As a senior member of our studio team, Louise Sheeran oversees and delivers engaging content across all our accounts.
It’s her job to put a brand’s ambition into words, striking the tricky balance between clarity and creativity. Louise takes a considered, analytical approach to every project, drawing out stories that connect with people to deliver meaningful content about even the most technical subjects.
Most of Louise’s ideas come to her while navigating the back streets of South-East London on her red bicycle. She loves travelling and going to gigs but lately spends more time practising dance routines with her two little girls.
Tell us more about you and your background.
I’m a Content Director at The Frameworks, part of a studio team made up of writers and designers. My teenage obsessions with books and song lyrics set me up nicely for a copywriting career. I never expected to become so knowledgeable about the kinds of niche topics I’ve covered writing for tech consultancies, charities, insurance providers and law firms, but I do love a challenge.
Can you share a moment when you successfully balanced clarity and creativity in a project, and what impact it had on the brand?
Finding the right balance of creativity and clarity is at the heart of everything I do. It’s often a case of dialling up one and the other down, like wearing trainers with a smart suit or finding the perfect mix of sweet and savoury in a curry. But the two are not necessarily opposites. In writing for B2B brands, clarity is key: our audiences don’t have time for waffle. However, a message is so much more effective when it has an element of surprise or delight. Our recent brand campaign for Genius Sports was a great example. We had some serious technical messages to communicate, but we nailed it all with a hard-hitting tagline and fresh, dynamic design.
What strategies do you use to draw out stories that connect with people, especially when dealing with highly technical subjects?
It starts and ends with people. I’m constantly cosplaying as an expert in one or another technical, specialist subject, and I can only pull it off by talking to the real experts: interrogating them as a person, finding out how they got to where they are and why they’re excited by the subject. That’s where the best stories come from.
Can you tell us about a time when a travel experience or a gig you attended sparked a unique idea for your content?
I’m a parent, so sadly I don’t travel or go to as many gigs as I’d like to. I listen to a lot of podcasts, though! When I was working on our agency proposition for AI recently, an episode of The Guilty Feminist got me thinking. The discussion was about the subtle ways language is used in some media to play down women’s achievements, minimise violence or cast judgment. It made me think about how we currently talk about AI, frankly giving it more credit than it’s due. What if we frame our messaging to be clearer that AI is just a tool for people to wield, rather than the source of power itself?
What advice would you give to someone trying to merge analytical thinking with creative storytelling?
We have a wonderful strategy team at The Frameworks, and they will always make sure we have the analysis and information we need before we get into the creative stage. It’s necessary, but it can be intimidating: how will I remember all this, and what if I forget something? My approach is to immerse myself in it completely – then walk away and do something else. When I come back to the project, the important bits are inevitably lodged in my mind and some ideas have started to form.
How do you manage to keep your content engaging and fresh across different accounts and industries?
By forefronting the people and their expertise over and above any stereotypes about the industry or brand, and keeping in mind why this particular subject is important to them. And it helps to be surrounded by a team of like-minded people with different specialisms who can feed into and challenge my work.
Can you describe a project that challenged your creative limits and how you overcame those challenges?
It’s often more about challenging clients’ creative limits: encouraging businesses to be braver, to explore bolder ideas where they have previously played it safe.
How do you see the future of content creation evolving, and what role do you believe creativity will play in it?
Speaking from a B2B marketing and branding perspective, I think it’s inevitable that clients will experiment with AI tools to create and inform content as a means to cut costs or scale up smaller efforts. But I think they will quickly realise what they’re missing: yes, we can use these tools to do astonishing things. But writers and designers bring so much more to the table in terms of strategic thinking, quality control and empathy. We often play an important diplomatic role in bringing stakeholders together, unearthing stories and teasing out decisions. Creative teams are both an energising and neutralising force in what can be high-pressure business situations. Are you going to get that kind of service from your AI?
What advice would you give your 20-year-old self, knowing what you know now about business and life?
I’ve learned that creativity isn’t an innate skill: it’s a collaborative process and it’s something you can learn, in the right environment and with the right people. Take risks and don’t be in too much of a hurry to lock down a 9-5. Find a good network of other women to learn from. Have confidence in your ideas – and know that everyone is making it up as they go along.
Read more from our inspirational profiles here.
Hosted by the Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group, this event is for women based in Leeds who are considering a move into tech or digital roles and are interested in learning more about how to transition.
