Creative Is Native: “If It’s Not Giving You Goosebumps, Go Again”
Caroline Kelly leads the Teneo Ireland digital and creative team whose work spans digital communication and strategy, creative campaigning, narrative development, thought leadership and more.
Working across a number of key accounts, she prides herself in forging strong relationships and developing a solid understanding of their industry and business requirements. Distilling client briefs to create impactful and effective campaigns is a particular point of pride for her and she has worked on a wide range of award-winning campaigns for her clients.
Prior to her time working with Teneo, Caroline held a number of in-house marketing and communication roles for Irish businesses but also spent time working in London and Melbourne.
Charley Stoney, CEO of IPAI says: “Caroline is a brilliant example of contemporary and empathetic leadership in commercial creativity and communications. She is a gifted digital native, a natural collaborator and inspires her team to consistently do great work for their client’s brands.”
LBB’s Alex Reeves got to know her a bit.
LBB> Tell us a little bit about you, your background, your current role, and how long you’ve been at the company.
Caroline> Hi! Thanks for having me! I’m Caroline and I’m a managing director at Teneo Ireland. I lead our digital and creative team and I work across a number of our key accounts. I’ve been with Teneo for almost eight years now and I absolutely love what I do! I work with amazing colleagues and clients on their digital strategy, digital communications and creative campaigning, so every day is different. We are an international business and a truly collaborative global team and it has been so interesting to work with different cultures and markets, as well as our domestic clients here. Prior to Teneo, I worked in various in-house marketing roles which I think affords me the understanding of what a client needs and expects from its key partners.
LBB> How did you get into marketing and digital, and what were the key moments?
Caroline> I really stumbled into my career trajectory! I thought I would be a PE teacher or a physio. I have always been really into sport and exercise, so I studied sport and exercise science at the University of Limerick. I had an amazing four years but was not so sure about PE or physio by the end of the degree so I applied for a junior marketing role in USIT and I got it and I loved it! I went on to study a masters in marketing at TUD and I spent my 20s working in Dublin, London and Melbourne. I landed into what was then PSG Communications following a serendipitous meeting with our CEO Mick O’Keeffe when we sat at the same table at a Bord Gais Energy book awards. Mick was hiring for the new digital team and the rest is history.
Digital was really only becoming a focus while I was studying for my masters – I remember hearing how businesses were hiring for full-time social media roles at the time and thinking that was hilarious. Showing my age here but I guess I recognised early on that digital was going to be really important to marketing and brands and my analytical brain liked that you could track and record your results, which isn’t always so easy to do in the world of marketing.
LBB> What are some projects or campaigns early in your career that helped you work out what's really important in what you do?
Caroline> One of the early campaigns that stands out for me was the ‘Dublin Our Team’ series that we worked on with AIG, who were sponsors of the Dublin GAA teams. We wanted to bring the fans closer to the team and the way we did this was with our player series, allowing our fans to really get to know the players. The stories were remarkable and it was a really powerful, award-winning campaign that I was really proud to have been involved with. The real take away for me from this was the power of rich storytelling and how we can help brands to connect with their audiences on an emotive level and how impactful it is when we can do just that.
LBB> What's the key to distilling client briefs into effective creative campaigns? Are there any principles that you find reliable or is it different every time?
Caroline> The basic principles to distilling client briefs into effective creative campaigns in my mind are threefold:
Client relationship – You need to be able to pick the phone up to your client and talk it through and actively listen… even the inflections of their tone when they talk will give you a sense of what they’re thinking/feeling about it - why it’s important, what it means to the business etc.
Business understanding – what is the bigger picture beyond this brief? What are the business objectives? What are competitors doing? What is happening in the category? And then ask yourself how is your work on this brief solving these business objectives? Or setting you apart in your category?
Think big – challenge yourself. Challenge yourself every day. If it’s not giving you goosebumps, go again.
LBB> Ireland's been through a period of radical change in the past decade, with the two historic referendums and the campaigns around them being an obvious manifestation of this. How do you think that generational shift has impacted the country's creativity?
Caroline> Love this question! I completely agree we are living in a time of immense change. There have been such shifts in terms of culture and technology – throw in a pandemic for good measure and you can understand why it feels like we are all re-assessing and having a bit of a Ctrl-Alt-Del moment. I think the net effect of all this change on creativity has been positive. Maybe every generation thinks this but I don’t believe creativity has ever been more important and it is finally getting the recognition it deserves as a business critical ingredient for success.
I think this change in culture and attitude is further fuelled by the generation we refer to as gen z. I am a big fan of gen z! I honestly think they are a breath of fresh air! They are curious by nature, thoughtful in their approach and so aware and action-orientated when it comes to societal and environmental issues.
They have fully entered the workplace and they are moving up from junior positions and as they move up the ranks, they will continue to influence the work environment in a creatively positive way. I think they value and understand the importance of creativity. They are a generation of content creators and makers and I am really excited to watch as they continue to push the boundaries and integrate digital capabilities with creativity!
LBB> Are there any fundamental aspects of Irish culture that you think affect the way creativity is done there? Or maybe more recent developments?
Caroline> This is too difficult a question to answer! There are so many aspects of Irish culture that affect creativity – our love of music, art, literature, sport… our language, our beautiful landscape, our sense of self, our pride in heritage, our wicked sense of humour… I think it all plays in. We are a much more diverse country today too and I think it’s beautiful to see how Irish culture is evolving with influences from all around the world coming through.
LBB> What work at Teneo have you recently been most proud of and why?
Caroline> We recently launched a campaign for Sport Ireland that was close to my heart and one of those campaigns that we took great pride in the quality of output.
Women 40+, particularly those from disadvantaged communities, are three times more likely to do no physical activity compared to women under 40. This negatively impacts physical/mental health and puts pressure on Ireland’s health service.
We carried out extensive research and our research found that the main reason this cohort is not exercising was a perceived lack of time. The concept of ‘time’ therefore became a jumping off point for our campaign and we developed the campaign platform ‘It’s My Time’ showcasing the time pressures women face from all aspects of life and how that pressure can be relieved when they make time, put themselves first, and get active. We brought this to life via high-production video seeded strategically across social, VOD, digital platforms, with a series of follow-on content and paid media, print, digital and radio.
‘It’s My Time’ is currently tracking as the most impactful behaviour change campaign for Sport Ireland in 2023. Women over 40 are the glue that holds so many families and communities together, this campaign demanded that they are afforded the time to be their best selves along with the tools to do so. We spoke ‘with’ rather than ‘at’ them, making them feel seen, using relatable, real people to bring this to life.
We highlighted to this cohort that they should make time for themselves and it is ok to do so. This is about support for their goals and health, on their terms, defined by what they want and can do, to improve through exercise and participation in sport.
This is the type of work that I love to be involved with! You can watch our manifesto video here.
LBB> What excites you about the future of the industry? What concerns you?
Caroline> Circling back to gen z, I think what excites me about the future of the industry is the super, diverse talent on the rise here in Ireland who are challenging the norms. This, along with the technological advances we are seeing with the rise of AI and other disruptions, provide us with both challenges and opportunities! The main concern I have for our industry is keeping that young talent engaged and on Irish soil! Or at least providing them with enough reasons to return from their travels to the Irish creative industry.
