I arrived in Auckland in 1995 having visited once for two days, and knowing almost nothing about NZ. I had watched ‘Once Were Warriors’ and been given a glossy coffee table book containing photographs of beautiful landscapes. I did know a little about the All Blacks as I was a rugby fan. I had a lot to learn.
Although I initially joined S&S in Auckland, it quickly became apparent that I was much more in tune with the team in Wellington. When I moved down, I became part of Kim’s team. As a planner and a strategist, if you are lucky enough to work with really talented creative people, your job is fairly easy. You simply have to create fertile ground for ideas that will work for the client and you have to help sell strategy and the ideas.
This means that firstly you have to be able to build relationships of trust with creatives and with clients.
You have to be able to simplify and identify what’s important and where opportunity might lie.
You have to be open and prepared to play with ideas that might come from left field.
And you have to be able to see and explain how a strategy or an idea might work and help shape it to do so.
I have been able to hone all these skills in my time working with Kim plus learning so much about what it means to be a kiwi and call this place home.
