Collaborating Through a Pandemic

Sim LeCompte, Copywriter and Elana Black, Sr. Art Director, are part of Amazon’s global Custom Advertising Program team—think big cobranded campaigns that engage consumers at multiple stages of the marketing funnel, creating solutions customized to advertisers’ goals. The two have been collaborating on multiple endemic campaigns from consumer packaged goods (CPG) to electronics, and entertainment since Sim joined the company’s New York-based office in August, 2019.

Where do you find inspiration?

Elana: I’ve been with a local improv and sketch comedy group for years and a lot of my art direction (AD) philosophy comes from the improv comedy maxim, “If this is true, what else is true?” For example, if I have to put together a living room for a campaign character, I would ask, “If the character is like this and thinks like that, what kind of lamp would they have? What would be on their coffee table?”, etc. Through this lens, I can construct the character’s world. I get additional inspiration by watching a lot of comedy, and pre-COVID, exploring New York’s many museums and restaurants.

Sim: From a writing perspective I read a ton; I always have a book. For campaign ideas—what we do the most and the most fun part of the job—I tend to look at previous campaigns. I also spend time on sites like Activation Ideas for experiential and creative technology innovation in campaigns. Since working with Elana, I’ve incorporated the, ‘If this is true, what else is true?’ philosophy into my brainstorming process. Museums and exploring other parts of the city are also a source of inspiration; I look forward to doing that again.

What do you look for in a creative partner?

Sim: What I look for, and it’s rare to find, is an art director partner willing to step outside of their role and get into the whole project with me—even adding writing/script ideas. To spend some time as two creatives getting really deep into ideating, where no idea is a bad idea, is extremely important to me. Elana and I definitely have that dynamic, which is incredible. We like to learn and be curious.

Elana: I like a partner who doesn’t let ego get in the way; who understands that all ideas are malleable, is able to roll with the punches and continue to do good work. Also, someone who isn’t afraid to bring different perspectives; someone who doesn’t think exactly the way I do. That’s where the best ideas come from. And someone I can not only brainstorm with, but also have coffee or a drink with, shoot the sh*t with. You should never be in a brainstorm that’s completely on topic, but allow for a rapport while working back and forth. And as often as possible, to come up with data-driven creative. The ability to embrace data isn’t something many of us creatives thought we’d be doing, but Sim and I are able to use it to provide rationale as to why the campaigns we pitch can only be done on Amazon.

Familiar to many creatives, Sim and Elana’s typical process includes a creative brief, brainstorming sessions, vetting ideas with all necessary internal teams (to make sure an idea can actually happen), pitching, and execution. Also familiar? Never having enough time.

While the work itself hasn’t changed since COVID, the way Sim and Elana collaborate has. Before COVID, they would kick their feet up in their creative team room and messily write ideas on the whiteboard. Some brainstorming sessions took place over coffee or happy hour.

Elana: I really like being around people. It energizes me. We’re making it work by hashing through ideas in a shared doc and on Chime, but there’s nothing as good as being in person—being able to pop over to Sim’s desk and say, “Hey! I just thought of something else.” It’s also challenging to schedule a brainstorm when you don’t know what your state of mind is going to be.

Sim: What’s missing now is the time you get to spend in person with your creative partner, having random conversations. But Elana set up weekly video conversations where, for 30 minutes, we don’t really talk about work. It helps to know what’s going on in each other’s lives, so we keep these on our calendars most weeks, and it’s been really great.

Something else we did that’s made a huge difference in remote collaboration is build a Custom Pitch Deck template on Quip and Powerpoint templates. This allows us to spend more time forming ideas and less time making decks look pretty.

A testament to the power of creativity, determination and collaboration, Sim, Elana, and their team worked with a host of internal and external teams, to develop the customized Sending Joy campaign, cobranded with Lay’s, which launched November 9, 2020.

The campaign celebrates real people who bring joy to their communities through selfless acts. Captured through video, each of these “Joy Givers” becomes the recipient of gratitude via an unexpected delivery from Amazon featuring a pop-up picnic, delicious Lay’s potato chips, and a familiar face on a Fire tablet.

Elana: I’m the creative lead at Amazon for Pepsico and Frito-Lay and have been working with Sim on this project for nearly a year. It’s one of the bigger, more complex campaigns our team has worked on. Because of COVID-19, everything from choosing the director and casting, to the actual shoots in Los Angeles (L.A.), was accomplished remotely. We had to figure out how to effectively communicate with everyone involved during the shoots. I would have creative chats with Sim and our CD, then relay our feedback to the producer, who would then relay it the director on set. This campaign is a great example of what our team can do.

