Brooke Tovar

Dive in deep to get to know the brand as quickly as possible. Don't forget to ask questions about who they are, who they view as competitors, who is their consumer and what is unique to them. A strong creative is also a big part of the strategy team.

Think in ideas and then translate those to channels and strategies. A strong idea should be able to work across the ecosystem.

As a team lead I try to give my creative teams as much knowledge about the brand and assignment as possible. It's easy to be over-communicated to so I spend time breaking down the priorities and then giving the smaller details. Creatives tend to have their heads in a lot of different assignments at once. The best can pause and put their full attention to the meeting and client in front of them.

I need to spend time understanding the brand and consumer. Once I have that info I look into their competitive set to determine if there is any white space. I look at creative as a visual expression of the strategy and ask myself these questions: Is it on brand? Does it make me think? Do I want to see more? Is it interesting? Are there any red flags? As anyone in the same or adjacent industry done something similar? Once aligned internally I prepare the best way to sell the work and defend it to the end.

I've worked in the agency space for almost 20 years. I love the fast pace, the access to trends reporting, the desire for innovation and thrive on having a strong team. My goal is always to serve the client and the brand. At the end of each assignment I hope they look to me and my team and feel we helped them move the needle. If I can help get a client promoted through strong, smart work, that's a huge win. If I can help get a team member get promoted that's an even bigger win. While the agency world can be cut throat I work hard to look at everyone as humans first and spend my time building T shaped teams that enjoy collaboration.

My family always comes first as my husband and I have two tween daughters. They are a light every day and help to keep us grounded in what is important. We're fortunate that we have a strong support system of grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends and neighbors. We also have a dog who keeps us laughing and acvite.

The assignment and strategy should help distinguish how commercial/mainstream the work needs to be. If we have a thorough understanding of the brand, competitive and audience we should have the ability to push harder and be more unique. Our goal needs to be more than just stopping te scroll. We need the work to speak to the consumer and leave them wanting more. Our job is always to push our audiences through the funnel. Knowing when to excite them vs when to push them to fill out a form is key.

I often look at the potential ROI of what we're producing and have transparent conversations with the client. Of course, we all want to produce award winning work all of the time, but sometimes good enough is enough. It's important to keep our eye on the north star and ask if this work is delivering on that.

At this point we need to know more about our audience than where they fit in a demographic or segment group. Knowing what community are they in and what drives them will help us speak to them in the way they want to hear from us. By understanding their community we understand their belief system, what drives them, how they speak, etc.

I take inspiration from many sources, my kids, music, local artists, aspiring chefs etc. We all love a good superbowl spot, but that's not what gets me excited anymore. I'm driven by smart work that makes me stop and question what I previously believed.

I'm a founder and lead of TEDxWrigleyville. We have produced 80 talks to date, several of which became TED talks, elevating voices and ideas and changing the world. Our productions have won 6 Telly awards. I'm passionate about finding purpose and meaning in the world and doing my part to make this world a better place.