August, 2026.- Ayla de Moraes brought two things through the door when she joined Joint as the first Head of Strategy: a slightly unhealthy obsession with measurement frameworks and dashboards, and the conviction that strategy should be accountable to growth, not just applause. The smartest measurement starts before the work ever goes live. It begins with agreeing what success looks like, how to measure it, and what to learn along the way.
In this interview, de Moraes discusses the difference between a campaign that wins awards and one that actually moves the business. The metrics you aim for shape the work you make. Joint does not chase awards; it makes work that is worthy of them. Awards are an output, not a goal.
She also reflects on working on O2’s “Be More Dog,” Campaign’s Campaign of the Year. The campaign was built on a beautifully simple human truth: technology has become so extraordinary that we have stopped being amazed by it. We had all become a little bit “cat.” The best insights do not teach people something they did not know. They give people language for something they have always felt.
Launching her own sustainable concept store in the Middle East changed the way de Moraes approaches strategy. Once you have built something yourself, the business targets at the top of the brief stop feeling like numbers on a page. They become real. Every idea has to create value and help deliver the business outcomes everyone has committed to.
- The Newly Created Role: You’ve joined Joint in a newly created Head of Strategy role. What gap in the agency’s leadership did this role exist to fill, and what’s the first strategic change you’ve made since walking in the door?
Good question.
The first thing I brought through the door was my slightly unhealthy obsession with measurement frameworks and dashboards.
This was, obviously, met with rapturous applause from across the agency.
I started in the sexy department of data strategy, which means I genuinely get excited by measurement. Not just because I love spreadsheets (which I do), but because I am obsessed (as all strats should be) with knowing how our campaigns have performed.
Joint already has a strong culture of effectiveness and commercial accountability. My focus has been on building on the Joint Intelligence offering: making measurement even more systematic and embedding it as early as possible in the process.
Anyone who’s ever written an Effie or an IPA knows the pain of trying to reconstruct success after a campaign has finished. The smartest measurement starts before the work ever goes live. It begins with agreeing what success looks like, how we’ll measure it and what we’ll learn along the way.
That’s the culture I want to keep building at Joint.
- From Indies to Networks: You’ve worked across both indie agencies and big networks like VCCP, Publicis Poke, and McCann. What does a nimble indie like Joint understand about modern marketing that a holding company agency struggles with, and what did the networks teach you that you’re bringing with you?
I made a conscious decision early in my career to work in both.
I wanted to understand what the biggest networks could teach me before deciding where I wanted to build my career.
The greatest lesson they gave me was craft.
Working at agencies like VCCP taught me that great brands aren’t built on one brilliant campaign. They’re built through thousands and thousands of intricate decisions. The discipline to sweat the details. The patience to get things right. The stamina and consistency to build distinctive brands over time.
I’ll carry that with me forever. Into every meeting room I enter. I think about those tiny, important decisions every day.
But I also realised something else. I wanted to spend the next stage in my career somewhere more entrepreneurial. Somewhere with more energy. Somewhere like Joint.
What I love about an independent agency is that everyone has the ability to change the outcome. Ideas move fast. Decisions happen around tables, not through layers. You feel closer to the clients, closer to the founders and most importantly, closer to the work.
For me, that’s where our industry is heading. Not away from craft, but towards agility.
The agencies that will thrive in the next decade, won’t choose between the two. They’ll combine the rigour of othe networks with the entrepreneurial spirit of an indie.
That’s exactly what excites me about Joint.
It has the ambition and skills to build exceptional brands, but the freedom to move at the pace businesses now want, and very much need.
For me, that’s a very exciting place to be.
- Be More Dog: You worked on O2’s “Be More Dog,” which was Campaign’s Campaign of the Year. What made that campaign work so well, and what’s the lesson from that success that applies to every brief, regardless of category?
Working on O2 so early in my career was a huge privilege.
When a brand is that distinctive that just a colour, or a voice, is instantly recognisable, means you can push the boundaries of creativity so much more, because the world you are choreographing, is a world people understand and appreciate. You can spend more time surprising people.
