In this latest edition of the Fast 10 series, Greg ‘Sparrow’ Graham caught up with Thinkerbell’s CEO Margie Reid to get the inside track on the agency’s continued success.
1. Thinkerbell is a hot indie, reflecting on your time with the agency, what’s your proudest moment?
There are so many and trying to put my finger on only one is hard… But I would have to say it was our Fire Festival where we took the whole agency away for two days – it was more of a festival than a corporate conference. The program was co-created by everyone at the agency, with everyone at Thinkerbell invited to host a session/activity/experience. People then created their own journey choosing what to experience across the two days. It was absolutely our ‘Measured Magic’ brand brought to life by our team and for our team.
2. The agency has been incredibly successful with a swag of Awards, how do you continue the momentum?
We are focused on where we are heading and why, so I believe it means that there is momentum in every part and every person in the business. We are delighted with what we have achieved, but that is the past and we are focused on what is next for Thinkerbell. We’re clear on what we stand for – ‘Measured Magic’ – and that then continually comes to life in lots of interesting ways.
Also, there’s a website called ‘bestads’, that tracks creative agencies’ latest work, as judged by other creatives in the industry across the world. We’re number one in the world on this ranking and have been for the last five years. We believe the reason for this is because our ‘Measured Magic’ is prolific. We make a lot of things. The sense that we are always creating things, attracts more energy, and so it goes on.
3. How does your media agency background inform your leadership style?
I think most people would say my background means I bring order to the chaos. Thinkerbell is a very creatively driven business across everything we do – including obviously media. For creativity to flourish you need strong sturdy foundations, and ironically excellent processes and systems. I learned a lot of this from my media agency background – and now get to apply it in a creatively driven environment.
4. You work with wonderful weirdos and an odd bunch of clever curious characters. How do you corral and inspire them? Yes, Adam, I’m thinking of you.
We celebrate each other’s strengths and are mindful of each other’s weaknesses, and being able to identify these enables us to be stronger collectively. We have Actions, not values, as we believe they are too passive. One of the actions is Stay Unicorn – we are who we are and celebrate our differences, but we remain aligned on what we are doing at Thinkerbell and how we are doing it. From there, it’s about letting everyone at the agency be their weird and wonderful selves.
And as for Adam [Ferrier]… If I am order, he is chaos. We are two extremes. We respect that about each other and have plenty of honest conversations so we can keep moving forward.
5. I love your positioning line Measured Magic. How does it work day to day?
‘Measured Magic’ is in every part of our business.
It’s how we bookend our week — we start the week with Measured Mondays and finish with Magic Hour on Friday afternoon.
We have the ‘4 Leaf Clover’ as a strategic methodology and process to help us work through our clients’ business challenges. Our internal operating system is ‘Measured Mapping’.
We also have the Thinkerbellian of the week — the person who has lived the agency’s Actions and is awarded a bell, and every wish/bell ring for the week is the rest of the agency’s command.
We sprinkle the Magic Dust across the agency with all these parts, that make up our own agency brand.
Importantly ‘Measured Magic’ guides the work too — and in this sense, it really means evidence-based creativity — creative solutions with strong marketing sciences evidence and data as to why it’ll be effective.
6. Thinkerbell has an impressive client list including Lion, Bupa, Bega, IAG etc. Any new campaigns that you are excited about?
We are very fortunate to have so many incredible brands and clients we get to work with. I think the interesting thing about the work we have on at any one time, due to the shape of the agency and the capabilities we provide, there is a considerable variety of work produced any one week.
Our skill set is broad as we get involved with our clients across their entire brand experience. So there are always lots of very varied forms of creative output happening at any one time.
As for new work coming — we’ll be sure to let you know about it when the time’s right.
7. You are passionate about diversity and you sit on the board of Support the Girls (and on the advisory Board of Inclusively Made). Are you happy with our industry’s progress?
Equality and inclusion is an area I’m very passionate about and I don’t think we are anywhere we need to be. Of course, there are barriers and reasons in the past we have done things the way we have, so I remain focused on what we can do in the future. If we all make 10 per cent more effort in this space (as a minimum) I believe we could make some good ground. But we need to be willing to be uncomfortable for it to be comfortable for all.
8. Do you have a mentor, coach, or leader who has been influential in your career development?
I feel so fortunate to have a formal coach who has so much wisdom, but also looks at the full self and not just how you show up 9am to 5pm. I also have had many influential people in my career, one of those women being Lyndall Campher, her ability to lead with her sleeves rolled up, getting her hands dirty and having the ability to look at the big picture, whilst not missing the detail, was something I have tried to emulate in my own style.
There are many many more — each of them has left an imprint on me. They may not always be the most senior person in the company or room, but they are the genuine leaders.
9. Can you share with us something that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
I recently lost my mum to cancer. Mum and her doctors weren’t aware she had stage four advanced cancer that had spread to multiple organs, and 23 days later, Mum passed away with me beside her.
I will never forget Mum’s courage in the face of this ugly disease. The team at Thinkerbell gave me all the space in the world to be with Mum and my family at this time. The love and support from them, our clients and the industry was overwhelming.
There are many things I take away from this time in my life – “Tomorrow is not promised to anyone.”
And the importance of proactively looking after your health – mind, body and soul.
10. Does your family know what you actually do?
Not really, however, it’s easier now to tell them about what I do at Thinkerbell, where we have a more tangible creative output – including everything from advertisements, influencer and social campaigns, PR stunts and everything in between. When you work in a media agency, it’s a hard concept to try and explain to someone who isn’t in the industry…
