Creativebrief: As Chief Strategy Officer of MSLGROUP what is your primary focus?

Kelly Walsh: I work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to advise on the strategic direction of MSLGROUP in the UK. This includes how we are shaping and defining our offer, structure and approach following the Nov 2013 agency co-location and integration; creating an environment where we are able to successfully anticipate and respond to a rapidly and continuously evolving communications landscape.

Creativebrief: Please share a para on your career to date – specifically talking us through the high points.

Kelly Walsh: I joined MSLGROUP 13 years ago when it was still MSL London to lead the EMEA P&G business; to head up the consumer practice and over a five year period to set up the Agency’s insight, creative and digital service offers. In Jan 2010 I took over as CEO leading a team of exceptionally talented senior consultants working with some of the world’s biggest and most exciting organisations. With the co-location and integration of SAS and MSL London in Nov 2013, a new board was formed and I moved into the role of CSO for the expanded UK offer. I’ve also done my time client-side as EMEA Comms Director for GAP, but my heart is agency side.

Creativebrief: What’s unique about your agency / business? Why did you join MSLGROUP?

Kelly Walsh: I originally joined to work with P&G; I stayed because we are a business that is not afraid of change. The MSLGROUP organisation that has emerged from the 2013 integration is uniquely resource rich.  The coming together of SAS, a hugely successful design and brand based agency with MSL London, a long established public relations consultancy allowed us to put sizable creative, content, tech, digital and insight capabilities at the centre of our business and instantly accessible to client teams.

Creativebrief: Who are the people new to you (either within your business or externally) who have particularly impressed you in the last twelve months?​​​

Kelly Walsh: We have something called The Big Thinking Breakfast – a regular event we host that gives our clients and staff access to some of the UK’s most influential thinkers. Alastair Campbell was the most recent guest speaker and I found his views on leadership fascinating. And it wasn’t just what he said – he is a great storyteller.

From a broader perspective I am endlessly inspired by the new wave of strong, intelligent women that act as role models to a generation of young (and not so young) women trying to find their way in a challenging world. From Laura Bates to Malala Yousafzai to Lena Dunham and Sheryl Sandberg – I may not agree with everything they say, but when they speak I listen.

Creativebrief: What has been your agency’s best work in the last year?​​​​​

Kelly Walsh: Without a doubt it is the Always #LikeAGirl campaign that has won numerous awards in EMEA and the US including the Eurobest Grand Prix and PR Week Global Best Campaign 2014, but winning the Cannes Lions PR Grand Prix this year was a true highlight.

I’m also incredibly proud of the work the team has done with SABMiller this year, transforming its corporate website into a vehicle for storytelling that is genuinely engaging.  In the words of the FT Bowen Craggs Index 2014 (referencing the new website) “A newcomer to the Index with a slick new site that puts stories at the centre. Unlike so many sites, where ‘stories’ is no more than a label, this is a really engaging magazine that concentrates on its specialist subject. It could well become a valued destination for anyone interested in the brewing industry.”

Creativebrief: Industry wide, what work has excited you most this year?

Kelly Walsh: Volvo Epic Split – in fact the whole Volvo Truck campaign is a piece of beautifully executed B2B and B2C storytelling. I say this with mixed emotion as it was delivered by ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors – but it could have easily been PR…

Creativebrief: Who or what inspires you?​​​

Kelly Walsh: My mother – I know, I know.  She has had a chronic progressive form of MS for years and refuses to let it defeat her. She is the bravest, most resilient, most determined person I know. She is a force.

Creativebrief: How do you stay in-touch with the industry’s best work and culturally relevant news?

Kelly Walsh: I jump at the chance of judging industry awards, from the Eurobest through to the PRCA, Sabres and PR Week awards. It’s a great way to see the best in our business. I also track industry publications constantly skimming trade, sector and more main stream media. It also doesn’t hurt that most of my close friends are in the business.

Creativebrief: What do you think are going to be the main challenges for agencies in the next two years?

Kelly Walsh: We live in a world undergoing unprecedented change. Disruptive technology is going to alter the way we live and work beyond anything we can imagine. Our only constant will be rapid change. Success in that environment requires a totally different approach, structure and business model.

Creativebrief: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next five years?

Kelly Walsh: I wouldn’t attempt to predict what things will look like in five years’ time, apart from the fact it will be highly personal, predictive, intuitive, connected and ubiquitous.

Creativebrief: What’s your attitude to the ‘traditional’ pitch? Do you think there is a better/more modern way?

Kelly Walsh: Having worked on both sides of the fence I think we ask too much of agencies in a pitch. Less is more –a tightly qualified shortlist; clear, more focused ask; proportionate budgets. I’d also like to see client companies approaching pitches in a less siloed way – there is a growing imperative for all corporate/brand/customer/employee communications to be closely aligned and ideally centralised within a business. Briefs need to start reflecting this.

Creativebrief: What’s the next big thing for MSLGROUP?

Kelly Walsh: On July 9th our entire workforce will join forces with sister agency SalterBaxter to support a number of start-up social enterprises with their communications and business strategies. During this ‘Innovation Day’ we will answer a marketing or communications challenge for each of the start-ups, giving them access to specialist expertise helping to accelerate the good they can do for local communities and the wider economy at a critical point in their development.