IDIDTHAT and Heineken Beverages presents I SAID THAT, the Q&A series featuring South Africa’s top creative talent.

Robyn Campbell has spent her career doing the things most people never see. She started in fashion design, moved through the early days of digital, led agencies, and now serves as Senior Vice President at Publicis Groupe Africa. She’s become an expert in the invisible work behind great creativity: building teams, shaping culture, backing people and protecting ideas long enough for them to become exceptional.

In this conversation, Robyn shares how her definition of creative taste has evolved, why the hardest leadership happens behind the scenes, what separates good work from great work in a jury room, and the one thing about South African creativity she hopes we never lose.

Q: You started your career in fashion design before moving into digital, agency leadership and now Senior Vice President at Publicis Groupe Africa. Looking back, what have those different worlds taught you about creativity?

Robyn: Fashion design helped me develop a deep love for iterating, crafting and refining, along with the discipline needed to turn ideas into something tangible and of course, there was nothing wrong with the dreamy feeling of seeing a stranger wearing your idea. Digital showed me the value of relentless experimentation and curiosity, how continuous tinkering and playing can bring even the trickiest ideas to life. Agency leadership taught me that creativity is as much about how you lead people and shape culture as it is about ideas.

Q: You’ve spent your career judging work, building agencies and mentoring talent. How has your definition of good creative taste changed over the years?

Robyn: Earlier in my career, I probably thought good creative taste was about knowing what looked good, what felt current, or what would win awards. The longer I’ve been in the industry, the more I’ve realised it’s a lot less personal than that. Now that I’m firmly in my middle-aged era, I think good taste is really just experienced judgement. It’s being able to recognise an idea that can genuinely connect with people and make an impact, even if it’s not something you would have created yourself. Working across different disciplines, markets and generations taught me pretty quickly that great work doesn’t always look the way you expect it to.

Q: For those who don’t know, what is a Senior Vice President and what does a typical day in your role at Publicis Groupe Africa actually involve? 

Robyn: I look after the creative and PR agencies in our Groupe (LePub, Machine, Digitas and MSL), working closely with our MDs on agency strategy and performance, while partnering with our strategy and creative leaders to make sure we’re creating work that helps our clients move the needle in their businesses. My days range from pitches and growth opportunities to talent conversations, operational challenges, client engagement and helping teams connect across the Groupe to deliver truly integrated work. A lot of the job is about solving problems and creating clarity where things are complicated.

Q: Throughout your career, you’ve believed that advertising is about solving problems with creativity. Looking back, what’s one of the hardest problems you’ve had to solve that nobody outside the agency would ever see?

Robyn: Creating stability during the never-ending season of change our industry is going through. Transformation, restructuring, new business, mergers and shifts in technology are part of the creative industry’s day-to-day reality, but through all the challenges, people only ever see the (hopefully excellent) finished campaign or piece of work. They don’t see the conversations, problem solving and leadership required behind the scenes. The hardest work is often helping teams navigate complexity while keeping momentum and confidence from our people and clients.

Q: What’s something leaders underestimate about creating an environment where great creativity can thrive?

Robyn: Leaders often underestimate the importance of removing noise and barriers so teams can get on with the craft and the magic. Brilliant work needs trust, clarity, time and the confidence to challenge convention. An endless stream of Teams status meetings has rarely helped a great creative idea come to life. We can’t expect people to be creative if they’re operating in corporate survival mode.

Q: What are some of the experiences that has most shaped your leadership style?

Robyn: I think my leadership style has been shaped by contrast. I’ve worked for great leaders and poor ones, partnered with brilliant clients and navigated tough experiences. I’ve seen excellence overlooked and mediocrity celebrated. The highs and lows have been equally valuable, giving me a clear view of the kind of leader I want to be, and the kind I hope to never show up as.

Q: After judging so many award shows, what, in your opinion, separates good work from great work?

Robyn: A gem of an insight is usually where great work starts, it gives an idea energy and direction. But what separates good from great is the combination of a simple, brilliant idea and relentless craft in the execution. You can get away with one being stronger than the other, but when both are there, that’s when the work becomes truly exceptional.

Q: You’ve helped agencies navigate digital transformation, mergers, lockdown and now AI. What’s one thing about our industry that never seems to change?

Robyn: Scrappiness. In South Africa, we’ve learned to thrive in a tougher environment and take real pride in proving the status quo wrong. Some of the best work I’ve ever seen has come from the most chaotic briefs, the shortest deadlines and the tightest budgets. I’m certainly not advocating for difficult conditions, but there’s something about constraints that forces creativity to rise to the surface.

Q: And then, what’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the industry over the past ten years?

Robyn: The amount of noise. The industry has become exponentially more complex, more channels, more meetings, more stakeholders, more data, more opinions. With the onslaught of complexity, clarity has become more valuable than ever. I believe the hardest part of our jobs today isn’t generating ideas, it’s protecting and nurturing them long enough to become reality.

Q: So much of your career has been about mentoring and championing others. Who taught you how to lead people, and what’s the best piece of advice you’ve carried with you? 

Robyn: I’ve had so many people who’ve been in my corner throughout my career, but someone who showed me a different style of kind, calm and considered leadership is Brett Morris. One piece of advice that has stayed with me is that not every challenge needs an immediate response, but almost every challenge benefits from a thoughtful one. He helped smooth some of my sharper leadership edges and I’ll always be grateful for his impact on my career.

Q: If you could sit down with the young Robyn on her first day in advertising, what would you tell her? 

Robyn: It sounds trite, but it’s a marathon and not a sprint. With the right level of consistency and resilience almost anything is possible.

Q: What’s something you believed about leadership ten years ago that you no longer believe today? 

Robyn: Earlier in my career, I believed the same set of rules should apply to everyone. People aren’t machines and they don’t all respond to the same inputs. Some need a push, some need support, some need freedom and some need a reality check. Consistency still matters because it builds trust, but great leadership is less about treating everyone the same and more about giving each person what they need to succeed. The older I’ve got, the more I’ve realised that leadership isn’t having one approach, it’s knowing when to change it for the right outcomes.

Q: Shoutout: Who in the industry is doing work you really admire right now, and why? Name and fame them. 

Robyn: So many people doing great things, but I’m really loving the variety of work from the teams at Halo, Retroviral and Boundless at the moment.

Q: What are you binging or obsessed with at the moment? It could be a TV series, film, podcast, music, book or a hobby.

Robyn: Books are my favourite place to disappear to. Two novels I’ve recently read that I couldn’t stop thinking about are ‘Flesh’ by David Szalay and ‘All Down Darkness Wide’ by Seán Hewitt.