Dynamic Duos: Graham Harvey and Dan Vasconcelos of Lippincott
In this week's Dynamic Duos, Lippincott's senior partner, Graham Harvey and partner and creative director APAC, Dan Vasconcelos share how they tackled the pandemic together, and came out of it stronger - both professionally and personally.
Graham Harvey:
The year was 2019. Our office in Hong Kong was looking for a new strategy partner and in walks Dan—and he’s not a strategist. Luckily, his creative work blew Lippincott’s leadership away enough to forget that, and they made a role for him.
I’d been at Lippincott for a few years already, and our first project together was on the global rebranding of Standard Chartered—a huge deal for everyone involved. As Dan had 15 years’ experience of working in London under his belt, I was thankful to have someone who understood the client’s roots and was excited to complement my strategic rigour with his creative flair.
And then the pandemic hit. While the world seemed to be falling apart, we were tackling this enormous project together and it gave us a better understanding of what made each other tick. Those uncertain first few months quickly rolled into two and a half years of working together in a (very small) office, establishing a relationship built on trust and mutual understanding.
So, when the opportunity came to spearhead Lippincott’s first Australia office together, the question was “how soon can we start?”.
Lippincott has been helping to transform Australian brands for more than a decade from our APAC and US offices, and we were steering a major brand transformation with a leading Aussie super fund, so the timing felt right to spread our wings.
Fast forward to today: we’ve been down under for over nine months now in our Sydney office. To put our stake firmly in Aussie ground, our latest collaboration has been on the launch of Lippincott’s Building Go-To Brands in Australia report, which has been created to help Aussie brands learn what it takes to win over the consumers of today.
Dan Vasconcelos:
I’d compare the early days of working with Graham inside a small office to being stuck inside a lift. A beautiful glass lift, but a lift nonetheless.
Working from home during the pandemic wasn’t an option for either of us, so we decided to brave the storm and confine ourselves to our tiny office space, just me and him. Having only known each other a few months when lockdown began, it of course felt a bit claustrophobic at the start. But working in such close proximity, I quickly learnt from Graham as he showed me the ropes: how Lippincott worked, the client’s dynamics and the market. Being relatively new to the APAC market myself, I had a lot I needed to try and decipher. Graham has a deep background in leading strategy for complex projects across this market, so he was a great counterpart.
With our combined work experience across Europe, the United States, and Asia, it was time for us to bring our thinking to Australia. And with us we bring Lippincott’s network of global offices, meaning we can tap into different global geographies, expertise and skill sets, to get the job done. With this international perspective, our mission is to build further on our work to help grow, create, and transform Aussie brands to become brands that people resonate with, rather than just recognise.
Graham on Dan:
Most memorable moment with Dan: It was when I introduced Dan to my dog, a gorgeous Labrador. He loves jumping up on people (the dog, not Dan). All three of us were in the “lift”—aka our tiny office—and the dog went for him. Dan was too polite to tell me he was allergic and played along with it. It highlights a respectfulness in him which I’ve always admired.
Best word to describe Dan: Driven.
Most annoying or endearing behaviour Dan has: Dan is such a diligent, exacting and meticulous creative at work that it’s endearing to see him off-duty enjoying time with his seven-year-old daughter. It’s especially funny to watch how, despite all his gravitas at work, she’s got him wrapped around her little finger.
Dan on Graham:
Most memorable moment with Graham: The first time we jumped on a call together with a client I was in awe of how skilfully he can orchestrate a conversation. It’s amazing how quickly he can build rapport and trust with clients and roots the conversation in business strategy. I was actually a little jealous of how effortless he made it look, but it was at this moment I knew we’d work well together.
Best word to describe Graham: Gifted.
Most annoying or endearing behaviour Graham has: Graham is polite – sometimes too polite. It comes from an innate friendliness, but I do wish sometimes he would just cut to the chase. That being said, it can create a ‘good cop, bad cop’ vibe between us which works!
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic Duos, please email lmcnamara@mumbrella.com.au.
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Lauren McNamara is a reporter at Mumbrella. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, having completed a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at the University of Technology, Sydney.
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