“You guys are all great but Dean just sang an Effie love song over the phone……. Apparently she really gets it and Dean loves working with her. Isn’t that nice to hear.”
— Jasmin Bedir | CEO Innocean
of Dean Norbiato | General Marketing Manager Kia
Brands & Agencies
Effie has over thirteen years industry experience in Advertising & Production. She’s a multi-disciplined creative after working in various creative areas throughout her career – as a creative, art director, retoucher, designer, director’s assistant and coder. Effie has collected the know-how and skills of making and crafting work that inspires innovative problem solving and lateral thinking that shapes society.
With years of experience in client managment, brand strategy & development and creative team managment and leadership, she leaves an impression wherever she works.
She has worked on many brands at advertising agencies Innocean Australia, CHE Proximity, M&C Saatchi, in-house Yes Agency, Host/Havas, Host, DDB, Joy Agency & Arnold Furnace. Effie was a winner of B&T’s 30 under 30 in 2018 in the creative category, and awarded third worldwide with her creative partner Christian Tough in Young Glory 2015 with multiple Gold winning ideas. Her curiosity for knowledge and constant desire to learn see her constantly honing her skills through workshops, seminars, and festivals as a constant attendee at FutureLab, Semi Permanent & Rare Syd to name a few.
Effie was asked to speak at the Art Gallery of NSW’s panel by AGDA Life on the inside: The changing face of inhouse creatives where exceptional inhouse creative leads spoke about their work, their teams and the philosophy of inhouse.
Effie was also featured in Gabberish with her creative partner Christian talking all things Responsibility and what that even means in ad land.
She’s tutored AWARD School multiple times with many top 10 graduating students and aims to inspire creatives to make work that turns heads. She believes success is being able to look back and be proud of your impact. To leave a memorable impression; whether that’s in your work, on the people you meet and work with or by wearing cool sneakers.
While waiting on film set, she also beat Magda Szubanski playing a game where you shoot a ball of paper into the bin from afar. Magda was pretty proud of her.
Quotes
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Charlotte Berry, Copywriter Innocean Australia
I first met Effie in the CHEP Creative Department in 2019. As a junior creative, she was someone I instantly looked up to. Four years later I am lucky enough to call her my mentor - or “Hawkeye” for short.
This may sound like an overstatement, but Effie has been one of the most transformative figures of my career. After being made redundant in COVID-19, I faced a creative identity crisis, seriously questioning whether I was good enough to make it in this industry. As a creative, confidence is everything - and mine was non-existent. A year on, we began working at Innocean together where Effie took me under her wing. Slowly, slowly she began rebuilding belief in myself before spearheading a permanent move back into the creative department with her understated “Prove them wrong” mentality.
In a sea of egos and overcomplicated slides, Effie teaches our department to sit, listen and trust our instincts. Nothing is as complex as some want us to believe - a brilliant idea isn’t at arm’s length, it’s right next to you. I go back to the word ‘confidence’ because this is what is so unique about Effie: her ability to help people recognise the value in their ideas, and in turn, within themselves. For two years, we have worked in close partnership across Fck the Cupcakes, Australian Marine Conservation Society, Minderoo and KIA, building concepts into award winning campaigns. Effie instils equal levels of craft and empathy in everything she touches - teaching by doing.
Effie Kacopieros is the true definition of a mentor. For this, I am forever grateful.
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Georgie Parchert, Copywriter & Lachlan Rotherham, Art Director • Innocean Australia Creative team
For the past year we have had the privilege and pleasure of working with Effie as our mentor and creative director. Throughout this time, we have worked with her across everything from large scale productions to quick fire retail, with the same level of thoughtfulness and care taken across every brief.
Effie is always an advocate for creative thinking, perfecting the balance of trusting teams to do the work and guiding creatives in the right direction. This trust not only empowers each of us to do great work, but it instils an absolute confidence to push our thinking without the risk of failure. By knowing we have her complete trust, it goes without saying that there’s an eagerness to always deliver on the mutual respect that she has created between herself and her creative teams to create great work.
Effie's approach to leadership breaks through the pressure cooker environment that creative departments can often have, reassuring us of the light-hearted nature of what we do and always ensuring that we always have the tools we need to succeed, whether it’s long lead times or crystal-clear briefs.
But Effie’s respect and sincerity extends beyond the work, prioritising people and giving credit where credit is due. This includes consistently checking in on teams and individuals, assuring us that no matter how busy she might be, she always has time for us.
Working with Effie for the past year has accelerated our personal and professional growth, and we can’t overstate how appreciative we are for her mentorship.
