Meet the team: Chelsea Reay, Content Manager

How long have you been working at Fieldworks and where did you come from?

I’ve been at Fieldworks for 18 months, and my journey to here has been full of twists and turns! I originally worked in PR, first in finance and then in motorsport, before deciding to take a career break to pursue my lifelong dream of writing a novel.

During that time, I began freelance copywriting and quickly realised I was much better at this than fiction writing! So I developed my content creation skills and client base, before making the jump back into agency life with Fieldworks.

The novel is still a work in progress…!

What are the main responsibilities of your role and what is your favourite part?

Anything and everything written is my concern, and I also support the wider Fieldworks team in developing creative campaign concepts and strategic execution. From initial synopsis to finished article, I get involved in every step of the process, to make sure our words not only work in their own right, but within the context of the complete integrated campaign.

I absolutely love everything about what I do; sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe that I’ve built a career on my passion for writing.

What does your typical day in the office consist of?

Typing, typing and more typing! In any given day, I’ll spend at least 6-7 hours writing – everything from blogs and email marketing campaigns to market reports, video scripts and website copy.

I’ll also be involved in brainstorms for clients and new business prospects, reviewing campaigns we’re executing to see where content can be embellished or adapted to increase engagement, and researching trends and opinions within the industry.

Are there any challenges in your role? If so, what are they?

Saying something different! Marketing has become much more content-focused over the past couple of years, which is fantastic, however it has led to the market being flooded with both mediocre collateral, and to swathes of people expressing the same opinion.

I work closely with our Director, Chris, to make sure our clients’ work is provocative – sometimes even controversial – and really captures the attention of our prospect audience.

Subjectivity is also quite an interesting challenge. Everyone can write, which usually means everyone has an opinion on what I’ve written! We invite and encourage positive discussion, but it can be frustrating when people fancy themselves a copywriter and start changing content purely because it’s not the way they’d phrase it.

I spend a lot of time and care selecting words, to make sure they leave a lasting impact – so there is always rationale behind why I’ve phrased things a certain way.

Finally, time management is something I’ve had to refine sharply. I work across every client in the agency, so must stay on top of a busy workload, at the same as knowing what each client’s focusses are, their tone of voice and industry viewpoints.

What do you love most about working at Fieldworks?

The variety – I adore the challenge of constantly adapting to new content formats, concepts, clients and ideas. People mistakenly think that the B2B environment is dull and uptight, but I’m constantly finding opportunities for creativity and experimentation; I can play around with the wording of a single sentence for a good hour, given the time, and I get a genuine buzz from creating a turn of phrase that I’m proud of.

I also love working with a bright, energetic and incredibly hard-working team. We don’t just pitch an integrated model to our clients; we practice it day-in, day-out. All our campaigns are incredibly collaborative, and we bounce off each other’s skills and ideas.