Samantha Frankel

Independent Brand & Marketing Consultant

London

“Innovation is about being brave and taking risks so it comes with setbacks, but the reward is growth, a better understanding of customers, more standout amongst competitors, and a lot more fun."

Long-standing brand, business and marketing strategist Samantha Frankel has followed her passion for initiatives that enhance life changes and encourage talent, particularly for women, in the marketing industry. With 25 years experience spanning high-profile brand, agency, production and non-profit roles she brings considerable clout to her endeavours. As brand marketing consultant at industry charity The Media Trust, she oversaw the non-profit’s first ever participation at AdWeek Europe.

More recently she’s become an active voice on the subject of midlife discrimination and the need for workplace support for women in perimenopause and menopause, and currently holds the role of chief strategy officer for the Bloom network, a professional network for women in communications, as well as acting as a mentor through the initiative.

Within Bloom she founded Bloom Mpower, an inclusion group to celebrate midlife and help women better prepare for the challenges of menopause, and launched the Bloom Menofesto, a free downloadable resource and blueprint policy framework for all organisations looking to support midlife women at work, and the Bloom Mpower Accreditation, an employee-nominated award to recognise the businesses that demonstrate the very best support for perimenopausal and menopausal women at work.

How do you define innovation?
Turning a new idea, product development or approach into something valuable for consumers/audiences

What is the most innovative PR or marketing initiative you've seen over the past 12 months?
I would have to say the gender pay gap bot for International Women's Day this year - inspired

In your opinion, which brands and/or agencies are most innovative in their approach to PR and marketing?
BRANDS: Patagonia, Apple, Amazon, Wendy's, Fortnite, Burger King, KFC AGENCIES: adamandeve, kinetic (outdoor), nike studio x CEKAI for their Air Max anamorphic board, MDG (US) outdoor secret anti-abuse message to children, Ogilvy (for Dove's reverse selfie)

Describe a moment in your career that you would consider to be innovative.
Any and all the initiatives I have been part of at Bloom UK but in particular this year creating and launching the Bloom Menofesto - a free resource to organisations in the comms industry and call for change in the language, support and understanding given to women at work before, during and after their menopause. This is just one of many Bloom's initiatives designed to spearhead change in the industry and remove the barriers to women's progress and equality of opportunity

Who do you admire for his/her approach to innovation?
Steve jobs (but only for his design innovation).

How do you get out of a creativity rut?
Cook, meditate, walk, dance, sing, watch some comedy or great tv - any one of these will shake me out of it.

What advice would you give to the PR industry around embracing innovation?
Embrace it! But commit to it, commit resource to it in every sense and build innovation into the work culture itself. It's about being brave and taking risks so it comes with setbacks but the reward is growth, a better understanding of customers, more standout amongst competitors and a lot more fun.

What would you be doing if you weren't doing your current job?
God knows - actor?

Which book/movie/TV show/podcast/playlist/other cultural source has provided inspiration over the past year?
I'm obsessed with Bad Sisters at the moment!

How would you like to see work culture, and the role of the office, evolve?
The pandemic sparked a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape the workplace in a way that works for everyone but sadly few organisations have taken this up. I would like to see inclusivity of all kinds built into the workplace DNA. A working culture that allows people to work in a way that suits their needs is by its very nature a tool for equity and inclusivity just as commuting into an office is fundamentally a clear barrier to a fully diverse workforce. Diversity of thought brings far richer ideas to the table and flexibility around working hours is a friend to innovation, reducing stress and allowing ideas and focus to materialise when people are at their most creative and productive. See 'getting out of a creative rut' above.

Change has been thrust upon us, it is up to us to make it work for all

How can the PR and communications industry harness innovation to make more progress on diversity, equity and inclusion?
Taking an innovative approach to reshaping the workplace is a great place to start given that inequity is historically built into this. Individual organisations should also download the free Bloom Menofesto, Bloom's 'The Great Return Maternity Playbook' and our just launched Allyship code - all free at www.bloomnetwork.uk ! There's really no excuse for this industry to behind on progress in areas of diversity, equity and inclusion anymore given the wealth of other resources out there to guide this and it is in every organisations interests to become not only better informed, but far better in practise.