Nice to meet you. I’m Lucy, a writer and creative director with twelve years of experience making content that cares about its audience.
I make sure brands always keep their eye on the story.
Some might say I peaked early in my career as the first female author of the FHM ‘bloke test’ but since then I’ve visited possibly every crevice of the content world. I’ve covered sex parties and Brexit rallies. I’ve deployed undercover news reporters and marketed over the knee socks.
There might not be enough justice in this world, but there sure is a lot of content, so I say let’s give it a bit more audience-first discipline. The voice in my head is always asking ‘what’s the story here?’ And, the crucial follow up question - ‘will anyone anyone give a shit?’
Every day I use my editorial muscle, industry contacts, production pragmatism and all kinds of social skills. I’ve helped countless brands tell more authentic stories. If you’re a good egg, I’d be happy to help you.
Nando's: Social and Content
The Body Shop: Brand Comms
Nationwide: Social and Content
Second Home: Brand Comms
BBC Three: Content
Alzheimer's Society Campaign: Football Should Be Unforgettable
TikTok x LFW
Sainsbury's: Content
Radio 4: Content
The Debrief: Digital OOH
BBC News: Content and Editorial
ASOS: Content and Editorial
Please relax and enjoy a complimentary scroll through some of my work.
Alzheimer’s Society: Support the Supporters
Launching our brand platform Football Should Be Unforgettable, Support the Supporters targeted a new audience to highlight the importance of early diagnosis for dementia patients.
The story of the campaign is told through Charlie and Gramps, two fanatical football fans whose love for the game pulls them through the dark days. The short film was shown all over the UK during the UEFA Euros starting a conversation about dementia symptoms amongst football clubs and fans online.
Nando’s
In my role running the Nando’s always on content division we built an agile creative and production team from the ground up to innovate how Nando’s show up in culture. From the launch of Saka’s very first Nando’s sauce to the ‘Mango and Lime’ bike, to the Nando’s x Fanta Halloween launch, we used cultural insights and social listening as our North Star. The result? Agile digital-first content, PR and restaurant experiences that started conversations in Gen Z’s language.
The Body Shop
Integrated into The Body Shop’s business as a storytelling plant, my role began as a strategic one: to develop and holistic and more narrative, audience focused approach to brand comms. Working laterally I across the business I shaped their ‘Be Seen Be Heard’ campaign to lower the voting age and built a in storytelling rich content slate across all of their UK and Global verticals and campaigns and product launches starting conversations about the Body Shop’s history and values amongst young ethically engaged women.
My roles: Writing, corporate comms, ghostwriting, original journalism, editorial strategy, TOV, creative direction, creative strategy, creative development, digital content: social, video and text.
Campaign: 100% Vegan
Creative on The Body Shop’s vegan campaign. This included writing brand positioning on vegan issues and creating additional explainer assets for consumers.
Always On Storytelling Content
A range of social executions and longform editorial aimed at young, ethically engaged women to support key brand storytelling moments that included original journalism and reporting.
Campaign: The UN x The Body Shop
Working alongside activism partner at the UN to produce the Global Youth Survey as part of The Body Shop’s ‘Be Seen Be Heard’ campaign to amplify youth voices in public life.
BBC Three
The Brief:
To help BBC Three transition online setting the editorial and social strategy and tone of voice for the brand in its new digital home.
This built out from its existing content pillars ‘make me think’ and ‘make me laugh’ to establish more insightful commissioning themes from focus group data. For example the anxieties of the internet age, growing up, sex, crime, comedy, housing, social justice and social mobility.
Rest In Pixels: BBC Three
What did I do?
Drawing on my experience as journalist and content creator to commission illustrators, designers, photographers and writers to bring stories of concern for Gen Z to life. Commissioning and editing relevant and shareable feature and social-first ideas for the site and bringing hundreds of thousands of BBC homepage users to BBC Three content, boosting the BBC’s declining young audience figures by over 100,000 in a year.
My roles: Creative Director. Including copy editing, original journalism, editorial strategy, creative direction, commissioning strategy, creative development, format development, social first content strategy.
Is the internet slowly destroying our bodies?
I tried to fix my mental health on the internet
This Donald Trump fan fiction is giving us strange feels
Homeless: the hidden faces of the housing crisis
An ordinary day in the Calais jungle
How Ladies Day became all about laughing at working class women
Second Home
The Brief:
A creative brand comms execution for a global workspace brand focused on communicating their environmental and ethical brand values across LA, London and Lisbon.
Blood Sap: A Manifesto
Videography: Maihara Marjorie; Sound: Thiago Duar; Narration: Watatakalu Yawalapiti
What did I do?
Second Home creates spaces that mimic nature. But it has a duty to protect it too.
A culture-first brand comms and storytelling execution that artistically explores the notion of ‘home’ in relation to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest with a powerful film.
At an exclusive global screening and event we rallied the community to protect habitats and prevent biodiversity loss with a series of content and experiential activations across three sites. The film was released in tribute to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira who were murdered for protecting the Amazon.
My roles: Copywriting. creative development, creative direction, commissioning and editorial strategy, digital storytelling, experiential.
Beyond Today Podcast, BBC Radio 4
The Brief:
To execute a strategy for a daily news podcast for Radio 4 targeted at millennials. take the best of BBC journalism and the Today Programme brand but present it in a way that would appeal to new listeners.
‘I began impatiently… I ended impressed. The choice of experts is thoughtful, the balance of opinion careful. It didn’t change my mind, it broadened it.’
