My Biggest Lesson: Susanna Swartley

Before her tenure at Translation, Susanna worked across digital, traditional, and activation landscapes, working with major brands such as BlackBerry, AT&T, and Johnson & Johnson. A University of Michigan graduate with degrees in English and musical performance, Susanna is also an avid indoor cycling enthusiast who relishes the mental and physical benefits of riding a bike in the dark.

Advertising is an industry where you never stop learning. Trends change, new technology emerges, language evolves (did you have a brat summer?), and it's our job to continue to stay educated to ensure the things we make resonate in order to drive results. 

Advertising is also an industry where lessons are often learned the hard way. I once spent an entire three hour flight manually inputting data to traffic thousands of banner ads. Guess who learned how to use Excel more proficiently after that? 

But one of the biggest lessons 20+ years later comes from our Translation CEO and founder, Steve Stoute and serves as one of our core values today: “We run toward darkness.” This statement is so simple yet one of the most effective principles to being a great account leader. This means having a great plan A and an even better plan B. This means being so organised you can pivot (and there is a lot of pivoting in advertising) and not miss a step. This means saying yes and immediately tapping your network to chase any answer you don’t have. 

So, let me set the scene.

I’m about 10 years into my career and have had a few opportunities to work with celebrity talent - all within the comfort of a big holding company-backed agency with plenty of resources to manage talent. We’re fresh off the success of the 'Born to Assist' campaign for State Farm, the campaign that set the bar on how to create meaningful storytelling through the context of a sports sponsorship.

On the heels of this success, it was time to raise the stakes and go from not just one NBA All-Star featured in the campaign but expand our world to create a whole universe of talent, tapping some of the biggest names past and present in the game. 

With a narrow window to finalise talent instead of relying on a third party, I started asking around for talent contacts internally and through the talent relationships we had made to date. Fast forward to negotiating and contracting all the talent myself, saving both time and ultimately money for the client.

Beyond getting it done, I learned invaluable lessons in talent contracting and management and formed strong relationships that became invaluable, especially when you have to ask for those additional 30 minutes to get that “one last shot”. 

When you run toward darkness you make things happen and exude an aura of confidence to everyone you interact with along the way. And, of course, the ultimate bonus - you might add a new tool to your toolbox in the process.