'I love the fast-paced world of advertising'

Lizzie Tearle, who left RGS in 2013, works in the fast-paced world of advertising, with clients including Fortnum & Mason, ASDA, GHD and Victoria Beckham. Inspired by her incredible set of RGS friends, she stresses that you don’t need a media degree to work in media: ‘I have always found the most creative, strategic and brilliant peers have come from totally different experiences’

Q: How did you carve your career in the world of advertising?

A: After A-levels in chemistry, history, art and economics, I studied archaeology and anthropology at University College London.I loved university and chose my degree not because I was especially passionate about it, but because I wasn’t sure what path I wanted to go down. It gave me a lot of breadth, one seminar would be about carbon dating bones and my next would be analysing modern art.

In the summer of my second year, after a long application process, I landed an internship at the BBC working as a runner on The One Show. It was the most incredible six weeks, I adored every single second of it, from the ‘glamorous’ aspects of getting celebrities their drinks order, to the behind-the-scenes chaos that erupted from a daily live show. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be, but I started to figure that I quite liked anything fast paced.

After graduating in 2016, I applied to anything and everything within London and landed a gig in advertising. I began working for a small Swedish tech start-up which created and delivered mobile advertising across Europe. It was a brilliant launch pad for me in the world of media, and incredibly my managing director was an Old Riponian; Paul Carolan. To this day Paul is a mentor of mine, we stay in touch and met up last in summer down in London. I was fortunate to try my hand across a number of areas; from sales, to publishing, to ad operations. Working for a start-up gave me a huge amount of exposure.

In 2019 I started a new venture, this time for the UK’s largest advertising agency, Mediacom (now called EssenceMediacom). I moved into a role managing a team in ad operations, we were the ones who ‘made shit happen’ and worked hand-in-glove with the clients and media planners to execute campaigns to the nation. My biggest client was Tesco, and from here more opportunity came my way. In 2020 I was offered a role to lead the digital planning team for Tesco. The team grew to over 30 staff and we collectively ran the advertising across Tesco, Tesco Mobile, F&F and Tesco Bank in what were incredibly challenging times for the nation.

I met my now husband in 2018 and he lived in North Yorkshire. Two years of a long-distance relationship plus a pandemic was enough to push me to make the move, and in 2020 I made the decision, after eight years, to move out of London and come home to Ripon.

Fast forward to 2023 and I’ve spent two years commuting between Ripon and London every week. Exhausted, I began looking for work in advertising closer to home and found my next opportunity at an agency with their HQ in Leeds. I now lead the client services team for an agency called 26PMX, we work with a huge number of clients including Fortnum & Mason, ASDA, GHD and Victoria Beckham.

Q: Who or what has inspired you in your career?

As an almost 30-year-old, I look back now and know that I was inspired by my parents, but I wouldn’t have admitted that aged 18! My mother’s a career woman too and has always held her own, my dad’s reputation as a former headmaster proceeds him, he’s a person many people in North Yorkshire owe a great deal to. They work hard, they’re humble, and they know how to have fun.

Q: Can you outline a typical day?

A: Gosh this is hard. I generally come in and check about four different spreadsheets, I check in with my team, then I dig into projects and work through whatever I need to do to prep for meetings or client proposals. At least twice a week I’m in the Leeds office and regularly I’m in our Covent Garden office. I tend to meet with clients almost daily, whether that’s online or face-to-face, it’s mine and my team’s job to stay close to their needs and oversee the delivery of their campaigns.

Q: What have been the highlights of your career to date?

A: Every pitch I’ve ever won, it’s always a highlight to land new business and convince a client that your strategy’s right for their needs.

Q: What’s the best bit about your job?

A: The variety. No client’s proposition is the same, no product is the same, the whole essence of a great advertising campaign is about doing something different and cutting through the noise of your competition. It keeps me on my toes.

Q: And the worst?

A: Media and advertising is totally unpredictable, we’re at the mercy of the world’s largest corporations such as; Meta, Google and TikTok. It’s a cluttered space and it’s harder than ever for new or established brands to reach customers with campaigns that people care about.

Q: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced?

A: Switching (basically overnight) to virtual working changed everything. As an agency we had to move fast, onboard new systems and processes, all the while my client (Tesco) was going through its own unprecedented challenges. I don’t think I’ve ever worked as hard or as much as I did between March 2020-March 2021

Q: What was the most important thing you learnt at RGS?

A: That I thrived around people who supported me, and to not worry so much about those who don’t.

Q: What extra-curricular activities were you involved in while at RGS, both in and out of school, and how valuable were they?

A: God everything: I loved drama, tennis, hockey, I loved being a school officer, I loved being a part of Young Enterprise, I loved DofE, you name it, I did it. I had a great set of friends who I did everything with, a fair few are my closest friends still to this day.

Q: What do you wish you’d known back then?

A: Eating breakfast is important! I joke, but honestly, I never ate well and food equals fuel. I wonder what I could have achieved if I’d have eaten three meals a day!

Q: What was your dream when you were at school?

A: I wanted to be an actress, but when I disastrously flopped an audition for Romeo and Juliet in week two of university, that dream was put firmly on ice.

Q: What is the one piece of advice you’d give students interested in following a similar career path?

A: Breadth is best – don’t feel you need a media degree to work in media, I have always found the most creative, strategic and brilliant peers have come from totally different experiences.

Q: Who was your favourite teacher and why?

A: I was lucky to have great teachers who supported me; Mr Fell, Mrs Fell, Dr & Mrs Cauldwell, Mr Duckworth and Mrs Henson all spring to mind.

Q: Who or what inspired you when you were at school?

A: My sister, Amelia and I had (and have) an incredible set of friends who inspired me and still do. Saf Shaikh, Georgi Sanderson, Alice Scorer, Hugh McHale-Maughan, Alex Willis, James Riley immediately spring to mind as some of my closest friends; from 2006 to this day!

Q: What would you say has been your greatest success?

The journey my career has been on! I’ve worked hard and been fortunate to have opportunities offered to me as a result which have allowed me to transcend across the field which I adore.

Q: And biggest disaster?

A: Advertising can go wrong! Horribly wrong, I once spotted that every single advert of a four-week campaign had been displayed in Indonesia, instead of the UK...

Q: What are your hopes for the future?

A: I’d like to continue my career in media, and I hope to continue doing so with Yorkshire firmly beneath my feet; I’m proud to work at an agency breaking the mould by having their headquarters in the North. I’m passionate about investing in companies and tech outside London.

Q: What do you miss most about Ripon?

A: I missed it so badly I moved back! The community is my favourite part, I missed that a lot in London.