The Scoop with Emma Overeem
Emma Overeem is a distinguished creative working in the UK, and was nominated earlier this year for ‘Creative director of the year’ at the Transform Awards Europe. She discusses with Transform life at Living Group, her creative thought process and the projects that helped advance her career.
Transform: What is distinctive about Living Group compared to other design agencies you’ve worked at?
Emma: Living’s proposition is all about Creating Difference, which is achieved through great teamwork, and great clients, who understand the power of brand and digital transformation.
Having been with Living for roughly 14 years, I’ve seen the agency adapt, change and grow. With ambitious founders at the helm who value creativity and building strong client relationships, it’s a challenging and rewarding place to work. Even though we specialise in the financial, professional services and tech sectors, no two projects are the same. And I’ve always relished the opportunity to create distinctive work that’s bold, striking and meaningful in sectors often perceived as rather corporate! Businesses are now embracing a business-to-human world.
The global aspect of Living is a differentiator too. Personally, I love being able to work on global projects/clients and interact with our global teams as it offers a broader cultural and diverse perspective, which keeps creativity fresh and engaging.
Transform: Tell me about the process that you, as a creative director, have adopted to tackle projects. Is there a degree of flexibility, or do you always take the same route to craft enticing brands?
Emma: Great briefs equal great work! Before we even embark on anything creative, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to craft the perfect brief. Establishing the primary and secondary messages, as well as objectives, and understanding target audiences and budgets, are the foundation of any project. No matter what we work on, there’s always a brief (memo or long!). These briefs can be created based on existing client relationships / projects or new, so the degree of detail can differ depending on the scope of the project.
As no two projects are the same, nor are our clients. Once the brief has been signed off, we work with clients in different ways. Some clients love a ‘tissue session’, where we’ll go in armed with creative moodboards to figure out their creative appetite. We also love sharing ’thoughtstarters’… not necessarily finished concepts, but directions of the ‘big idea’. Some clients really don’t like the ‘big reveal’ and enjoy being part of the process! Typically, the first few days are all about exploring ideas. Nothing is off the table, however the brief is that guiding piece of paper that keeps us on track. We then filter options, build the strategies, and create the magic! We keep the creative process flexible but focussed!
Transform: Often creatives can point to specific projects that really helped advance their career. Are there any from your time at Living Group that spring to mind?
Emma: If there are clients reading this, I love you all equally(!), but naturally there are some projects that helped me grow into my role. Going back a few years now, the rebrand for DWF was a brilliant moment in time. ‘We don’t want to look like a law firm’ was the start of a solution that transformed their brand. Likewise, the Hausfeld rebrand was transformative for a variety of reasons, not only the ‘thoughtfully-rebellious’ creative concept, but its timing – it all happened throughout the pandemic. Where in-person connectivity was significantly impacted, the reliance on virtual presenting and communication was a learning curve, explaining concepts and reading people without the usual human in-person cues. This experience helped build my confidence and resilience.
More recently the brand refresh for the law firm RPC was great from a people perspective. It’s not only about the creative output, but the interactions along the way, connecting with clients, but also in-house creative teams and listening to their input and understanding their pain-points!
The ‘Gen You’ EVP campaign for Forvis Mazars was a great experience too, not only upskilling our video creation, but we also got to know young professionals from different countries starting out on their career path. Our global footprint has opened many opportunities to advance and grow, working on campaigns for Alliance Bernstein and State Street Global Advisors is exciting and allows me to flex from branding to advertising, which I love.
The next chapter will be another pivotal moment, with projects that we can’t wait to share and projects that we can’t wait to start!
Transform: Research by Creative Equals indicates 12% of UK creative directors are female (the same as in 2017). Why do you think this is? And do you believe this to be a problem for the industry?
Emma: Not only is the stat depressing, but the fact also that it remains the same as it was in 2017 is even more so. Women account for around 60% of students enrolled in university art and design courses and in a sector where people can easily work from home or part time, this points to something darker going on: a lack of flexibility and a lack of schemes to encourage female creatives to develop their careers.
The scrutiny of the sector is also simply not there, and the membership bodies and industry publications need to do far more to highlight the gap. The bigger network agencies seem oblivious to the issue, and as they are listed, should be held accountable and lead the charge to better equality across the sector. It’s 2024 folks!
This article was taken from Transform magazine Q4, 2024. You can subscribe to the print edition here.
