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Levallois-Perret, France

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Fanny Camus-Tournier

Chief Strategy Officer — Ogilvy Paris

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Fanny Camus-Tournier is Chief Strategy Officer at Ogilvy Paris and brings years of award-winning strategic experience to her role. A firm believer in the power of strong ideas, Fanny gives us insight into her strategy for building a diverse and balanced team for success. 

Can you tell us a bit about your role and your journey to arriving _­­­there?

My job title is Chief Strategy Officer. I’m the lucky manager of 10 talented planners at Ogilvy Paris. My role is to help them stay demanding and proud of what they do. Those are the 2 drivers of my own professional journey. Those are the 2 keys of success (and happiness) of our job I would even say. Before joining Ogilvy, I worked for independent agencies. I had the chance to learn from entrepreneurs who’ve always believed in ideas. Pure and strong ideas. Here is the only option left to our industry to get people’s attention.

What barriers do women still face in our industry and how can we challenge them?

I’m Caucasian, cisgender, valid, middle-class-born. I can’t pretend knowing the barriers women at large face in our industry. From my (tiny) perspective nevertheless, the barriers that I’ve faced are the barriers that I’ve put myself on for my journey: those limiting beliefs that are deeply rooted in my mind and that are hard to get rid of. “Am I sufficiently legitimate?” “Am I asking for too much?” “What if I’m not good enough?”. It brings us back to the way girls are educated and evaluated. And it’s a WIDE topic. The responsibility of our industry is not only to nominate more and more women to top management positions. It’s also to give them a voice. A balanced voice that doesn’t conform to the traditional Alpha Male Success Story. A voice that permits room to doubts and discomfort instead. A “Beta Female Success Story”, to some extent.

How do you use your position to build equitable teams that are diverse and balanced?

Consanguinity has never been a path to evolution. I do my best NOT to recruit people like me. People with the same background, the same culture, and the same references. Strategies are at the very beginning of ideas. It’s the duty of the strategic planning to inspire the creative teams and to open their perspectives. That’s why I surround myself with talents who are different, bring strategic thinking I couldn’t have had on my own and can fuel themselves with their complementarities. I believe in chemistry. Not in monochromy.

Who are your female advertising icons/role models and why?

I must admit that I don't have any, and that's indicative of a problem. The very impressive, very inspiring people I've had the good fortune to meet in my career and whom I consider to be role models are few and far between. They can be counted on the five fingers of one hand. Sadly, there are no women among them. Of course, this should not be taken as proof of incompetence. However, it's proof that there aren't enough women in high-level positions who can serve as examples.