can is the opposite of what I’ve just complained about. The gender gap in sport is comparable to the gender gap in financial services, but Sport England chose to invest in proper consumer research and it shows. Uncovering the barriers to exercise and the unifying insight that underpins it all – fear of judgement – was the first step in combatting the problem. The upbeat, unpatronizing campaign that followed oozed in attitude and proved its creators really understood what would motivate women to make a change.
It was a toss-up between that and Channel 4’s 2012 Paralympics campaign or, more recently, the Nike campaign for the Women’s Euros. Proof if ever there was that advertising – and sport – has the power to change things for the better…
The work that I’m proudest of…
It’s not often you get to build a brand from scratch, let alone an exciting new sports technology brand with a brave client pushing for bold work, but that was the opportunity I had with eo. Working closely with the founding team, it became clear that this was no ordinary sports brand; this is a company setting out to push the limits of human endeavour, on and off the field. I helped them articulate their brand purpose as ‘accelerating human progress’ which came to life creatively as ‘The Science of Defiance’. We even came up with the name, which is Latin for ‘progress’. After 18+ months of hard work, I was thrilled to see eo burst into the world earlier this year. One for the books.
The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
We do a lot of work with premium and luxury brands at Leagas and right now growth in luxury is driven by China and Korea. It’s been fascinating to dive back into Asian culture (I was born in Hong Kong and have been something of a Sinophile my whole life). Chinese Millennials and gen z are writing their own rules and the advertising landscape is a world away from traditional luxury codes. In the short time I’ve been at Leagas, I’ve had the chance to explore the world of New Luxury Consumers for a whole range of brands, from drinks to décor, parenting to plastic surgery. Getting under the skin (no pun intended) of different categories and consumers is what I love most about my job.
