Australian expat, Justine Armour, became chief creative officer of Grey Group in New York in February 2020. Just before Covid hit. That’s quite a challenge to confront.

“I started and then within two weeks we were at home doing a test day in case this thing was declared a pandemic – and here we are, still are on the extended test day,” she notes.

She is also an ardent advocate for diversity in the creative industry. That’s another big challenge.

“When I was (ECD) at 72andSunny it became a point of focus to diversify that creative department. I wouldn’t hire people if I couldn’t find a diverse candidate. I’d leave the job open,” she stated.

In Smith and Western’s newest The Creative Relay podcast, she tells The Monkeys chief creative officer, Scott Nowell, all about it – and more.

The conversation also covers her career path from the reception desk at McCann Brisbane to top creative at Grey New York. She has been executive creative director at 72andSunny, creative director at Wieden + Kennedy and creative group head at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia in a career that includes stints at Clemenger BBDO, Publicis Mojo and McCann-Erickson.

Despite the challenges, Armour sees her first year online at Grey as a gift, “There’s greatness in the creative department, and I’m actually really fortunate to have a year like I did because it forced me to not be so judgemental and reactionary. It’s given me an opportunity to understand this 104-year-old agency before I start doing too much to transform it into what I think it should be.”

Host, Paul Dunne, stated, “Like our conversation with John Hegarty, hearing from Justine has been tremendously inspiring. She has great optimism for the future of advertising, and that’s an encouraging message for our next generation of creatives.”

Nowell and Armour’s podcast, as well as earlier podcasts, is available now on podcast platforms or at thecreativerelay.com.