Grey, Dallas, Lions and Cheeky designs

Working for perhaps the world's best-known advertising agency in the creative and cultural hub of New York was a long way from late night study in UC's design lab and lunches at Iguana Café.

But through sheer determination, hard work and a lot of talent, Hema Patel was able to take her Bachelor of Graphic Design and turn it into an award-winning career as the creative mind behind some of America's most famous advertising and marketing campaigns in recent years.

"We watched a piece of film in my final year about ad agencies in Sydney and I knew that that was where I wanted to be" Hema explained, reflecting on how she started pursuing a career in advertising.

"So I started shopping myself around agencies, design portfolio in hand, literally door knocking. I think that naivety you have as a graduate is such a wonderful disarming advantage and people are thrown by your audacity, arriving at the front desk and asking to see the Creative Director"

Hema's front-foot approach landed her a position with IdeaWorks, a Sydney-based agency specialising in retail advertising and marketing.

"I quickly learnt to act like I knew what I was doing, it was one of those sink or swim situations. I was making all these big decisions and handling shoots on my own within the first two weeks of starting. I guess you just fake it till you make it."

American hustle

After five years in Sydney at Ideaworks and then M&C Saatchi, Hema decided that it was time to move to New York to follow her dream of working in a major agency.

"Back then there were less Australians heading to America and it seemed like more of a challenge than London, where I had friends and family. I'd always been fascinated by New York. So I just moved. I didn't have a job, and I only knew one person there. It was again another amazing sink or swim moments where you test your limits."

And like finding her first job in Sydney, Hema again took to the streets to try and land her dream job.

"Americans- especially New Yorkers- have a bad rap for not being friendly, in fact they are amazingly kind and generous with their networks. I met people, and within 10 minutes they would be emailing someone, connecting me in the hope of helping me land a job."

Once again Hema's hustle worked, opening the door to one of the most famous agencies in the world; Grey.

"Grey had a reputation for being one of those big old, account driven agencies" explained Hema, "but I was lucky enough to be at the agency as it underwent a true transformation  leading it to become one of the most creative and awarded agencies in the world."

From changing the way Americans eat Pringles, to using sexy grandmas to sell lemonade, and promoting the world's biggest sporting league without showing a single player, at Grey, Hema worked with some of America's biggest and best-known brands.

"You get to be in the room with some very smart, inspiring and interesting people, debating with and learning from them.

"These clients also have big budgets, so the caliber of talent you have access to is incredible, being able to work with the most celebrated directors, photographers and  animation studios was a dream."

At Grey Hema worked with a number of major clients including the world's largest commercial real  estate company CBRE (picture Hema Patel Creative)

The creative process

But Fortune 500 companies don't just simply knock on one door.

Instead, agencies bid against each other for business, attempting to wow clients with their creativity and ability to see into the minds of consumers to pry open their wallets.

But with pitches taking anywhere from two weeks to a year and no guarantee of business at the end of the process, the pressure was on Hema and her team to provide clients with compelling and innovative campaigns.

"Creativity is not a linear process, it's connecting the dots in a seemingly unfocused manner until something clicks. And when it clicks the relief sets in, and the next day you throw it all out and start again.

"The most important thing is to find an insight, the moment when you think 'oh that's so true'. Once you find that truth you can come up with a creative expression to bring it to life in the most interesting and emotionally resonate way possible."

Now with their piece of gold, Hema and her team present their concept to the client.

"The craft part is when you make sure it looks beautiful, the words are perfect, and the music is on point."

"At Grey we went to incredible lengths to bring the campaign to life for the client. Shooting film, creating and producing almost finished products that gave them a sense of what we were trying to create and communicate."

In a purple patch of form, Grey, more often than not, got the business.

"For years we were on a roll where we were winning business constantly"

Among a host of award winning innovative marketing activities for the TV show Dallas, Hema and her team opened a Ewing gas station in New York city (picture Hema Patel Creative)

Rebooting an 80s classic

While Hema enjoyed working with the likes of Febreeze, CBRE and the NFL, it was her work with the reboot of 80s soap opera Dallas which was her most enjoyable project.

