Q&A: ENGINE Strategy Head Lindsey Allison Talks Shop, Brands Need for Insights, Innovation During Pandemic
By thelaegotist / /
Lindsey Allison is Head of Strategy for ENGINE, a global agency that helps brands connect with consumers by providing insights, content, distribution and technology services. Allison partners with creative and account teams across all agency disciplines to generate insights and develop strategies for clients including Disney, Google, Red Bull, Nike, HBO, Vans, and Liberty Mutual. Prior to ENGINE, she was Deutsch’s EVP, Head of Strategy, and spearheaded efforts for Taco Bell, Hulu, Zillow, and Sprint. Allison also spent a decade at CP+B, where she led strategy for numerous high-profile brands across nearly every major sector, including Volkswagen, truth, Old Navy and Vitamin Water.
Driven by the belief that the modern brand’s success is tightly linked to culture and commerce, Allison found a home at the like-minded ENGINE one year ago. Flash forward to 2020’s COVID-19 challenges, and clients are expecting agencies to do more with less, a macro trend that is affecting everything from creative to media to gathering and analyzing data. She believes she is in the right place at the right time.
Why the move? What drew you to Engine?
A year in, and I’ve never been so confident that I made the right move. The COVID-19 situation we’ve found ourselves in has magnified and amplified the need for agencies to start doing things differently, which is a good thing, because limitation brings innovation. Clients are expecting agencies to do more with less. They are looking for innovative data-informed targeting, nimble media solutions, the business insight capabilities of a consultancy and brilliant creative all under one roof.
That is why I moved to ENGINE—because they were ahead of the curve. And now that we’re seeing other agencies look to reinvent to the new exceptions, ENGINE was purpose built to deliver those solutions from the beginning.
What is the most interesting aspect of your job?
Learning. I really had stopped learning at big traditional shops. Not because they were bad places, but just because they were bigger and therefore more siloed. I never had to learn about things like building qualified audiences or nimble media plans before. It was okay to be a brand strategist and stay in my lane. My insights and media partners at ENGINE blow my mind every day.
As head of strategy, are you involved in strategy or more in leading/managing a team of strategists? What makes a great strategist, in your opinion? It seems like you would need to be able to shift from looking at things from a microscopic view to a bigger-picture one easily.
My responsibilities have a huge range. At the top, I do things like defining the trajectory of the agency and making sure that our strategic process is leading to breakthrough work. By the way, I haven’t mentioned my creative team, yet. They’re the best of the best, so it makes the breakthrough part typically easy. And at the bottom, I’m back in the weeds doing most of the day-to-day work myself. Which has again been an opportunity to relearn the basics. Basically, I find myself being more well-rounded at this point in my career than ever.
Why should brands listen to strategists? Any big success stories?
I don’t think it’s about brands listening to strategists. I think it’s about people listening to other people. By people, I mean our team, because strategy is a team effort across all aspects of an agency. And listening to our clients, because it’s critically important to hear them, as well. That give and take—an amazing team with amazing clients—is where the magic happens. A great success story is HBO Max—and to give my team credit, that was before my time. They did the “Recommended by Humans” work that was so impactful, the strategy was woven into the HBO Max platform itself. Those things don’t happen often. This speaks to the power of smart strategy.
How has the strategist’s role changed over the last decade?
No more working in silos! We’re all going to have to diversify. I’m not all the way there, yet, but ENGINE has afforded me that opportunity.
Comments