This week on The MCA Prodcast Pat Murphy talks to Lisa Lavender, MD of British Arrows which is the UK’s longest running and most prestigious moving image advertising awards. Prior to this Lisa was founder of The Traffic Bureau and CEO of Adstream UK.

Lisa originally dreamt of being a choreographer but found her way into advertising, starting out as a production assistant. She talks us through how her career began, her temporary move to Canada, and how she launched The Traffic Bureau which was the first outsourced TV admin company in the UK. Hear how what began with a casual conversation later evolved into the sale of The Traffic Bureau to Adstream, with Lisa becoming CEO of Adstream's UK operations. From there, Lisa’s skill in nurturing exceptional talent and creating a happy, dynamic company culture left a lasting impact on her career.

Lisa talks us through the complexities of broadcast and business affairs. With so many channels and outlets, how can organisations stay on top of the various requirements in terms of clearance and rights management? Lisa explains that tech is helping hugely in this field and she suspects AI will also have a role to play.

Throughout her journey, Lisa emphasises the importance of mentorship and fostering diverse environments in advertising. She’s a powerful advocate for supporting new talent and has always strived to create opportunities and welcome new people into the industry, something that she is now especially proud to do in her role organising the Young Arrows awards. She considers how attitudes to work have changed through the generations and how ‘Gen-Z’ now demand a more healthy work-life balance – something we can all probably learn from!

Lisa and Pat discuss why creative awards like the British Arrows remain so vital in today’s advertising landscape and how the Young Arrows can celebrate the next generation of great storytellers and creatives. The awards are celebrating their 50th Anniversary next year and would love to hear from any organisation interested in sponsoring the events.

Watch Lisa’s favourite ad: Hamlet Cigars – Photo Booth

Hosted by Pat Murphy

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