Sim: We also set up an instant message group to chat with the client on our phones. They would text requests, such as product placement, etc., which we would then communicate to our producer. We had a whole communication system set up. There was also a lot of behind-the-scenes coordination with internal teams including Prime Delivery and Fire tablet PR, that was crucial in pulling it all together. This is my first really big campaign at Amazon, and it’s been a fascinating process.

Sim: Our team is kind of a startup in a way. We’re educating and building awareness around the type of work we do while balancing our workload and coming up with creative ideas. We pitch several times a year. It’s the most challenging job I’ve had but also the most creatively satisfying on every possible level, from being creative to actually doing strategy and research, and working with internal and external teams. And I’m really thankful to work with Elana. We motivate each other and are really good at understanding when one of us needs a break. Our whole team has done a really good job recognizing the challenges of the pandemic and supporting each other during this time. I think our mental health and personal well-being really matters to the entire company.

Elana: If anything during the pandemic, there is a greater understanding of burnout and the need to take a moment, to take a breath and regroup. Sim and I trust each other in a collaborative sense—neither one of us are people who will drop the ball. We have a track record of pulling it together. Even when there are off days, I know we’re going to make something good.

Alynda Wheat, Senior UX Writer and Content Strategist, and Pragati Singh, Senior UX Designer, are part of the Amazon Photos UX Design team, based in Seattle. The Photos backup service has apps on iOS, Android, Web, Desktop, Fire Tablet and Fire TV, and is integrated into Alexa devices and FireTV. Needless to say, they’re a busy and growing team.

Pragati joined in 2017 and Alynda two years later. They’ve been working together ever since, making it easy and delightful for customers to move through the Amazon Photos experience, whether on the mobile app, desktop app, or on the web.

Where do you find inspiration?

Alynda: I’m inspired by nearly everything—great novelists, brilliantly written film and television, and the works of Stephen Sondheim. (Pause for a moment of reverential silence.)

Pragati: For me, it’s the experiences that improve day-to-day life. I see user experience in everything from the elevator and kitchen tools to gas stations. Fashion and interior design inspire me as well. I look for new trends in colors, in materials, monotones, and enjoy applying that to my designs wherever I can.

What do you look for in a creative partner?

Alynda: I like someone who’s open to kicking ideas back and forth. We may each have our specialties, but combined efforts usually deliver better results. Having a sense of humor is also helpful. Even if the work is buttoned-up, the working relationship doesn’t have to be.

Pragati: I enjoy collaborating with folks who are committed to improving the overall product experience. It really helps having an ego-free partner who pushes you and wants to iterate at their end as well. I totally agree with Alynda—a sense of humor and casual conversation makes working together something to look forward to.

On the Photos team, designers own the information architecture and writers own the voice and tone. For Alynda and Pragati, a typical project begins with Pragati designing UX flow to address a particular customer problem. After multiple iterations and stakeholder buy-in, she and Alynda have working sessions to walk through the design process and inform copy needs. Then Alynda develops copy based on general Amazon UX guidelines and the Amazon Photos-specific guidelines that she created. As any creative professional knows, revisions lie in wait. But Alynda and Pragati take on each one to ensure they deliver the most seamless UX possible. “It can be laborious,” Alynda says, “but it’s far better for us to take pains rather than the customer.”

A lot has changed since the arrival of COVID-19 and working from home, but it’s not all bad. For Alynda and Pragati, it’s inspired new ways of working and connecting, as well as a deeper appreciation for each other’s lives.

Alynda: I don’t want to suggest that the pandemic has been good for anyone, but there has been a side benefit for me: video meetings. I’m hearing impaired and often struggled to understand everyone in in-person meetings. Now that people have to look at a camera and speak into a microphone, it’s much easier for me to grok everything without asking people to repeat themselves.

Overall, our team has adjusted beautifully, including myself. I thought I was more of a social, work-from-work person. But we meet often enough and inject enough personality into our work that it still feels like we’re a big part of each other’s lives. I mean, I know what the inside of Pragati’s home looks like. She’s seen my kid pop into meetings. If anything, the pandemic has revealed more of our interior lives.

