Most Creative Marketers: Shadi Halliwell

From O2’s 'Be more dog' to Three’s '#PhonesAreGood' via 'Shoplifters' for Harvey Nichols, Shadi Halliwell has been at the forefront of pushing the creative marketing agenda – and envelope – across sectors and for decades.

"Fun" is the word that best describes her (in fact she’s actually a riot) – and this quality is replicated in the initiatives and campaigns that she has overseen. And how welcome that is in a world currently dominated by craven marketing earnestness.

"Life is tough and now it’s tougher than it’s ever been. People want to engage in fun - they don’t want to engage with misery. I see a lot of brands that are holding hands with Covid and it makes me want to throw fruit at the telly," she points out. Halliwell has also shown that fun and effective are not mutually exclusive.

Ironically it was her father’s attempt to thwart Halliwell’s attempts to have perhaps "too much fun" that saw her working within the marketing industry but to which she has risen to the very top. Her request to have a paid-for gap year were met with the blunt response that she should instead get a job and she ended up in BT’s marketing department. "It was all by error, but I’ve never taken that for granted," she says.

In fact, she’s taken very little for granted – constantly pushing her agencies to new levels (and sometimes on very limited budgets). The “Shoplifters” spot, through Adam&Eve/DDB, for example, picked up a Film Craft Lions in Cannes, despite being created on a shoestring. The ad, which was used to launch Harvey Nichols’ loyalty scheme, used real footage of shoplifters being apprehended in its store, albeit with their faces blocked by those of cartoon characters. Evidence of it reaching the cultural zeitgeist came from its appearance in the film Trainspotting 2.

A further example of her fearlessness – and successful partnership with Adam&Eve/DDB – came with Halliwell’s use of the 100-year-old Bo Gilbert as the first centenarian model to feature in the pages of Vogue, which was also celebrating its 100th anniversary. Gilbert was dressed in Harvey Nichols clothing, and shot for free by fashion photographer Phil Poynter, who founded ‘Dazed’ with Jefferson Hack and Rankin. Again, budgets weren’t huge but the “100-year-old model” garnered world attention. “It’s a statement - beauty and style - and we really wanted to get that message across and Harvey Nichols is the perfect brand to do that. Every woman loves that store,” she says.

Rather bigger budgets were on offer at O2, which then played a much bigger part on her CV. Her decision to adopt the “Priority” positioning, which gave O2 customers exclusive access to tickets for gigs and sporting events, gave the mobile operator a distinctiveness that its rivals lacked – it also propelled the company to become one of the biggest ticket sellers in the UK.

There were laughs (of course) to be had along the way. Rugby-loving Halliwell recalls the shoot for O2’s partnership with England Rugby in 2011 – a tournament that was held in New Zealand and therefore a different time zone.

“Rugby was a lovely sponsorship and one of the best things we did was sending 'pies and pints packs' to fans when the Rugby World Cup was in NZ. Social media was in its infancy. It turned it on its head. We did the Sweet Chariot ad in Camberley. Had a caravan outside with the players, one of whom put a stone of weight on in the week of shooting,” she bellows with laughter. The packs contained fresh pies and chilled beers to help fans get behind the team from the comfort of their sofa. They sold out in minutes.

Halliwell clearly knows how to get the best out of her agency partners. Despite dramatically changing the conversation around a brand (most notably in Three’s “#PhonesAreGood campaign, which refuted all the bad press mobiles were getting at the time), she has always done this with the incumbent agency and without holding a review. She inherited VCCP at O2, Adam&Eve/DDB at Harvey Nichols and Wieden & Kennedy at Three.

"I’m not someone who just goes into a business and pitches the account. I really want agencies to be part of the team. We have to work together - I’ve always found that I get the best by getting them to share the pain. We get them to work in the offices. You’ve got to experience the brand together - it’s a lot less formal," she says.

Given this natural ability to get the best out of creating genuine partnerships with her agencies a career agency-side might have once been on the cards. "I’ve never considered agency-side," she roars with laughter.

Agencies loss is marketing’s gain and having started at Pizza Express – a venerable but troubled brand that needs a coherent marketing message she has set herself yet another challenge. Halliwell is unfazed, however.

"Marketing fires me up - I love customers and human behaviour. We’re supposed to shape how and what people decide - our work is about changing opinion. In such a crowded market it’s so easy to just do what everybody else is doing. I want to challenge myself to do what is different." That gap year will have to wait again.

The way I see it:

• Who is your creative hero or favourite piece of creativity?

  I loved Iceland’s Orangutan ad not just because it really raised awareness about palm oil, but also because the Brand acted and removed all Palm oil products from its shelves. It was a statement about who they wanted to be. They recently offered all their freezer lorries to transport Pfizer vaccines. I just admire who they are.

• What has been your boldest creative play?

  I think it was “Be More Dog”, but I also loved "Everyone Loves a Freebie" at Harvey Nichols because we created something really special to launch our loyalty programme on very little money. Budget should never be the constraint. You don't need huge budgets to create great campaigns, you need brilliant customer insight.

• What’s been feeding your imagination lately?

  I now make all my own bird food for the garden. I most enjoyed restoring a Victorian jewellery box during lockdown. Taking its past and lovingly putting it back together again, but I created a modern story through embroidered lining that reflected all the things I love. I really want to make more of them.

• What excites you about the future?

  Never has there been a better time to rip up the rule book and experiment or change. No business, large or small, will ever be the same as it was before lockdown and many will be forever judged on how they acted during this time. Businesses are having to innovate and reinvent how and what they do. This could change their path for the better, some are finding whole new audiences, and for many it will have lasting effects. It is very exciting!