Caroline Pay on Seeing More Than Grey

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Last week, we announced that Caroline Pay - formerly ECD at BBH - had joined Grey London as joint chief creative officer alongside newly-promoted Vicki Maguire. 

shots caught up with Pay to hear her plans for the agency, including how she envisions working beside her 'generous and filthy' friend and encouraging the creative teams to smash through the glass ceiling. 

What appealed about the new role at Grey?

I knew I was looking for scale, pace and a raging ambition from the business, but above all else, my next gig was always going to be based on the people I would be working alongside. Basically I needed partners that felt the same way I do about the state of the industry, what needs to change, what the work needs to do, the importance of relationships, of culture-inside and outside the agency. I had known Vicki [Maguire] a very long time and we had always planned to work together one day. Then once she had introduced me to Leo [Rayman], then I knew we were in trouble...

How excited are you to work alongside Vicki Maguire?

Probably a little too excited?! She is a great friend, an industry legend and a unique human being. She is generous and filthy in equal measure. We are similar in some ways and opposite in others. I think that's where the power of this team will really work. We respect each other, understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, and we will support each other in realising our huge shared ambition for the agency, and the industry as a whole. I honestly cant wait to get going.

What impact, if any, do you hope the new line-up will have at the agency, and beyond? 

I fully intend the new line-up to have a huge impact! Of course I do - I must! If I don't believe in the difference we can make, why the hell should anyone else?! I think the agency will feel a new wave of energy, excitement, unbridled positivity and ambition. They will feel a hell of a lot of attention, support and a big push to do their best work yet. As will our clients.

Considering it was International Women’s Day last week, how important do you think your appointment onto an all-female team is today? 

When I was part of a young all-female team, with Kim Gehrig, I hated being questioned about 'the girl thing' - we just wanted to talk about the work! But as you get more senior in this industry, it comes with a responsibility to do as much as you can to force the change that's so desperately needed. So if we can inspire teams to believe that if they work hard they will smash through the glass ceiling; if we can tell our stories of how we got here; the people who lifted us up, the ones who tried to push us down, the lessons we learnt along the way and continue to push for balance in our department, our agency, our network and our industry… then we will have begun to do our bit. But above all else, if we do the best work in the world, change our client’s business for the better and have an impact on people’s everyday lives, then we will do all of the above through simply doing our job.