Pragati: I miss the vibe of physically meeting people and working together in a room. I have never met my PM in person, it’s only been virtually. The challenge there is not having those hallway conversations that help you ease into a working dynamic with your coworkers. Yet, quarantine has also humanized our team more. We talk about life and hobbies we’ve taken up during quarantine. We’ve met everyone’s kids on video calls and talked about bad hair days (a lot). We’ve even had an Airbnb virtual hangout experience and happy hours; sent cocktail kits to everyone; dressed up for virtual wedding receptions; and sent coffee beans and mugs for Amaversaries. On a personal note, I’m working on my time management skills—it’s been a challenge to manage work and home life within an 850 square foot apartment. On the flip side, I’m finally able to sit down and have lunch with my husband, who also works at Amazon. It’s been a blessing, especially on a stressful day.

In the ultimate collaboration, Alynda and Pragati helped their broader team to incorporate the Amazon Photos experience into the Alexa app. Now customers can personalize their Amazon devices (Echo Show & Fire TV) with slideshows of their favorite and most meaningful photos.

Alynda: It took a head-spinning amount of people to make this happen—engineers, product managers, stakeholders on both teams—but Pragati and I had a role in bringing it to customers. That’s a nice win.

Pragati: I just want to say that I love working with Alynda, my team loves working with Alynda, all teams love working with Alynda. She’s made so many concepts of the Photos app easy for customers to understand and grasp within the Alexa app. She’s defining the voice and tone for Photos customers everywhere (Alexa app, Alexa devices, Photos app, and Photos web). She’s not afraid to speak up and call out things in meetings and more importantly, she’s not afraid to call herself out in meetings. She’s such a great female leader to learn from and to collaborate with.

And as far as the pandemic and working from home, our team does its best to have fun amidst all of this and our leadership has really gone out of the way to make us feel like our problems matter.

Alynda: I love working with Pragati. She’s so talented, effective, and funny as hell. She comes prepared, knows the quirks of the product, and is an incredible designer. Plus, we do the occasional 5 o’clock boozy meeting with the rest of the crew, so that keeps the camaraderie going. So, I guess that’s it, really: If you want great collaboration, then be a pleasant, prepared person to work with. Make your teammates’ lives easier. Know cocktail recipes—the important stuff.

Courtney Jimerson, or CJ as she prefers to be called, is an Art Director and my teammate on the Consumables Private Brands (CPB) Creative & Brand team. Based in Seattle, our team of packaging designers, copywriters, print production managers, and brand program managers, work every day to build and nurture brands that will delight customers.

Unlike when I joined the team in 2017 as a Sr. Copywriter, working side by side with my coworkers in an office, CJ joined the company at the end of February 2020, just days before COVID-19 sent us home. The good news is that she met most of us in person her first few days. The not-so-good news was having to continue her onboarding from home. But she has done it and admirably so.

Where do you find inspiration?

CJ: It has been consistently through people and their stories. I’ve been very fortunate to work in many different companies in my career, some of which afforded me the opportunity to travel and all of which connected me with interesting people. And out of every one of those experiences a story has arisen or someone I’ve met has inspired an entire narrative that inevitably shows up in the work I produce.

Dena: I’m also energized by people, coworkers included—swapping travel stories, anecdotes about awkward encounters with baristas, home improvement wins and not-so-wins, and cats—there’s a lot about cats. When I’m writing and get stuck, I’ll take a walk—it’s amazing what birds, trees, and a nice breeze can do. A lot of times I just let my imagination fly—improvise on the page, with wordplay and puns and funny scenarios that can unlock a trove of ideas.

What do you look for in a creative partner?

CJ: It’s imperative that someone listens to what their partner is feeling, what the creative brief is saying. Our communication needs to be aligned; we need to be able to talk things through. I also appreciate someone who isn’t afraid to ask why about a design approach or solution. I come from a school of hard knocks and am used to being challenged. Additionally, I appreciate someone who isn’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and do the work. Lastly, passion. If you don’t care about what you’re doing, why do it?

Dena: I like someone who can brainstorm and play with ideas back and forth. Add in a sense of humor, and it’s icing. I also like it when we’re comfortable weighing in on each other’s work—sharing what the other may not know: “Why this name or that phrase?” “Why that shape or color?” Sometimes a designer will say, “I put a headline into the layout, but it’s just FPO.” But sometimes that FPO headline is spot on. It tells me they’re thinking about the big picture—how it all works together. To truly collaborate—riff off of each other’s ideas, support each other when obstacles arise (and they usually do), and have fun while doing it, I think it yields the best work for the customer.