That’s exactly what Be More Dog did.
The campaign was built on a beautifully simple human truth. Technology has become so extraordinary that we’ve stopped being amazed by it. We expect it to work. We only notice it when it doesn’t.
We’d all become a little bit “cat.”
The reason the campaign worked wasn’t because people learnt something new. It was because they recognised themselves.
I think that’s the lesson I’ve carried into every brief since.
The best insights don’t teach people something they didn’t know.
They give people language for something they’ve always felt.
When you find an insight like that, the work becomes simpler. The sell-in becomes easier. Clients buy it because they recognise it. Consumers love it because they recognise themselves in it.
That’s when strategy stops feeling like strategy. It just feels true.
- Your Own E-Commerce Business: You launched a sustainable concept store in the Middle East. How does being a founder yourself change the way you approach strategy for clients? What do you understand about the client’s pressure that a pure agency strategist doesn’t?
Launching my own business has probably been the single most important thing I’ve done as a strategist.
Because once you’ve built something yourself, the business targets at the top of the brief stop feeling like numbers on a page. They become real.
When you’ve lived with those pressures, you approach strategy differently.
Earlier in my career, if a beautifully crafted but ultimately slightly superfluous idea landed on my desk, I’d probably have (selfishly) championed it. Today, I’m far more critical. Every idea has to create value. Has to have a reason for being. It has to help deliver the business outcomes we’ve all committed to.
Owning a business has also given me a huge amount of empathy for the people sitting on the other side of the table. It’s soooo easy to be brave with someone else’s budget.
It’s much harder when you’re the one signing off the investment. When your reputation, your team and sometimes your career are tied to that decision.
That’s why I have enormous respect for founders, brand managers and marketing leaders. For me, that’s the biggest shift. I care just as deeply about the commercial outcome as I do the creative one. And I never forget that behind every brief is someone taking a risk.
- Work That Moves People and Businesses Forward: You said Joint creates work that “genuinely moves people and businesses forward, not work for work’s sake.” What’s the difference between a campaign that simply wins awards and one that actually moves the business, and how do you know which you’re making?
The difference is in the question. It’s work that moves the business forward.
A strategist I really admire once told me that strategy should be accountable to growth, not just applause. I’ve carried that with me ever since.
Because the metrics you aim for, shape the work you make.
And don’t get me wrong. I have definitely worked in places where the applause was more important.
But from first hand experience, it changes the way you approach work. The type of work you make. The type of relationship you have with your clients.
Joint doesn’t chase awards. We make work that’s worthy of them.
Awards are an output, not a goal. Which is exactly how it should be.
- Amazon, Pilgrim’s Europe, Belvoir Farm: You’re leading strategy across a tech giant, a food producer, and a drinks brand. Which of these three is the hardest strategic challenge, and what’s the common thread that connects them?
This is one of the things that’s so special about Joint.
In the space of a week, I can be thinking about upstream business strategy for one of the biggest tech brands in the world, developing the creative platform for Fridge Raiders’ “Chicken for the Road”, and debating how to grow a premium soft drinks brand while sipping a Belvoir Elderflower Presse.
That’s a strategist’s wet dream.
None of those challenges are necessarily harder than the others. They’re just different.
Amazon demands up-stream, macro thinking. Global insight development Fridge Raiders demands a very specific audience understanding. Cultural relevance. Creative leaps.
Belvoir requires distinctiveness. An understanding of how to grow without losing what made people love you in the first place.
The categories change. The strategic muscle changes.
The common thread is the clients.
Every one of them believes strategy has a seat at the table.
I’ve worked with businesses where strategy felt like the warmup act. Something to get through before the “exciting work” started.
Joint’s clients are different.
They enjoy the debate. They ask better questions. They want to understand the ‘why’ before they jump to the ‘what’.
For a strategist, that’s a privilege.
Because the best work doesn’t come from having all the answers.
It comes from having clients who are curious enough to explore the questions with you.
