5 Minutes with... Justine Leong

Justine Leong’s time working in television was a training ground. The newly-promoted managing director of AKQA Australia credits her early work in long-form and TVCs as formative. 

“A TVC is really the ultimate creative challenge – one concept and one idea with parameters of a budget and a duration of 30 seconds, and being able to deliver a really strong and compelling message in a way that connects with people was, for me, a turning point,” she told LBB.

That foundation, paired with the baptism of fire of a global pitch, launched her advertising career. She worked on Qatar Airways in her first ad job, and laughed, “Little did I know at the time, they were pitching to renew that account – I didn't even know what a pitch was, to be honest. I just rolled up my sleeves, learned on the job, and went on to win it, which was great. The rest was history.

“I look back at that time now, and I think my ignorance in going into a creative agency at the time was really the best thing that set me up for success, because I didn't have legacy baggage or an expectation of what the creative and advertising world was.”

Earlier this month, Justine stepped into the managing director role from her previous post as general manager, and MD Jeremy Smart became managing director of growth, after AKQA Asia Pacific CEO Brian Vella stepped down.

Following her promotion, she is setting her sights on building on “the remarkable legacy of the AKQA brand in Australia.” That involves “having the opportunity to lead a team that really embodies that spirit of reinvention.”

She sees reinvention as a requirement, adding it “is a necessity to stay relevant and be able to move forward in the world that we are living in.”

“I'm just really excited to be able to create something together with such a powerhouse of a leadership team, really infusing creativity and human ingenuity with our incredible technology capabilities and skills.”

Those technology capabilities shine through projects such as ‘Action Audio’ for the Australian Open, ‘Living Seawall’ for Volvo, and ‘It's What's Inside’ for Netflix. 

“Emerging technology, particularly AI and immersive experiences, isn't just shaping our world and our industry. I think it's really fundamentally rewriting the rules of growth and creative possibility,” she said.

“In my role now as managing director, leading this really incredible team is really about delivering courageous ways forward for our clients, and delivering impact for their businesses and their brands.”

The agency’s work globally and “the immense potential that I really believe [AKQA] has” is what excites her. “What I was very much admiring from afar before entering via the merge [with whiteGREY] last year, is the world class work that they do.”

Earlier this year, Justine and Jeremy told LBB a year into the whiteGREY merger, AKQA Australia is a “work in progress, and it will continue to be that way for a period of time”, but the business has focused on hiring top creative talent like Tara McKenty and Sarah McGregor, and building trust by being “okay to step on each other’s toes.”

Justine has three clear ambitions for the agency: world-class work, world-class culture, and world-class standards. Her first goal is to “really explode the work that AKQA globally are renowned for here in Australia, I really want to see work out in the world that's making a positive impact for our clients’ business.

“Secondly, I want to create a place where people feel like they are doing, and have done, the best work of their life. I so proudly look back on working on the likes of the Volvo Living Seawall and how much positivity that has around a client's business and the benchmark that it creates around what creativity is.

“Third, I would love to be a place where we're actually shaping world class ideas and really raising the standard in Australia. There are a lot of agencies talking about elevating the bar, and I think we really have the ingredients to be able to deliver and really change the shape of creativity in Australia.”

Her own creative philosophy is rooted in “human ingenuity” and “the possibility of our imaginations,” she added.

“New technologies are always going to come and disrupt our world; we're constantly having to be challenged by new audiences in terms of the alphas and the betas and what's going to come next. People are engaging with platforms and screens – and again, what's going to come after screens? – but at the end of the day, it is our creativity that will be the solution in connecting and engaging with people in the most meaningful ways.”

She also draws “my energy and my inspiration” from her family. 

“People hear me talk about Willow, my four-year-old, probably far too much. I love that she thinks I work in a place where I get to speak to my friends all day long. 

“She and my family are very much a grounding perspective in my world. Playing with her is very much the best part of my day, and also a good reminder that as adults, we seem to have lost a bit of our ability to play.”