Key Insights

Audiences want to be entertained, inspired or educated. If you’re not doing at least one of those well, you’ll be easily forgotten.

The success of a branded content studio is as much about profitability as it is about overall revenue. In my experience, many companies are not great at judging how profitable their campaigns really are - and it’s easy to spend time and money on things that don’t significantly impact their overall success. Learning how to be intentional and discerning about your team’s time and production budgets is key.

To make great branded content, you have to know who you’re talking to and meet them where they are. Once you find them, you need to do four things: Capture their attention, make them understand your message, make them care about your message and convince them to do something about it. That last part is key. Do you want them to buy something? Change their opinion? Sign up for a newsletter? Tell their friends about you? Passively watching or reading is not enough. Making great branded content is one part data, one part vibes. I’m constantly encouraging my team to make data-powered creative decisions. We analyse completion rates, engagement rates and impact studies. But you can’t forget the importance of gut instinct and personal taste. Years of experience in this industry make us qualified to know instinctively what good looks like - and sometimes that’s more accurate than the data.

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Signature Work Achievements

• Led the creative for many award-winning partnerships at the Telegraph - including Voltarol, Philips and Braun

• Launched the Hearst UK Content Studio in 2016 and built the team up to more than 30 creatives

• Worked with global brands including Prada, BMW, Gucci and Paypal, and created Hearst UK’s first interactive video for Very

• Won Best Content Studio at the British Media Awards in 2019

• Launched the first global ELLE TikTok campaign with Nike in 2021

• Launched the Freethink Creative Studio in 2023, which recently re-branded to Big Think Creative

• Oversaw the creative for the award-winning partnership between Big Think and Unlikely Collaborators. We’ve created 56 premium episodes with notable celebrity guests, including Ice T, Steve-O, Jewel, Jason Derulo and Kel Mitchell.

• Won Digiday's Best In-House Content Studio in 2025

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Career Lessons

Don’t be afraid to ask for help! This is a biggie. So many people have helped me along my career journey. I’ve sent cold emails to people on Linkedin, begged acquaintances for introductions and reached out to alumni from my university to ask them to meet for a coffee chat or offer some advice. The worst they can do is say no. And you’ll be surprised how many say yes.

Start with bad ideas first. In a creative brainstorm, it’s easy to default to ideas that are safe and comfortable. And sometimes it can be intimidating to throw out an idea that feels a little wacky. But the seemingly bad, silly or weird ideas often lead to creative gold.

Embrace failures. I’ve managed large creative teams for nearly 10 years now, and I always try to instill a “test and learn” culture. I want my teams to innovate and not be afraid to try new things - but that inevitably comes with failure. And that’s okay! It means we’re learning and evolving.

Be your own loudest cheerleader. This is tough for many people to do - especially women. But self-promotion is crucial. You can be doing excellent work in your role, but if your boss or the rest of your company don’t know about it, it can get lost in the shuffle.

Have fun with it. I try to remember this when things get a bit tense at work. At the end of the day, we’re getting paid to make content and be creative every day. And that’s pretty cool.