Vicki Maguire
Chief Creative Officer , Havas London
From her disastrous career in fashion, sacked by the likes of French Connection and Vivienne Westwood, she discovered a love for copy when Paul Smith told her to stop trying to draw and write her ideas down instead. She’s worked on campaigns for some of the best agencies in the world – including Grey, Widen + Kennedy, Mojo and Amsterdam International.
She was appointed Havas London’s first female Chief Creative Officer in January 2020 – just eight weeks before the global pandemic hit. Despite that, she helped steer the agency to its best-ever year creatively – winning its first-ever Cannes Gold Lion for the Black Plaque Project – led one of the most successful new business drives in its history, culminating in Havas being awarded the hotly-contested Asda account in May 2021, produced work that built fame and commercial resilience for clients, and drove culture which engaged and helped consumers and communities.
She was named Creative Person of the Year 2020 by Campaign Magazine, which cited the agency’s ‘creative renaissance’, as well as a Female Frontiers honouree for her ground-breaking achievements in advertising. She was also named on the IPA’s inaugural iList – recognising the industry’s 30 most outstanding diversity and inclusivity game-changers. In 2021, Vicki claimed one of the highest-profile gigs in the industry: Cannes Lions jury President, where she presided over the Brand Experience & Activation Lions jury.
At Grey, her ‘Staying Alive’ film for the British Heart Foundation starring Vinnie Jones collected more than 45 major awards, but most importantly it's saved more than 50 lives (and counting). The Angina Monologues, also for the BHF, earned Vicki a coveted British Comedy Award. She also worked on multi-award-winning campaigns for Vodafone and M&S, as well as overseeing the creative team behind the UN’s People Seat campaign with Sir David Attenborough.
In 2016, she became the chair of the Creative Circle Awards – becoming the first woman ever to hold that position. Active within organisations such as WACL and SheSays to promote the advancement of women in advertising, she is also one of the most popular, outspoken and recognisable voices in the industry - a working class, straight-talking Leicester lass, who’s still at the top of her game in her fifties.