Features

24 Hours With…Gyro’s Belinda Green

24 Hours With... spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Asia’s marketing and media landscape. Today, we hear about a day in the life of Belinda Green, Gyro's recently joined head of planning

6.30am. Although my alarm is set for 7am, I always wake up before it. I open my eyes and unearth myself from beneath my Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Bluetooth speaker and Nintendo Switch. Sharing my bed with all of this should disturb my sleep but it rarely does.

8.30am. I usually get the bus or walk into work. Unlike in Manchester, UK, where I’m originally from, I don’t need to drive in Singapore.

All the walking I now do feels like free exercise, which I’m a big fan of. I’ve found that there are few things that can’t be made better by either a bit of hard work or exercise. Broken hearts included.

On the journey into the office I listen to podcasts. Like everyone, I was addicted to Serial. I also listen to A History of The World in 100 Objects, The Archers Omnibus, and the comedians Elis James’ and John Robins’ radio show podcast.

9am. It’s quiet in the office for the first hour or so. Perfect for setting a plan for the day. Of course, that plan rarely survives into the afternoon but that’s agency life for you.

11am. Over to One Raffles Place to discuss the imminent move of all the Dentsu Aegis Network agencies together into new office space. We’re going to be adopting agile working and I’m involved in helping support this change.

As I’ve never once had a good idea at my desk, I’m a big advocate of giving yourself the freedom to use different spaces to better suit the type of work you need to do.

1pm. I get lunch in the city and bring it back to the Gyro office with me. A morning meeting is always a result as we’re starved for lunch options nearby.

1.45pm Some time to spend wondering why. Why does the client think that’s their business challenge? Why don’t the people they want to influence pay any attention to them? Why do they feel the way they do?

Once you know the reason why, it’s easier to work out how to bring about change. Uncovering some of those reasons will involve gyro’s precision capabilities so I’ll find someone with the data related skills to talk to.

3pm If the skies have darkened and there’s a thunderstorm brewing, this will be a great time to do anything that needs deep focus. I’ll put my desk lamp on and settle in. Even now, this takes me straight back to my favourite day at school.

A writer had come in to run a one day workshop in the library for a small group of us. I was so badly behaved at school it’s amazing I was chosen. Maybe my teachers wanted the break. The rain was hammering on the library skylights and I became so absorbed in the creative writing exercise we were set I didn’t notice time passing. I went on to study creative writing at university and I’m sure this day had a huge influence on setting me in that direction.

4.30pm. I’ll break off from what I’m doing to make a mug of Earl Grey tea. Not that I’m a British cliché or anything. By this point in the day, someone is guaranteed to have asked if I’ve seen a specific email. Generally, the answer is no.

4.45pm Of all the meetings we do during the day, what I enjoy most is shaping a presentation deck together.

I once heard the writer for the London Olympics opening ceremony being interviewed. The interviewer was surprised he had been involved as there seemed to be no words involved. The writer said he had hung all the different ideas that went into a ceremony on a line of string across the production office. He then rearranged these until the flow of ideas made the whole greater than the sum of parts. He said that writing isn’t just about words, it’s also about ordering mental images into the most compelling story. I think about this whenever we’re rearranging our presentation slides.

6.30pm Unless there’s a specific reason to get ahead of myself or something urgent to deliver, I try to go home around now. A tired planner is not a good planner.

7pm I watch UK soap operas on my iPad while cooking dinner. Most people expect me to have intellectual tastes. I have my moments but most of the time my choices are pretty low brow. Put it this way, I’m completely up to date with what’s happening with the Kardashians.

8.30pm I get ready for bed really early by most people’s standards. The sooner I’m in my pyjamas and in bed the better. I’ll play some Zelda, watch more TV on my iPad, and then fall asleep reading my Kindle. I’m reading the new collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald short stories, which is a strange sentence to type, so I may dream in Art Deco.

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