Why Girl&Bear’s ‘Be Nice’ Policy Fuels Diversity and Success

Kristina Todoric is the operations director at Girl&Bear. She joined in 2021 to lead its operations, helping shape and evolve the business, establishing simple and efficient ways of working, best-in-class tools and systems and implementing and championing Girl&Bear’s ESG strategy, the ‘Be Nice’ policy. Kristina also supports VCCP leading the management of two of its work management tools, as well as previously leading the global operations for one their biggest accounts.

Kristina has over 15 years of experience in project management, production and creative operations, working agency-side, in-house and client-side in London and Amsterdam, for clients such as LVMH, The Times and Tommy Hilfiger. Kristina has always loved the fast-paced nature of the industry, she doesn’t shy away from a challenge, loves that she’s still learning whilst remaining authentic to herself along the way.

LBB> What advice would you give to any aspiring producers or content creators hoping to make the jump into production?

Kristina> If you have a passion for production, make that jump, it’s something you can’t fake and it will get you far. No one expects you to be an instant expert – an eagerness to learn, working hard and asking questions will get you far. And it’s the soft skills that will really make you stand out - being authentic, kind, transparent, super organised and diligent – they can seem straightforward and expected but finding someone that can do it all, and well, isn’t always so easy.

LBB> What skills or emerging areas would you advise aspiring producers to learn about and educate themselves about?

Kristina> Having an understanding of the craft is really important. Nothing beats sitting with a designer or an editor and learning about their skills, it’ll help you understand the effort and time required so you can approach a brief in the right way.

But in today’s world when talking about emerging areas, we need to embrace tech and find ways it can help us along the way. At Girl&Bear we ensure our talent is complemented and supported by using the right tech and tools at the right times.

So staying informed about different tech is key, whether it’s AI (of course!), or automation, there isn’t just one way of making things so knowing how tech can bring efficiencies to any stage of the project will really help when you’re figuring out the right making approach. And don’t worry about not knowing it inside out, there are things that will come naturally to you that you’ll have in your wheelhouse, and then there are things you’ll have a general idea about and will know who to call on when you need to.

LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were starting out in production – and why has that stayed with you?

Kristina> As a producer, you’re managing a lot of moving parts that involve lots of different people, stakeholders, deadlines and complexity. You’ll be trying your best to keep things on track but things will inevitably go wrong or change course at short notice. Embrace those moments and find solutions with your team as this is when you’ll learn the most.

LBB> When it comes to broadening access to production and improving diversity and inclusion what are your team doing to address this?

Kristina> This is a really important topic for us – diversity, equity and inclusion is woven into everything we do, from recruitment, to how we behave, the suppliers we work with, to our output.

I lead the ‘Be Nice’ policy at Girl&Bear – our guiding principle that places kindness, inclusion and environmental accountability at the heart of every project, and it's ever-evolving.

We know that teams of people from different backgrounds, that reflect different lived experiences, will always create better work so we keep this front of mind for every stage of the process, starting at the creative dev stage where we really dig into the brief and ideas early on to make sure what we’re making is reflective of our modern society.

Our ‘Be Nice’ policy, which has been in place for four years, is a key reason we have an incredibly high retention rate that far exceeds industry norms and our carbon footprint for productions also averages way below the industry average, both things we’re very proud of.

LBB> And why is it an important issue for the production community to address?

Kristina> It’s an important issue for everyone to address. Yes it leads to better work but more importantly, it’s the right thing to do. We have a duty to acknowledge what's going on in the world around us and how we can use advertising to shape our culture.

We all must take action, continuing to support those who champion DE&I initiatives, continue to build upon our partnerships to support new diverse talent and continue to educate ourselves and each other, always striving to do more.

LBB> There are young people getting into production who maybe don’t see the line between professional production and the creator economy, and that may well also be the shape of things to come. What are your thoughts about that? Is there a tension between more formalised production and the ‘creator economy’ or do the two feed into each other?

Kristina> I think that potential tension between the two approaches can be a great catalyst for innovation – driving change and creativity, and leading to new ways of working for both.

There’s value in both types of approaches as production isn’t one size fits all, there’s a need for specialised teams – each expert in their own style of making. At Girl&Bear, we’ve built a team of specialists who together bring fresh perspectives, rawness and storytelling skills with a super agile approach to crafting amazing work.

LBB> If you compare your role to the role of the heads of TV/heads of production/executive producers when you first joined the industry, what do you think are the most striking or interesting changes (and what surprising things have stayed the same?)

Kristina> Perhaps the most striking (and awesome) change is seeing more women in leadership positions now but there’s definitely still a long way to go.

LBB> When it comes to educating producers how does your agency like to approach this?

Kristina> We have an amazing learning and development team that organises really broad training in things like AI, managing client relationships, pitching and inclusive language.

At Girl&Bear we approach our training in both a structured and simple way. It ranges from intros to each team when you join, the systems we use, general ways of working, our ‘Be Nice’ policy, to learning sessions on automation and print production.

We understand that people like to learn in different ways, some like to be thrown in the deep end, and some prefer more hands-on training so all our training is done in person as it’s important to us that everyone knows what’s expected of them. Refreshers are scheduled throughout the year, and guides are shared afterwards for people to refer back to.

We want people to learn, be engaged and enjoy the experience so I send out a survey every quarter to find out about people’s experience to see what we’ve done well and what we need to improve upon for our future Girl&Bear’ers.

LBB> It seems that there’s an emphasis on speed and volume when it comes to content – but where is the space for up and coming producers to learn about (and learn to appreciate) craft?

Kristina> Producing content at speed and high volumes shouldn’t mean that you lose the craft. The majority of ad spend is on online channels, which places huge demands on agencies to create more content than ever before. Alongside this, we as consumers have shorter attention spans because of content overload and we’re constantly scrolling on our phones. So it’s essential that we create content that’s more immediate, that’s relevant and resonates, on top of that it needs to be platform-native too, and to achieve all of that, you need the craft.

This is something that’s really integral to why Girl&Bear exists – delivering beautifully crafted work at scale and with efficiency. We've spent the last two years developing our proprietary tech offering, which we're imminently about to launch that accelerates how we make and enables us to deliver craft in all channels, all markets, and for all deliverables, at all times.

LBB> On the other side of the equation, what’s the key to retaining expertise and helping people who have been working in production for decades to develop new skills?

Kristina> Our people and our culture are our biggest assets so we want to create an environment where everyone can thrive and do their best work. I’m lucky to work somewhere that really does support its people through their various life stages and being someone who’ll experience perimenopause in the not so distant future, having menopause training rolled out to all employees, as well as menopause coaching and a menopause policy makes me feel genuinely supported and valued.

Leadership plays a big part too. Claire Young, our CEO at Girl&Bear, really champions growth and innovation regardless of what career stage you’re at. Business is about evolving, staying modern, so making sure our people feel supported and empowered is key.

LBB> Clearly there is so much change, but what are the personality traits and skills that will always be in demand from producers?

Kristina> It’s the soft skills that will get you far.

Authenticity, kindness, transparency, organisation, diligence – people will trust you and feel safe when they’re working on a project with you. Being solutions focused where you solve an issue without anyone knowing it’s occurred. Listening so everyone feels heard, and of course communication and striking that balance between firm but fair.

Being open to a lifetime of learning and embracing those industry changes that will inevitably come along, will hopefully lead to a long and successful career! But don’t forget to have fun, it’s not an easy industry to work in, there will be late nights, multiple briefs to deliver at the same time with a pitch thrown in too, so being able to have a laugh with your colleagues along the way will make those tricky times worthwhile.