Welcome to My Net Worth, our regular column on the lives and motivations of our country’s top business, legal and political people in their own words. 

UK-born Priya Patel began her career in advertising and marketing straight from Oxford University as a graduate recruit at DDB London. She later moved to Rainey Kelly (Y&R London, now VMLY&R), and 10 years later – after maternity leave following the birth of her son, Milan – was appointed managing director, one of the youngest MDs ever of a major British agency. In 2017, she migrated to Sydney to work as a marketing services creative consultant for David Jones, and the following year became managing director of the DDB Group Australia, working with brands including McDonald's, Volkswagen, and Westpac. The June 2021 announcement of her appointment to the top job at DDB Aotearoa New Zealand described her as a “superstar”. 

I had a nice middle-class upbringing in Cambridge, England. There was a dichotomy between being born to first-generation Indian parents and growing up in a very white, middle-class town.

In its own way, Cambridge was uniquely cosmopolitan because of the university. It was incredibly open-minded, and I really enjoyed growing up there. I ended up in Oxford for university, studying English literature, and after that, did what most people do and headed to London.

At university, I didn’t really know that advertising existed as a career path. It was only in my final year when all of the big companies came around to do their pitches that I got an idea of what I wanted to do. Deloitte, PwC, and a bunch of ad agencies came in to present, and I remember wanting to do something that could be very creative but still have a commercial impact. So I got onto the grad scheme at DDB.

I’ve always loved working with big-impact brands, especially the populist fabric-of-the-nation stuff. After my first spell at DDB, I ended up at Rainey Kelly, working for big clients, including Marks & Spencer and the BBC. It helped my parents to understand my career choice — they wondered what on earth I was doing for a living.

Some of the work I’ve been most proud of has happened here in the southern hemisphere. I did a lot of work on McDonald’s, giving ownership of that brand to the local market and making it feel like “Macca’s". We made an international brand feel really Australian, and the work was very strong.

Priya Patel in Berlin on a shoot for Virgin Media, 2009.

 

Some of my biggest career achievements have been convincing people to stay in the industry. Also, helping people fulfil their ambitions and progress with their careers. I love working with people and motivating large groups of people to do great stuff. 

A woman I really admire is Michelle Obama. I’m a massive fan. I like how strong, smart and classy she is. Her “when they go low, we go high” attitude is something I try to live by. 

I’ve stopped separating life and work into separate buckets. I see what I do as a really important part of my life, and I love what I do. But I try to balance that with enough time with my family and friends. 

I’d say the work-life culture in New Zealand is a little healthier than it is in London. New Zealanders give people more time to switch off, rather than dragging every day on until 10pm, which is still very prevalent in the UK. 

I’m not sure everyone correlates the advertising industry with commercial impact. Sometimes, it’s seen as a nice, frivolous thing. Maybe people don’t understand how it can drive revenue and growth for a business. 

We arrived in New Zealand in October and did MIQ, which is always fun. We had our two weeks walking around a car park clockwise, and after we got out, we went straight into lockdown. 

Fortunately, though, summer was great. It was nice to get out of lockdown and finally explore a bit of the country. We haven’t made it to the South Island yet, but it’s next on our list.

As told to Daniel Dunkley.
This interview has been edited for clarity.