Gillian Reynolds, The Sunday Times
Winner: Bronze British Podcast Award, 2019
Winner: Bronze British Podcast Award, 2020
Michael Lewis: What happened when Trump removed the experts?
Grace Millane: why is ‘rough sex’ a defence?
Are billionaires a bad thing?
Why are people 'cured' by fake science?
Who does the Amazon belong to?
How dangerous are far right hipsters?
What did I do?
Alongside the editor I made a plan to create a reactive 20 minute 'narrative news' podcast I devised a commissioning criteria around three core pillars: 'access,' 'connection,' and 'surprise.' My approach to the editorial was hands on with the execution of these ideas, adopting an agile ‘adapt and refine’ policy into the workflow. This involved rewriting scripts, re-editing audio and fine tuning titles and angles every day whilst folding audience data into the process.
After less than a year, Beyond Today became the third most listened to podcast for U35s on the BBC. Over 150 episodes later we became on of the most sophisticated programmes for serving young audiences.
My roles: Copywriting. creative development, creative direction, commissioning and editorial strategy, social storytelling, journalism, audio editing.
Credit: Filipa Corvachio
ASOS Likes
The Brief:
To build a branded social ecosystem that brings ASOS into the competitive digital publishing space, extending its social media following and brand identity into a cohesive editorial offering for the consumer.
What did I do?
As Associate Content Editor of Asos Likes I shaped the editorial for this mobile first offering as well as commissioning writers, illustrators and designers from contacts book to give the brand a cohesive contemporary digital feel.This meant giving ASOS a unique tone of voice, warmth and journalistic integrity.
My roles: Writing, copy editing, original journalism, editorial strategy, creative direction, commissioning and social strategy, creative development, format development, digital content: social, video and text.
Social First Creative
Hand made social content for the ASOS channels to drive engagement and start on-platform conversations.
Original Storytelling
Longform articles created for the site with balanced journalism reflecting the interests and aspirations of the audience beyond of the world of fashion.
Social Campaigns
Giving ASOS a clear point of view and agenda-setting stance on trending topics such as gender equality, body positivity, period poverty and diversity in fashion.
Katie Bones
BBC Stories, BBC News
The Brief:
To diversify the BBC News’ digital portfolio and embrace new forms of digital storytelling bringing the next generation of audiences to the BBC.What did I do?
A digital-first series of mid form docs optimised for Youtube. I proactively sought ideas from film-makers and documentary producers caught in the bottle neck of TV and documentary commissioning process.
Many of the films I commissioned and exec-produced for this project were (often legally and editorially complex) human stories based around youth-centric talking points that (in 2016) had not been explored with nuance by the BBC. For example: veganism, the environment, drug policy, mental health, LGBTQ+ and issues of identity, class and race.
The films were designed to bring new audiences to the BBC’s social platform and beyond… and they did alright, garnering in excess of seven million views during my tenure.
My roles: Journalism, content, social strategy, editorial. commissioning, pitching, format development, creative development, creative direction, editorial strategy.
BBC Bitesize Podcast, BBC Sounds
The Brief:
A creative treatment for parents homeschooling their children during lockdown. The podcast was an companion podcast to the BBC Bitesize public service education content with the specific target of reaching diverse groups with culturally relevant content.
Credit: BBC
How to support LGBTQ+ kids with Divina de Campo
For many queer teenagers isolated from their peers, lockdown has been tougher than ever. So how do you make sure they feel safe in their identity?
Credit: zoetimmers
Adapting to big life changes with Candice Brathwaite
How parents’ lives have suddenly changed.. and how to adjust from the parents who have been there.
Credit: BBC
How to talk to your kids about race with Nigel Clarke
Black Lives Matter is an important political moment, so how do you tackle this issues with young children?
What did I do?
As the producer of the podcast I was responsible for the creative direction and editorial output of a weekly show. I booked thought-leaders and industry experts and comedians to provide a mix of useful insight and the convivial warmth audiences expect from a podcast listening experience.
This podcast was delivered entirely from my kitchen table, setting up remote recording lines and booking interviews during the 2020 global pandemic.
My roles: Audio editing, journalism, audio production, creative development, editorial strategy.
We Went There Campaign
The Debrief, Gravity Road
The Brief:
To create a high impact digital out of home campaign for the relaunch of Bauer media’s online magazine aimed at urban ABC1 millennial women.
Click to watch video
What did I do?
Drawing on insights from consumer data and my own experience as a writer for The Debrief, I wrote a real-time geo-targeted OOO campaign.
The campaign was based on sharply observed consumer insights providing funny and provocative conversation starters and driving brand awareness.
My role: Copywriter
Covent Garden, Friday, 10am
Clapham High Street, Saturday, 10pm
Sainsbury’s, Gravity Road
The Brief:
To create a bespoke website where Sainsbury’s could host recipe content and expand their brand into the lifestyle targeting younger customers.
What did I do?
Sainsbury’s Homemade was a digital first food publishing platform designed to inspire a new generation of millennial shoppers.
Working with food and humour creators in the editorial sector to make Homemade feel like a lifestyle destination rather than a branded website. Not only did Homemade crush its targets with a monthly reach of 37million and generated a positive return on investment in year 1 but it has established itself as ‘offering more than other recipe sites’ with 95% of users returning for more.
Roles: Writing, copy editing, original journalism, editorial strategy, creative direction, commissioning strategy, creative development, format development, digital content strategy.
