DTSACMO : Anna Jackson

DTSACMO time. We’re very lucky to have someone whose name is on a hell of a lot of great work that has come out of Australia in recent times, Anna Jackson.

Anna is the Head of Creative Excellence at Telstra. She’s often asked what that means. Is she an ECD? Does she go by ‘your excellency’? No to both. In a nutshell, she’s responsible for making the work better – providing the best conditions for the brand’s creative transformation.

Prior to Telstra, Anna was a director of brand strategy and creative at IAG, helping NRMA Insurance become the world’s strongest insurance brand. She has also launched and sold a gifting business, Brewquets, (bouquets of brews).

Fun fact: Anna plays the mandolin.

Next fun fact: By the time this is published, she would’ve started her new role as Head of Brand at Westpac.

What has the impact of pushing for bigger and better creative work been on your career?

Popular, unmissable creative has a halo effect. A bad analogy, it’s like having a celebrity friend - doors open that otherwise wouldn’t.

We all know creativity is a performance multiplier for brands – this is also experienced by the people behind the work. Awareness, consideration, and, yes, even perceived value! - all these things improve when attached to better creative.

‘Action Is Eloquence’. Great quote. Thanks, Shakespeare. Well the same is true of great work. It’s the tangible proof that speaks volumes more than a CV.

How have you created corporate environments with a healthy appetite for creativity?

It’s not an instant fix – one doesn’t walk into a big ol’ place and convince everyone to jump off the tallest cliff.

Proving the case for creativity helps; there is great data available now to help with that. Also systemising creativity so it sits at the heart of operations and rituals – we did that at Telstra by measuring and reporting back on every last asset that went to market.

But above all, I’ve been an ambassador for it. We celebrate the creative wins at Telstra and equally we learn from the not-so-great pieces.

We care about it and it’s central to the conversations.

As a client, what makes a great agency in your eyes? What’s something that every agency could be better at?

It’s a hyper-competitive market out there and I can’t help but think a lot of agencies are put on the backfoot, forced to make work they don’t really believe in. The cash is going one way, after all. But a good partnership will find a way to protect the work, creating a partnership built on mutual respect and aligned values.

We were recently on a panel together in Cairns discussing the pros and cons of creative testing, the potential pitfalls of ‘templated creativity’, and the importance of allowing room for new ideas - what’s your advice to ambitious marketers in regards to navigating this internally?

Get clear on the role of research and where it’s best placed in the process. Personally I think it’s most effective when implemented up-front to inform the richest brief possible.

Creative testing can flush out the shite. I have no issue with that. But the flipside is that more familiar work will naturally have an advantage – our brains are wired to prefer what’s known.

If you have a big idea and testing is part of the culture, ensure you have robust rationale to protect it. That’s true of any work really. If one test kills creative, I don’t think it’s had sufficient strategic scaffolding. Or more importantly, the culture hasn’t been created to allow for lateral leaps which push the brand forward.

Congrats on the new role at Westpac, incredibly well deserved. The work you’ve been involved with at Telstra has been the best in the country (imo, anyway), and at a world standard. How do you bring that ambition with you to an entirely new environment?

Copy and paste.

Jokes. Every culture has its unique set of challenges and opportunities. I’ll start big picture and work back from there. Defining the ambition and galvanising the team (both internal and external) around that will be a focus. Building a culture where creative is valued and protected, that will require a bespoke strategy. The rest will be in the doing. And to quote Shakespeare one more time, because I’m just in that kind of mood, joy’s soul lies in the doing. I can’t wait to get stuck in.

One of the things that great creative leaders have in this business, on both sides, is strong opinions lightly held. And it’s one of the reasons I have a lot of respect for marketers like Anna who’ve contributed to DTSA. They can see things from sharper angles. Form points of view that can cut through trends and jargon. They see and understand the parameters in which they have to operate but don’t lose their own beliefs in the process. And, most of all, they care.

“It’s like having a celebrity friend - doors open that otherwise wouldn’t.”

“It’s the tangible proof that speaks volumes more than a CV.”

“But a good partnership will find a way to protect the work, creating a partnership built on mutual respect and aligned values.”

“If you have a big idea and testing is part of the culture, ensure you have robust rationale to protect it.”

“We care about it and it’s central to the conversations.”

and lastly -

“…joy’s soul lies in the doing. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Couldn’t agree more. Thanks again, Anna.