Mikaela Crimmins, the head of strategy and experience at Orchard, has been named as one of the winners of the ‘Empowered Women in Agency’ category at MARKETECH APAC’s inaugural recognition initiative for women leaders in the industry, Empowered Women Awards 2023.
Crimmins has been with Orchard for over four years, starting off as a digital strategist in 2013 before leaving the agency for a stint at Ogilvy from 2016 to 2019. She then returned to Orchard as planning director and was elevated to her current role on February 2021.
Propelling agency growth through forward-thinking leadership
For Crimmins, as a strategic leader, she is responsible to push the agency to meet greater success and achieve greater results. This was first put into action when she developed a new proposition called ‘the home of connected experiences’. The new proposition, made alongside Orchard’s senior leadership team, highlights the agency’s capability to connect customers with a full range of experiences and passions, positioning the agency for success in the future.
With the proposition being the driving force for the agency, she doubled down on the agency’s need for data and experience design through new hires and products to achieve this.
This resulted in new business growth through winning new clients such as Epson, Johnson & Johnson Eyecare, Clear Skincare, Beyond Bank, amongst others. Moreover, she was also vital in leading some of the agency’s transformational projects, which included launching Hyundai Worldwide’s first e-commerce direct-to-consumer service and launching an app for Tourism Tasmania.
In addition, Crimmins is a strong advocate for courageous thinking and values individuals who bring unique perspectives to the table. She is also committed to fostering a culture of inclusivity and creativity, empowering her team to succeed by giving them a platform to showcase their talents.
She also co-created the agency initiative ‘No Guts, No Glory’, which blends passion with purpose –designed to leverage creative thinking to solve real-world health problems.
How a dynamic leader leads through fearlessness and tenacity
When asked about what makes her strategic leadership work, Crimmins notes that she adheres to four key qualities: bravery, grit, inclusivity, and realism. For her, bravery and grit help inspire her team to keep moving forward, while inclusive and realistic attitudes help create a work environment where everyone is valued and encouraged to contribute.
In her current role at Orchard, she has developed an experience-led proposition, built the strategy and experience team from 5-15 people within 3 years, and transformed the agency into a digital powerhouse.
Her various experiences at past agencies had also helped her to strategise and communicate with teams in a compelling way and then ensure that it can be practically implemented.
Developing the rise of female talent and leaders through advocacy
For Crimmins, she has always believed that sharing knowledge is an essential skill of a team leader, particularly in an industry where there aren’t many opportunities for professional development. For her, sharing knowledge is a way for people to gain new insights, learn from experience and develop new skills.
She also stressed that the industry has an absence of female voices in the strategy area of the industry. As such, this has been an area that Mikaela has actively sought to address through industry (external) and agency (internal) initiatives.
“We (women) are a fearless bunch who not only blaze trails, but also support each other. Imagine the impact we could have at the executive level with that kind of spirit,” she said.
Crimmins also added that for too long, women who have caregiving responsibilities have found it difficult to progress into senior roles in our industry, finding it difficult to work traditional hours, making the industry‘s proposition unattractive to working mothers. And so, she wants to keep this incredible talent in the industry through creating flexible working conditions so that these women can continue with their careers while meeting their family obligations.
Check out who else made it to Empowered Women Awards 2023 Winners’ list.