In general, projects come into CPB by way of a creative brief or job start, followed by a kickoff. The process features concepting—sometimes with all available designers and writers chipping in—internal reviews and concept presentation to our business partners, and then execution. Projects may be as multifaceted as a new brand, with name, logo, voice, messaging, packaging design, and printing or as straightforward as a promotional banner for Back to School.

Before COVID-19 came along, copywriters and designers/art directors took advantage of the many meeting places in our building for various meetings. Or we’d roll our chairs over to each other’s desk to look at layouts on screen. We’d discuss ideas about work and life over lunch, coffee, or happy hour. Now we Chime—all the time.

CJ: There’s a certain level of intimidation when you start a new job and I was only in the office for four days. So while I miss engaging beyond the screen, there’s a silver lining. Using online tools like Chime forges relationships in different areas and different ways than you would if you were in person. It almost makes you more accountable. We’re one-on-one, seeing each other in our personal surroundings; not distracted by the din of an office, and we can get real-time answers and focus. Chime helps with the process.

But being that I have kids, I’m having to wear all of these different hats, like working vampire hours (hello, 4am) and being the cafeteria lady. It was difficult at first, but then I accepted it, reformatted my home to create a school space for my kids and a work place for me, and it all fell into place. On a personal level, I’ve since realized I was missing a lot about how my kids were learning at school. Now that I have those insights, I can work with them. I would love it if we return to work in intervals—so many days a week—so you have balance. Having a strong foundation at home helps with whatever you’re producing at work.

Dena: I miss the easy rapport and weekend recaps; getting a quick answer or opinion on something, impromptu walks to the coffee shop. But without the commute, I’m making better use of my time. Things are more balanced and I feel more focused at work. But a lot of people have had to make some big adjustments—working those vampire hours you mentioned, and wearing different hats. You and I may not have the same exact schedule now but we’ve done pretty well, going back and forth on Chime to discuss work, and actually getting to know each other. I think we and our whole org have it down.

CJ wasted no time in digging into a complex and multifaceted brand refresh project, complete with documenting every change in the accompanying guidelines. I was the project’s writer, and with the exception of meeting CJ in the office at the end of February, our entire collaboration took place on Chime, and the occasional email.

CJ: That was a beast of a project. I’ve worked in branding for many years and never dealt with something that had so many moving parts—creating a story that spans multiple categories and having so many different elements and requests popping up along the way. But I think our working back and forth and watching the mold take shape made it successful. I leaned on you and the rest of the team because it was such a prescriptive brand/system. You were able to translate and phrase things that the end user would understand. I had trust that once you looked at it, it would be good. I’m super proud of how we worked it out.

Dena : I was in complete awe of this system you had to parse together. Watching you conduct it all and stay the course, or present the latest version in a meeting with a lot of questions and a hard stop. I had complete faith in you.

CJ: My mom was an orchestral conductor so maybe I got some of that from her.

Dena: Yes—I believe we inherit certain qualities and apply them in different ways. You were pulling all the noise in and making sense of it, and then we refined it together. Everyone who had a role to play showed up. People were responsive—asking questions and providing answers in a timely fashion to keep the project moving forward. That’s the thing—having this team you can count on.

Dena: I’ve seen an amazing amount of empathy from leadership and peers across the org. There’s an appreciation for varying work-from-home situations and being flexible to accommodate necessary change. I’ve been trying to stay connected to people I’m not currently partnering with to see how they’re doing, as well as participating in various online design-related activities and events. I also love our team chats where we share everything from design-industry news and birthday shout-outs to funny memes. (I can confirm that no one has lost their sense of humor.) It’s been an extraordinarily strange and emotional year, but we’ve pulled together to make it work and continue to do good work. I’m grateful for that.

CJ: Before the pandemic, I had this plan to reach out to individual coworkers and take them to coffee—to get to know them, and establish a rapport. Since we can’t do that, I’m reaching out virtually. I met someone the other day and it wasn’t necessarily a meeting about work, but more like, “How are you doing in all of this?” And it was good to have that connection.

What strikes me as we work remotely, is that we’re on a different platform when we’re at home. Issues around commuting, rushing to make appointments or pick up the kids, etc., have been resolved, so things feel more calm. I think seeing each other in our home environments has made us more relatable and open with one another. You can see it when you’re face-to-face on a video call. We’re connecting at a different level.