Viv Gibson-Thomas is a brand strategy consultant who has spent her career exploring the intersection of creativity and business. Viv spent the first half of her career as a creative at advertising agencies in Australia and New York, working at large multinationals and independent shops. With both copywriting and strategic experience, Viv has created countless strategies for brands from every sector of society and picked up multiple industry awards along the way.

 

One of the main questions Viv has wanted to answer for herself is how do you bring together left-brain and right-brain thinking, how do you utilise both analytical and creative thinking? We talk about how this played out for Viv initially in her choices of subject at school and then in the world of Advertising Agencies.

 

Then talking more specifically about brand and brand strategy, what does it mean and how does she approach it? We talk about what ‘good strategy’ looks like, some examples of it, what happens when it goes off the rails and what might be some of the reasons for that.  We also talk through the types of problems that brand strategy can be used to solve for businesses and the benefits of it.

 

Finally, Viv gives her advice for someone starting their career in the same space.