AdNews Emerging Leaders Grand Prix winner Charlotte Berry has tips for writing an award-winning submission, after judges praised her entry as a standout.
The Howatson+Co copywriter won the top honour at a ceremony in Victoria for her outstanding work in advertising.
Berry, who was almost speechless when she accepted the award, said there's an art to writing entries.
“You don't have to be a copywriter to write a great entry; you just have to work on how you actually tell your story,” she said.
“Instead of putting pressure on to work out what the story is, just sit with a piece of paper, or on your laptop, and write a list of all the things that you have done in the year or within that world.
“If it's a leadership [award] and it doesn't have a time limit on it, write down all the things you think are relevant, and then kind of go beyond that.
“Sometimes people think, ‘I need to only talk about leadership in advertising’, for example, but there might be other areas outside your 9 to 5 that show leadership skills in a different way and that's something that's going to set you apart.”
Berry said one of her first bosses and biggest inspirations, Chris Colter, told her every entry needs a theme.
Now she is sharing the same advice with other emerging leaders and creatives.
“Write your list of dot points and then look at it and see if any themes start to appear,” Berry said.
“Once you have your theme, start crafting your narrative and make sure you use words within that theme and keep using the language.
“By the time the judges get to the end of the entry they remember, ‘Oh, this is Charlotte, she stands for transformation’.”
At 21, Berry became the youngest Cannes Young Lions winner in history.
Her advertising career began in a graduate role at UM, where she became a senior strategist within three years and worked across Coca-Cola, Lion, Amex and Nestle while winning pitches for the federal government and Tourism Australia.
Berry left media to become a CHEP creative for non-traditional ideas and chase her dream of becoming a copywriter.
“I studied at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, and it's a very practical course where you actually work on live briefs with agencies and clients,” she said.
“We worked with Ogilvy, OMD and M2M and I got a scholarship to OMD, so I kind of started in media before I actually got a job.
“I worked in media for five years, but in a very creative role, then I did AWARD School and it just made me realise that all I wanted to be was the person coming up with the actual heart of the ideas.
“I always wanted to be creative, I just stayed in media because I was surrounded by some of the most incredible thinkers and I was doing really creative work.”
As senior creative, Berry has written an ARIA-winning song, changed how female pro-surfers are discovered, launched a distillery on an island and opened an Australian Museum exhibition.
She is also a founding member of Fck-the-Cupcakes, she created “Be-the-Change” to engage men in gender equality and is proactive in mentoring the next generation of creatives.
But she said she wouldn't be where she is today without the “most amazing mentors”.
“You just become very close to the mind that you work with so I feel very grateful that the minds that chose to nurture my career are so intelligent and empathetic,” she said.
“That's really influenced the way that I try to lead in my life as well.”
Berry used to feel embarrassed about working in advertising, thinking it was eroding her family's legacy in conservation, but now she uses her role for good.
“Both my grandparents were scientists, my mum was a conservationist and my dad was a small business owner so I feel like I'm the fusion of them all,” she said.
“I'm so inspired by them, and I know that it's very privileged to be able to say that your own family inspires you but I grew up genuinely believing that I could do anything.”
She hopes to bridge the gap between scientists who have the answers and the Australian public who can drive meaningful change.
“I think working with scientists has made me realise that communications and communicators are the missing part in the entire climate change crisis,” she said.
“So my purpose is to use the brilliant minds in our industry to help re-shape the climate conversation, to engage people who are scared and actually drive behavior change.
“I’m loving being surrounded by such incredible people in my new role at Howatson+Co… so I think it's great to open your own agency, but there's so much learning for me to do that that's not in the immediate future.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.