One On One With Leanne Wood, Celebrating 30 Years Of Flying Camel

What was your vision when you first launched the agency?

Leanne - I had no vision! I fell into entrepreneurship due to circumstances. I only had 3 years of work experience because we had Grade 13 in the day, and my university course was 5 years. Then I travelled for a year! I didn’t start working full-time until I was 25. 

My father died very suddenly when I was 26, so my husband and I moved from downtown Toronto back to my hometown…Brantford. I was working at an ad agency in Paris, Ontario, and had just had my first child when the Creative Director of the agency told me he was leaving and wanted me to be his partner. It seemed like an optimal time for someone with little experience in anything to start a business, right? HA!

My vision was to figure out how to run a business and earn a salary! That was it!

Can you share some key milestones that have helped shape the company’s growth and success?

Leanne - Two huge milestones shaped Flying Camel's success. The first was deciding to be a niche agency in interior design/kitchen and bath. We became experts and were sought out for our knowledge of the industry, our contacts, and our track record.

The second was being an early adopter of social media and working with our clients to also be early adopters, as we believed it would play a role in their marketing mixes. We were pretty accurate with that! I credit Kimberley Williamson on our team for being a visionary in social media strategy and developing our reputation as a strategic social and digital agency.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

Leanne - My biggest inspiration came fairly late in the process. Through a stroke of fate and a tweet that caught my eye in 2009, I pushed myself to attend an event for PR practitioners interested in sustainability. That decision led me to meet a like-minded agency owner from Atlanta, with whom I began collaborating. Eventually, we formed a group of four female-led agencies for a joint project. Suddenly, I had a peer group for the first time. These three female entrepreneurs profoundly influenced Flying Camel’s trajectory, and they continue to inspire me with their gutsy moves and fearless approach to business!"

What’s been most surprising about the journey so far?

Leanne - That silly trend on social right now - POV - she didn’t know it yet but her career would take her - is pretty accurate. I couldn’t have guessed the niche my company would carve, that we would be the agency for one of the largest trade shows in North America, that we work with global brands, that I would have years of exciting travel opportunities, that I would meet famous people. The list goes on. But that new mom who wanted a pay cheque couldn’t have dreamed that up!

Looking back, what initial goals or aspirations have remained constant, and which ones have evolved or shifted unexpectedly?

Leanne - In the early years of my business, I struggled so much with juggling my family and a career. I think I was honestly exhausted for 15 years! I wanted Flying Camel to be a place where young moms didn’t feel guilty about leaving early for a school play, taking time off for a doctor’s appointment, or working flex time to accommodate daycare pickup - essentially, removing the stress around all the things I felt guilty about.

Reflecting on the past five years, what moments stand out as particularly challenging, and how did your team overcome them?

Leanne - 

Unrealistic timing expectations for deliverables and scope creep. 

• We set boundaries. We ask the right questions. We’re transparent about where time is going and how the client can be more efficient to help us be more efficient.

Clients with tools who think they can do the work themselves.

• We’re pretty quick to point out the amount of expertise and “brainpower” you get for often the price of a senior employee who may still outsource certain tasks. We provide the full picture and ensure the client knows the value we are bringing to the account.

As you celebrate this milestone, what new opportunities or initiatives do you envision pursuing in the next five years?

Leanne - Without a crystal ball about what the next industry disruptor will be, I’m actually excited about the AI world. AI allows you to reach a certain point more efficiently, and then the real human work starts. Give me a starting point and let me take it from there. Alternatively, our ideas will be a starting point, and we can flesh out the details more efficiently. Either way, it’s an incredible time saver. We haven’t “quite” got there with our internal processes yet, but we’re experimenting daily.

Why Flying Camel? Was that the original name?

Leanne - I’m a lifelong figure skater (I still compete), and a flying camel is a move in skating. When we started FC in 1995, we hired a copywriter to come up with names from both of our backgrounds. When I saw Flying Camel on this list, I loved it because it acknowledged my skating background.  My partner instantly saw the logo of a winged camel. We came from an agency that was the owner’s initials (so NOT creative). Our goal was to do the opposite and have a memorable name. It worked! I like to say we were pioneers with a cheeky agency name in the days when the norm was a bunch of men’s last names strung together!

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs or professionals entering the PR industry today?

Leanne - It’s pretty simple. As a communications professional, be REALLY good at communicating. We get resumés with typos and poorly constructed cover letters…or full of superfluous copy that screams AI. If you don’t know the difference between complement and compliment, do your homework. Words are your toolbox, and how you communicate strategy or write a social media post matters. Understand the language as a foundation.

Looking back over 30 years, what are some of the biggest changes you’ve witnessed in the PR industry?

Leanne - So many. I started in PR when the internet was a baby. We used to go to the library to do research, so Google was life-changing. My first few years included a lot of trips to client offices with art boards for concept presentations. PDFs and digital artwork - also life-changing. Specifically for PR, though, the last 5 years have seen such a decrease in the media landscape. And pay-to-play is now the norm, which is a difficult situation for smaller brands with limited budgets. It’s harder than ever to get true earned coverage, no matter how great the product or the story. If you’re an advertiser, miraculously, your story is covered. On the flipside, you pitch a great story and an ad rep, not the editor, calls you back. That’s inherently wrong, and in our industry, it’s such a challenge when you compete against brands with large budgets.

What is next?

Leanne - More trend analysis, innovation, compassion for businesses going through this crazy economic environment, and alignment with agency values. At this point in my business, I only work with people I like and clients who treat my staff with respect. You can expect that every company in our client roster is made up of good people who align with our mission to enhance and improve living environments.

30th Anniversary Photo Gallery:

(click to enlarge)