What The Flack: Why New Always Excites Karen James
Karen started her career as an account handler at McCann-Erickson. Mixing it up with stints in brand management she has spent the last decade as CMO within creative businesses including film production and as a directors agent. The combination of agency and client experience gives her a 360 degree perspective and a well of wisdom to draw from, all of which is served up with a genuine brand of creative energy.
LBB> Tell us about your current role and what you do?
Karen> I’m CMO at IF. an indie brand communications agency based in Manchester. It’s a role which used to be business development director, but in an independent agency like ours that’s a role that’s kind of defunct. For me, bringing in new business requires PR and marketing flair. Salesmanship on its own is not nearly enough, although you do need to be able to apply yourself at the sharp end, selling something you believe in never feels like selling.
LBB> And how did you get to where you are today?
Karen> How long have you got? Haha. I started off as an account exec at McCanns Manchester a million years ago, almost before mobile phones. I was quite salesy then I used to love working on pitches and trying to bring in new business - it was an adrenaline rush.
From there I enjoyed a couple of years as an account director at Ogilvy Sydney then came back to the UK and spent a few years as a brand manager and a marketing manager which gave me the client perspective and the classic CMO training. Luckily I’ve always been a persuasive writer and orator which puts you at the top of the skills tree for this type of role. Coming back to a full-time role after bringing up three children I landed in film production as a CMO.
It was great fun, very cool and so on, but ultimately too much pitching even for me. So here I am and I’m very happy. There is zero stress at IF. it’s almost like a dream creative agency – everyone loves working here, everyone is collaborative, the clients are nice, the office is nice and the location couldn’t be better. Finally every box is ticked.
LBB> What does your average day look like?
Karen> I get up a 5am make a green juice, go for a seven mile run – haha just kidding. My husband brings me a up of tea and coaxes me out of bed and I’m usually in the office around 9am. My role is part-time so I try to get through everything by lunch time or just after. I find being in every day works best for me as I can keep projects moving. I’ll start with a quick check on social media and interact with anything appropriate.
I check our channels and our plan for the week and see where we are up to with it. That will generally inform my day (let’s say it’s Monday) and I’ll get a view of what shape the week is likely to take from there. There is always a lot of writing whether it is interviews like this, press releases, posts and I help the team with thought pieces relevant to their client base or role.
In fact there is usually a nice flow to the week which incorporates a team meeting on Wednesdays. These are always fun and I get to know what’s coming up in terms of work to share. Thursday and Friday I reserve more for direct messaging and networking. People are always in a better mood towards the weekend.
LBB> For your organisation, what is the key function of PR and comms? Is it about company culture? Attracting clients? Empowering talent? Something else?
Karen> PR and comms for us is about all those things and more. I’d say number one is about keeping our profile high and being clear about our brand – who we are, what we do and why we do it that way. If you are clear about that then everyone gets it. You attract the right kind of clients and talent, the team feel empowered, confident, and valued – particularly if you are sharing their work, new client wins and what have you that they have contributed to.
There’s nothing I like more than sharing a new client win or a successful case history. For example we’ve just achieved over a million views on a brand new TikTok account for an FMCG client and we’re not even a social agency. It’s because we get brand and we translate that narrative in a relevant way, whatever the platform.
LBB> PR has always been about finding the story / finding the angle. What is your process for staying ahead of the content curve and serving up something fresh and engaging?
Karen> I think when you’ve been in the industry for so long, as long as you stay on top of trends the angle will make itself known to you. It’s intuitive. Plus I have a really good working relationship with our CD and head of digital, the three of us can usually find an angle which is fresh, engaging and relevant.
LBB> Historically Advertising folk have a very different relationship with the media, especially the press, than PR folk. Advertising is about buying ad space and being able to dictate how and where something is presented - that’s a degree of control you can barely dream of in PR. Does that tension still exist, and if so how do you navigate that tension?
Karen> I have had issues with that in the past where an editor will put their own spin on your release and you get a b*llocking for it from the MD or the client but at IF. everyone is really understanding if a piece of editorial appears which is not quite what you’d got signed off. Plus you can reshare it on your channels in your own way so that helps.
LBB> And what other common misconception do you advertising people have about comms and PR?
Karen> Maybe there is still a bit of a thing that its ‘free’ and that it’s not a priority. You have to make it a priority if you are going to keep your profile high and you don’t want to be shouting about your agency yourself too much – that’s so naff and cringey. Your ‘news’ needs to be coming from a reliable source if you don’t want to look like a bunch of up yourself types that nobody likes.
LBB> To what extent do you feel 'the work speaks for itself'? To what stage of growth can a business rely on this mantra to gain more clients?
Karen> Oooh I’m not keen on that as a mantra. It’s a bit arrogant – no? You need to wrap the work up in some nuance and intelligent sharing.
LBB> When it comes to getting coverage for a creative campaign in the consumer press, how should creative teams go about working with their agency’s comms and PR experts?
Karen> We don’t tend to PR our work in consumer press – that’s really more the client’s domain and we’d be stepping on their toes a bit. Creatives love to see their work in the trade press and they are usually very supportive in terms of providing insight, a quote and appropriate sharable assets.
LBB> When a business is faced with very bad news, what’s the key to getting through it?
Karen> I’m pleased to say I’ve not had to deal with that. I’d imagine the key (as cheesy as it might sound) is to not take it on alone and to all work together. If you have strong relationships, you can deal with bad stuff together. Plus everything is cyclical (pretty sure I’ve said that before in an interview) and when you’ve been around as long as I have you know that a down is usually followed by an up, you just gotta get through it.
LBB> How does doing comms for the advertising world differ from any other industry you’ve worked in?
Karen> I would say it’s more directly related to sales and pushing the new business narrative. Although increasingly it’s about attracting talent, that never used to be part of the brief but over the past few years it’s an important bi-product of PR and comms.
LBB> What are the most useful tools in the arsenal of a comms professional working in advertising industries right now?
Karen> Obviously you need to have good relationships with appropriate editorial contacts but increasingly you need to be working closely with the digital and social team to plan, create and manage campaigns. I don’t know what I’d do without our digital and social team they are off the scale brilliant. I don’t have to look for stories or beg to keep our channels active. If I go on Instagram we always have a story live or a recent post.
Personally I love LinkedIn and I’m grateful to the team at IF. they are very supportive of this. Engagement and sharing is second nature now whether it’s account teams, creative or social. We have a cohesive presence.
LBB> In your opinion, how has the role of a Comms professional evolved during your career span? Have things changed greatly or do core tasks / principles remain the same?
Karen> I think the core tasks in essence are the same in terms of relevant news sharing but it’s far more sophisticated and nuanced due to all the channels and the socialisation of content wherever it has originally been published. What I have to remind myself of is that it’s ok to repeat, repeat and repeat again. If’ you have a great story you can keep it going for as long as you can keep it going.
LBB> What frustrates you about the way the media and PR have changed over the years?
Karen> It’s still really hard to get anything away in Campaign unless you are in London, a network agency etc. It would be nice if that changed, but I can’t see it right now.
LBB> And what excites you?
Karen> New always excites me. New clients, new work, new trends …. New shoes – seriously I’ve always been excited by fashion and right now there is a lot to go at. I’m particularly buzzing about a stash of clothes I found in my loft from 15 years ago which I’d forgotten about. You guessed it they are all back in – wide trousers, bootleg jeans and a denim suit jacket. Not quite new but getting a new lease of life which in itself is totally on trend.
