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Women in Leadership - Vickie Sayer
Name: Vickie Sayer
Role: Account Director
Company: Krow London
Please tell us a little bit about yourself: I am 31 years old and currently working for an advertising agency in London. I also volunteer at Battersea Dogs Home on Saturdays.
Why did you decide to go into your chosen field? The subjects I studied at school were a varied mix (Media, Spanish, Maths and Art Graphics).
I enjoyed Media in particular, and advertising felt like it would be a branch of this subject that would enable me to use both the strategic and creative parts of my brain.
I also liked the idea of attending photoshoots and creating work that would be seen by lots of people and could become part of popular culture.
What qualifications and work experience did you need to reach your current position? I needed 3x Bs at A-Level to get onto my university course: Advertising with Marketing Communications at Bournemouth University. Then as part of the course I did a placement year in industry. I was client side in the marketing department at Dow Jones, but others on my course got placements agency side at various advertising agencies.
I graduated university with a 2:1 and got a job as a Trainee Account Executive as a shopper marketing agency. I worked my way up to Account Manager during my three years there and then moved to a creative advertising agency as a Senior Account Manager before being promoted to my current role (Account Director) two years later.
What do you enjoy most about your job/role? I enjoy working closely with creative teams to come up with an idea that is really relatable for our target audience and meets the strategic brief in a clever and entertaining way. I also enjoy being part of the production process, creating TV and radio ads.
Are there any obstacles you had to overcome in your career? Moving from shopper marketing (instore point of sale) into above the line advertising (TV, radio, billboards etc.) was difficult as larger advertising agencies wanted candidates with experience in those channels already, which I didn’t have. I moved to the agency to fill a role they had doing point of sale, but made it clear I wanted the opportunity to learn the other channels they also worked on (TV and radio) in the longer term.
Finding a work/life balance when agencies tend to try and get away with minimal resource to work on maximum projects - meaning you can often work longer hours than you are paid for unless you set firm boundaries.
Why do you think it is important to have strong female representation in your industry? In general the creative teams are largely male led, but so many of the products and services we are advertising are bought by women, so it’s important we have creative executions that appeal to them.
What advice would you give to those wanting to take a similar career path? Try and get as much exposure to the different departments as you can (strategy, client services, creative, production) as a placement / internship and see what part you enjoy most. Move around early on and don’t let yourself get pigeonholed.
