Vicky Leavitt took a long and global road back to Cincinnati.
She started as a brand assistant for Ivory soap at Procter & Gamble. From there, she rose over the past three decades through the branding world.
And it was literally the world – she’s worked in Minneapolis, New York, London, Qatar and Columbus.
Now, she has become the CEO for consumer and retail brand experience for Interbrand, a global branding and design firm. The company recently combined its consumer and retail branding divisions in Norwood and Dayton into one office at Longworth Hall near downtown, which was the main attraction of the job for Leavitt.
A new office isn’t the only thing Leavitt will move into. She and her husband are building a brand-new apartment building in Over-the-Rhine with three units. Leavitt and her husband will live on the top floor and use the other two for corporate housing.
“Having been in central London for 16 or 17 years, it means that when we came back to Cincinnati, it was very clear to us that while we loved Hyde Park 30-some years ago, OTR is where it’s at right now,” she said. “We’re near the streetcar. We can’t wait for that to get turned on.”
Interbrand recently moved to Longworth Hall. Why did you want to be downtown? We wanted to be in a cool, vibrant space, which Longworth Hall certainly is. It also gave us the opportunity to custom build space. We’re in the business of environmental design and creating iconic brand experiences, so we needed a space that did that. The other most important thing is not just about a new address but putting two different teams together – our consumer experience business and our retail experience business. Unlike anyone else in town or across the country, we can bring the entire portfolio together of doing research and insights and analytics, through to strategy and creation through to implementation and architectural rollout.
Any concern about the Brent Spence Bridge project someday disrupting your office? I think it’s been talked about 20-some years before we got here and if anything’s an indication of where it may go, my guess is it could be a bit longer as well. It wasn’t a big concern.
How do you deal with employee turnover? It’s a war for talent, so you’ve got to do all you can to keep a great environment, a creative space, a place where people can contribute. Another thing we try to do here is make sure they’re clear on our vision so they can get on the bus and understand where this business is going and say, “Yeah, that’s something I have passion for, I have excitement for, and I want to go there with you.”
What’s the biggest trend that agencies have to navigate and how are you dealing with it? Everything has become about experiences. When you talked about brands in the past, it was about logos and identity and maybe advertising. We help our clients create iconic brand experiences that transform the way people engage, shop and buy with their brands ... People have very high expectations. If Starbucks lets me order this way or Uber lets me pay that way, then those are expectations they bring to every engagement in their life, irrespective of the category.
What’s your favorite place for a business lunch? The place I have in my sights is Taft’s (Ale House). It has this room up in the turret piece of the building that I think seats eight to 10.
What was your first job? For nine years, I was a lifeguard and a swimming instructor. It’s the best job on the planet. It’s clean. There are no dirty dishes involved.
Are you a night owl or an early bird? Totally a night owl. My job requires that I am on global calls all times of the day and night. Having one son in Beijing, one in London and the other three time zones away means that I do have to do early and late.
What do you think is Greater Cincinnati’s best-kept secret? I make sure we go to Graeter’s for Buckeye Blitz. I may be a Michigan fan, but Buckeye Blitz is the flavor.
How would you want your employees to describe you? Passionate, results-oriented, really focused on success, also focused on fun and celebrating and that certainly I would never ask them to do anything I’m not doing myself.
What’s the longest period of time you’ve gone without checking your email? Never long enough. I would personally love to totally unplug. ... Being part of a global organization with global clients – it’s unfortunately just not realistic even on vacation these days.
Bio
Vicky Leavitt
Title: CEO, consumer and retail brand experience for Interbrand North America
Residence: Hyde Park
Family: Husband, Ted; three adult sons, Trip, Chris and Bryce
Education: B.A. in human genetics and M.A. in communications, University of Michigan
Career path: Executive vice president, Landor Associates in New York; managing director and later executive vice president for mergers and acquisitions, FITCH; non-executive director at Pollen in London; partner, Lucas Publications in London; managing director at Siegel+Gale; CEO of New Solutions; director of commercial development for Rameses Europe