Moving the Needle: Maggie Williams

At DDB, our people are the heart and soul to our agency. We believe that the inclusivity of thought and background leads to when we, as a company, are able to be the most authentic and creative. Thus, allowing creativity to be the most powerful force within our business; it has the power to make people laugh, cry, think, alter their behaviour, create change for the world, and impact culture. 

Maggie Williams is an account director at adam&eveDDB West and lives in the San Francisco area. In her time at A+E DDB, she’s led projects for Energy Upgrade California, Car Gurus, Survey Monkey and Aura. Before DDB, she worked at agencies all over the country, including Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Funworks and the VIA Agency. Her previous clients include Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed), Credit Karma, Doordash, the American Heart Association and the Hershey Company. She grew up in Massachusetts, and before landing in the Bay she did stints in Maine, Colorado and Los Angeles. When not at work, you can usually find her on the local trails and beaches of Mill Valley with her husband Mark and dog Charlie.  

1. Name, Title, Office, Link to LinkedIn Page 

Maggie Williams, account director, adam&eveDDB West (San Francisco), Linkedin

2. What is your personal mantra? 

Maggie> I’m stealing this one from my favourite teacher from high school: “Choose brave over perfect.” It’s about seeking curiosity and joy instead of letting fear of imperfection paralyse you. Being brave means living with being afraid, and choosing to do new and scary things anyway. I certainly haven’t conquered my fears of imperfection and failure, but I’m working on it!  

3. How did you wind up in advertising? 

Maggie> In college, I majored in political studies and studio art, two seemingly disconnected areas of study. I loved them both. On the one hand, I got to research, write, and talk through complex economic and policy concepts. On the other, I had the chance to create things, observe the world visually and explore modes of expression. I knew I wanted a career where I could somehow combine both of these worlds. I feel lucky to have found advertising, where I really do get to live out my liberal arts dreams every day.

4. What is a piece of creative that you worked on that particularly moved you? 

Maggie> My team recently did an activation for an incredible initiative, Safe Stays by Reloshare, whose mission is to help people in crisis find temporary housing solutions. Our campaign, Alias Hotels, focused on helping domestic violence victims safely escape their abusers by convincing hotel owners to allow them to book stays anonymously. 

At a hotel industry conference, we hacked the WIFI at hotels where we knew our target audience would be staying. When the hoteliers logged-on to our free WIFI network, they were served a powerful, AI-generated video featuring a domestic violence survivor. In each personalised video, the survivor asked for help and directed them to the Safe Stays website. I loved the message, innovative delivery and, most importantly, impact of the work. It also got shortlisted at Cannes, which was really cool. I’m proud to continue supporting ReloShare’s mission, as we gear up for our next campaign for them later this year.  

5. What does your daily routine consist of? 

Maggie> I love Jia Tolentino’s essay in Trick Mirror, where she takes down the premise that we should always be optimising ourselves and our routines. There’s so much content out there encouraging us to wake up earlier, work out harder, waste less, want less, give more, be more productive. I think this hits particularly hard for women, who receive many messages throughout our lives that we are not enough. So my personal form of feminism and anti-capitalism is resisting the pressure to perfect my routine. I don’t wake up at 5am to meditate. I don’t chug a daily green juice. I sometimes do nothing at all, and I try not to feel bad about it.  

6. When do you feel the most powerful? 

Maggie> For me, the best and most rewarding way to find momentum is to harness the collective energy of the team. In my role, I often play the part of mediator, MC, facilitator, alignment seeker. I love creating an environment where creativity can thrive, and where great ideas can come from anyone in the group. I feel most powerful when I’m supercharging a group’s emotional intelligence to get us unstuck. 

7. Which of the DDB Four Freedoms is the most important to you and why? 

Maggie> Freedom from Fear. If we can remove fear, we are so much more likely to be our most creative, inspired selves. We can find momentum and flow. It’s human nature to look for danger and try to protect ourselves, but I’d love to live in a world where we all feel safe to express ourselves and bring forth our most honest perspectives. Some days, we accomplish this and are in flow and cracking tough problems. Others are a work in progress, and we’re scared all over again. That’s very human, and it’s all a work in progress.  

8. What is one source of creative inspiration you draw from outside of work? 

Maggie> I feel most comfortable and inspired in nature. As a kid, I got to spend a lot of time outside in awesome places like Maine and Montana, and I still find the woods to be the place where I feel most myself. I was the type of child who would wander around outside for hours, following a creek up stream, trying to identify animal tracks, or staring up at the mountains. I still do this, and it clears my head. I try to get outside every day, even if it’s just for a quick walk in the woods near my house.  

9. Who are your creative heroes? 

Maggie> My Instagram feed is filled with the work of my favourite painters: Tessa Green O’brien, Lois  Dodd, Eric Hopkins. These artists live and work in Maine, a place that is close to my heart, and I love the exploration of community, place and nature in their work. 

In culture, I’m inspired by people who cross boundaries and defy categorisation. Donald Glover, Brandi Carlile, Jeremy Jones. For them, art and expression know no boundaries and are inextricable from political activism and change making. 

10. Wishes or aspirations for the advertising industry? 

Maggie> In my time in advertising, I’ve seen the culture of the industry steadily become more inclusive, and I hope to see this progress continue. While we’ve thankfully left the Mad Men era behind, there’s still a long way to go to become truly representative and supportive of varying viewpoints and approaches. I’d love to see our industry remove barriers to entry, seek and nurture talent  from unexpected places, celebrate our differences, and stay curious about one another’s perspectives. In my vision for the future, our industry leaders will be as diverse as the audiences we serve.  

11. How are you moving the advertising industry forward? 

Maggie> I hope I am creating a culture of support, honesty and inclusion on the teams that I manage. I try to remove fear for my people, empowering them to be their true selves and letting them know that they are being heard and seen. Through mentorship and facilitating a positive culture of teamwork, my team can hopefully grow into healthy leaders and pass this philosophy on, creating a ripple effect on the industry. 

12. What has been your most measurable impact? 

Maggie> Our team’s work on Energy Upgrade California’s 'The Power is Ours' campaign has successfully convinced millions of Californians to save energy during peak summer heat events in order to prevent power outages. Californians now know what to do during a Flex Alert, and we’ve had zero outages since our campaign has run. 

13. Lasting words to leave us with: 

Maggie> I love this sentiment from Glennon Doyle in her memoir Untamed: “Every life is an  unprecedented experiment. This life is yours alone. So stop asking people for directions to places they’ve never been. There is no map. We are all pioneers.”