When Daisy Qin graduated with a degree in Arts, Political Science and English Literature in 2014, she knew she wanted to experience something different. 

Qin’s first job after university was at retail start-up Nuvango, where she worked as a digital strategist. It was that position that determined her professional future: “I had some mentoring talks there with some strategists from different agencies and realized that I wanted to continue on that path,” she says.

Soon after, Qin landed as a social content strategist at Grip Limited, eventually moving to FCB Canada. Her contributions quickly led to her current role as strategy director, content, where she has worked with clients like BMO, Destination Ontario and Sobeys over the past three years.

Those years taught her to prioritize content quality over quantity, she says, adding that “it’s easier now than ever to create a brand, but also there’s a lot more competition for attention. Companies can’t afford to get too comfortable now.”

For that reason, Qin has been taking the lead on a few digital initiatives for FCB clients.

One of the projects she is most proud of is for grocery delivery platform Voilà, which won several Cannes Lions and Effies awards. The work consisted of a campaign, “Trending 2 Table,” which tapped into viral food trends on TikTok: “We created a bespoke trend index to better predict which food trends would take off, and partnered with several influencers. They posted recipe videos on their TikTok channels. The videos drove users to a landing page with all the ingredients needed, making the purchase of the trendy recipe a seamless experience.”

Qin was completely hands-on, finding influencers and handling the entire content delivery process. That was the first time FCB managed an influencer program at this scale, all in-house. Since then, the agency has expanded its service offering to include more influencer work. Qin’s interest in technology also led her to explore augmented reality, creating the agency’s first AR development capabilities and selling sets of filters to clients like Almond Breeze.

Beyond her day-job, she has been involved in initiatives like FCB Leading Women, where she has become a mentor. “It was so helpful for me to learn from mentors that I try to find ways to offer that same kind of help to those who are younger or in the early stages of their career. Sharing those learnings definitely has a lot of importance and value.” 

Qin, who has won awards at Clio, SIAs, Strategy, ADCC and the CMAs, believes that her job should not be limited to helping brands. “Giving back to the community is also important.” She has participated as a speaker on panels for FCB’s DE&I committee, and has judged “The Verdict,” a marketing competition hosted by IPG Mediabrands and IMDOINGIT for young Black people, who work together for more than six weeks on real-world business challenges.

Her interest in helping and giving to others has also motivated her to join FCB fundraising events such as ping pong and softball tournaments, as well as teaching part-time in Humber College’s Advertising and Graphic Design program. “I enjoy figuring out what path companies need to take to reach their ultimate goal. I think I’ve been really lucky in my career to have had a lot of really great mentors and I want to try to be that person for others as well.”