Victoria Buchanan — Executive Creative Director, Tribal Worldwide London
Victoria talks to TheNextGag about the future of the industry, why she is bullish about augmented reality and how women should help other women.
Victoria Buchanan is the Executive Creative Director at Tribal Worldwide London in the UK.
Victoria started her career in digital advertising more than two decades ago. After finishing her Electronics Arts Master at Middlesex, Victoria freelanced in advertising, software development, interactive TV and the interactive art world before she settled with DDB and the pure digital group at Tribal 19 years ago.
A pioneer in pure digital, she is obsessed with interactive behaviour and passionate about creating work that allows people to experience brands in a more immersive way.
Victoria is one of the few female Executive Creative Directors in the industry, and is passionate about nurturing talent. In 2015 she was a mentor at the 3% Conference and regularly mentors for SheSays. She champions diversity to help develop more female Creative Directors and leaders. Victoria recently won IPA’s Women of Tomorrow Awards aged 42, showing you can be a visionary at any age.
She is a multi-award-winning Creative Director, producing creative digital work for a wide range of clients such as Volkswagen, O2, Guinness, Fitness First, Harvey Nichols, Hasbro, Philips, Oxfam, Guardian, Unilever and Budweiser.
THENEXTGAG: HOW DO YOU SEE DIGITAL ADVERTISING EVOLVE IN THE FUTURE ?
VICTORIA BUCHANAN: I see digital advertising getting smarter and more relevant in the future. It will have greater value to customers as advertising won’t sell to us any more. Instead, brands will have purpose in our lives, and will earn their place on our mobile devices and our social channels.
TNG: WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR BIGGEST COMPETITORS ?
VB: It’s always changing, but right now our biggest competitors are the Accentures of the world, the consultants, the media houses and even the technologists, the Googles.
Big interactive experiences will change. They need to be more social, and involve people as a collective in the real or virtual space.
TNG: DO YOU FEEL THAT THE WORLD IS MOVING AWAY FROM BIG INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCES ?
VB: Pointless ones, yes. But if you can create a great interactive experience, some rich VR, an immersive theatrical event, an in-store experience, a fun interactive customer journey, or just a great, feel-good experience, I’m in. But big interactive experiences will change. They need to be more social, and involve people as a collective in the real or virtual space.
TNG: DO YOU THINK THAT MOBILE APPS SUCH AS TINDER OR SNAPCHAT ARE CHANGING PEOPLE HABITS AND EXPECTATIONS ?
VB: Yes, the speed of engagement on these kinds of apps and their success shows us that people want faster and more direct experiences, and to be in control. We have a small window to engage, and bad experience just doesn’t wash with people. Make a mistake and you’re not given a second chance. We need to be more agile and to be able to respond to these demands.
TNG: MORE AND MORE DIGITAL SHOPS THAT USED TO DO ONLY PRODUCTION ARE NOW MOVING UP THE CHAIN AND WORKING DIRECTLY WITH CLIENTS. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR TRIBAL WORLDWIDE ?
VB: It means more competition and price wars. But you have to have a strategy and a creative department in order to come up with ideas and crack the business problems. The thinking part is deep, and spreads across many disciplines, so you need the right kinds of experts in your agency to do that.
TNG: IS THERE A CAMPAIGN OR PRODUCT THAT YOU SAW LAST YEAR THAT YOU REALLY ENJOYED ?
VB: My family really enjoyed Pokémon Go. I got a peek into the future, where AR will connect the real world with virtual content, and my children loved it. I started finding Pokémon in coffee shops, and it got us out as a family. But it was over as quickly as it arrived. This shows why intense live entertainment has to be good. It will get exciting when useful content, information, data and prices appear in the AR world.
TNG: WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD AMONG ALL EMPLOYEES IN AD AGENCIES ?
VB: Raise the diversity game. It’s not hard; simply brief your talent and Head of Diversity to look for diversity, check salaries, and make sure that everyone has an equal chance.
TNG: CAN YOU TALK TO US ABOUT YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH SHESAYS ?
VB: I’m a SheSays Who’s Your Momma mentor, and get involved with every event I can. I went to the first SheSays event 11 years ago when I was pregnant, and I never thought it would be such an important support system for women in our industry. I am really chuffed at how successful they have been.
TNG: THERE ARE MANY AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS FOR THE ONLINE SPACE (WEBBY, FWA, CANNES LIONS …). WHAT ARE THE PRIZES THAT YOU FEEL ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ?
VB: The awards are lovely to win, and it’s great to be recognised by our peers, but the most important prize is engagement. More than anything, we want to make successful products and great user journey stories that show our work has been good, and that we have changed people’s behaviour or sales for a brand. Data gives us all of this feedback.
TNG: YOU’VE BEEN IN THE SAME AGENCY FOR MORE THAN 16 YEARS. DO YOU ENCOURAGE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TO FOLLOW YOUR ROAD IN THEIR WORK LIFE ?
VB: I have been in my job for so long by accident. I didn’t plan any of it. I have been through mergers and buyouts and I have worked for 4 different agencies in this job. There is no right road I would advise young professionals to travel down, you have to find your own. Long term engagement gives you loyalty and familiarity, but I think moving around can give you a bigger picture and greater understanding of processes and how the industry works. I do think we will be more fluid in the future, and flexible working roles will become more important.
Victoria Buchanan
Executive Creative Director
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