"Entertainment clients can be really wonderful to work for. Because the product isn't going to be around for 20 years, networks are willing to take more of a gamble with the campaign when the goal is to just to create a buzz and engagement."

Harnessing the power of digital marketing, the 2012 relaunch utilised social media like no other campaign before. It won awards for being the first to use Facebook's timeline to relive a character's life, and used Twitter to not only recap the previous 14 seasons for new viewers, but was also the first to create accounts for a show's characters.

Viewers were also able to use the power of Google Street View and Facebook to create their own personalised show intro, and nominate how much money it would take for them to commit Dallas-like sins.

And the buzz created by this fan engagement worked.

A staggering 6.86m people tuned in to watch the show's premiere in 2012, with an average audience of 4.5m over its first season.

"For the third season we wanted to do something that was really buzzworthy. So we decided to create an event that would get a lot of PR, and be perfectly aligned with the tone of the show."

Channeling the Ewing family and their conniving, underhanded business practices, Hema and her team opened their own Ewing Oil gas station in New York, undercutting all competition in the process. 

The reskinned gas station was so popular that much of the west side of Manhattan had to be closed down to cope with the demand, and the concept received a number of industry awards including three at the prestigious Cannes Lions.

"The teaser billboards let people know that something was coming, but the police in New York wouldn't let us tell people where the gas station would be because it would cause chaos.

"People were driving back-and-forth from the Bronx to fill up all of their cars, it was quite a spectacle to watch" Hema reflected.

"The logistics associated with pulling off a stunt like this in Manhattan were hard to navigate but we had an amazing cross disciplinary team that worked around the clock to bring it to life"

Out on the west coast

But after five years at Grey and the chaos that is New York, Hema decided to move to Los Angeles for a change of lifestyle, weather and different working environment.

"New York is an incredible city, it is vibrant, challenging, diverse and chaotic. There is a creative energy there that runs through everything and it's only heightened by the density of buildings and closeness of people. That energy and collective pursuit of success can also be exhausting, I think it's good to do for five years and then get out of there."

With the move to LA also came a career "pivot" away from advertising and back to design. Now working for startup Cheeky Home, Hema not only uses her creative flair to design homewares, but is also helping to tackle the growing problem of hunger in the US.

As a socially responsible company, Cheeky donates a meal to those in need for every item sold. The concept has proven to be extremely successful with more than 5 million meals donated in 2015 alone.

"I'm on a new learning curve, exposed to the inner workings of a business in a way that I never was at an agency.

"And it is fulfilling to be working on something that is benefiting the community and making the world a better place."

Hema's advice for building a successful career

1. Travel all the time and stay curious: it's just the most enriching, rejuvenating experience. It totally changes you.
2. Be tenacious and don't give up: that's what separates the people who succeed from those who don't.
3. Work at the best place you absolutely can: the learning doesn't stop when you leave university, it actually only just kicks off. And then you want to surround yourself with the most talented and inspirational people possible because they are the ones who will shape your career and who you are.
4. Get along with people: your personality is as important sometimes as your portfolio. Being collaborative and leaving your ego at the door is really, really important. Remembering that the opinions of everyone are as important as your own.

Words by Daniel Murphy, pictures courtesy of Hema Patel and Hema Patel Creative

Hema Patel Bachelor of Graphic Design with Honours, University of Canberra (2003) Hema Patel is a Creative Director and Product Designer currently working at Los Angeles-based startup Cheeky Home as well as Freelancing. She completed a Bachelor of Graphic Design at the University of Canberra in 2003. Prior to working at Cheeky Home, Hema was a Creative Director and 72 and Sunny, Grey, and an Art Director at M&C Saatchi and IdeaWorks. For both her advertising and design work Hema has received a number of awards including two Cannes Gold Lions in 2014. You can connect with Hema and view a portfolio of her work at her website.