Smarts’ Managing Partner, Leanne Scott, is next up in the 5 Questions hot seat, talking Zoom pitches, party igloos and avocados being specifically driven in from Milan…
1. If you could go back and relive one day in your career, which would it be?
In 25 years, there’s a lot of days I’d love to do again.
From managing the press trip for Concorde’s last flight (let’s not talk about the cancelled return flight) to building a party igloo in the Italian Alps for Jeremy Scott and Moschino — it’s been a ride. But one day stands out. It’s late 2020, Covid and lockdown in full swing. The world is upside down. We’re working on a tender that has the potential to be transformational to our business. No one’s been in the same room for months. Everything is Zoom fatigue and kitchen-table strategy — literally, in my case, with four kids at home competing for Wi-Fi, screen time, and my attention while I’m trying to prep the biggest pitch of my career.
But somehow, through screens and sheer determination, the team pulled together something extraordinary. The day we got the call to say we’d won — I was sat at home, surrounded by the usual chaos. No champagne, no high-fives, no buzzing office — just the kids asking what was for dinner. That’s the day. Not because of the win itself, but because of what it proved about what a team can do when everything is stacked against them — and what you can pull off with four children climbing the walls around you.
2. …Now tell us about the day that still gives you nightmares.
Ironically, when I sit down and try to think of the days that went wrong, these are the ones I look back on most fondly and laugh about now. The influencers who ‘missed’ their flight. Showing up for the presentation a day early. The makeup artist who broke his arm slipping on ice right before call time — don’t worry, it wasn’t his ‘good’ arm. The talent that demanded avocados be driven in from Milan. The strategy you pulled an all-nighter on that the client absolutely hated. The pitch we lost that we so deserved to win. At the time, every single one of these felt so important.
But here’s the thing. You fix it. You adapt. You find the avocados. And somewhere down the line, these become your best stories. The nightmare days are the ones that taught me the most, brought teams together, and gave me the kind of thick skin you simply can’t develop when everything goes to plan. So if I’m honest, I don’t really have one nightmare day. I have about two hundred — and I’m weirdly grateful for every single one of them.
3. Who gave you the piece of advice you still live by – and what was it?
As a 14-year-old camogie player, our coach used to motivate us (scream) from the sideline: “Take your points, your goals will come!” For some reason, it stuck with me long after I hung up the hurl.
I’m naturally competitive – there’s always pressure to chase big— the landmark client, the massive retainer, the deal that transforms the business overnight. But real, sustainable growth is built on the accumulation of smaller, consistent wins: the relationship you nurture over months that eventually converts, the upsell that comes from delivering brilliantly on something small, the referral that lands because you showed up when it mattered. We rush for the short-term hit, but it’s the points that build the scoreboard. I’ve learned that the big moments do come — but only when you’ve put in the unglamorous groundwork first. Turns out inter-club camogie coaching is pretty solid training for building a business.
4. What piece of work done by someone else are you truly jealous of?
Two things come to mind – that couldn’t be more different.
The first is the work done by Alzheimer’s Research UK – and their ‘change the ending’ campaign in particular. My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a couple years back, so this one hits close to home. When you see work that genuinely changes awareness of something so cruel — that helps people feel less alone, less afraid, more willing to talk about it, it’s a reminder of what this industry can actually do when it focuses on something that truly matters.
And then at the complete other end of the spectrum — Eat with Ming on TikTok. I lose hours to baby Ming. It’s just pure, joyful content that makes you stop scrolling and wondering how on earth a toddler can eat food that’s not beige…
5. What’s your advice to someone getting into the comms industry for the first time?
The great thing about this industry — and I genuinely believe this — is the diversity of people. There’s no set path in. No one’s checking your degree or asking where you did work experience. It attracts people from all walks of life, all backgrounds, all with completely different stories about how they ended up here. And honestly? All a little bit crazy.
That’s what makes it brilliant. You’ll sit in a room with someone who started in journalism, someone who fell into it from events, someone who was a teacher, and someone who just blagged their way through an interview and turned out to be a natural. No previous experience required — just curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to throw yourself in at the deep end. Some weeks will test you. Some clients will test you more. But if you like variety, pace, and working with people who never do things by the book, you’ll fit right in. It’s chaotic, it’s unpredictable, and I wouldn’t swap it for anything.