Tools of the Trade is a new AgencySpy feature to help highlight the many tools that help make advertising and marketing folks successful. The tools can be anything that helps people perform at their top form, from a favorite drafting table to the best software program to a lucky pen, a vintage typewriter or a pair of headphones.
Next up is Heather Physioc, Chief Discoverability Officer at VMLY&R in Kansas City.
Heather Physioc of VMLY&R holds up her Trello board.
What is one tool you use all the time at work, and how does it inspire your work?
I’m obsessed with Trello—it’s a simple, Kanban-style project management space and an amazing backbone for just about anything I need to accomplish.
Why is it your favorite?
I have been using Trello to manage my professional and personal projects for years and nothing has pulled me away yet. It takes almost no time to set up, teach others to use, and get to work. I’m all about centralizing information to make a decentralized team successful. I use it in my browser, in the desktop app and in the mobile app. I have leaned on Trello board to organize big projects, as small as a single professional conference talk to as big as planning my wedding. A decade ago, I used it to manage all of my small business team’s work through Trello. Now, I still use it to facilitate killer work across a more than 60-person, multi-disciplinary, international search marketing team. It’s so seamless.
How did you acquire your tool or hear about it for the first time?
As a chronic over-committer, I always have way too many irons in the fire, so I think it appealed to me in a big way to simplify my life when it got launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011.
How does it help you be successful?
It creates a little bit of zen in a wild, distracted world. It has helped me scale one venture to another. It helps my team feel more connected and collaborative, even as the world has gone hybrid and our agency continues to grow around the world. It helps us stay communicative and accountable. It helps us accomplish great things.
Does it have sentimental value?
Not so sentimental, but I’ll always be thankful for the things we achieved with it.
Do you think your tool could go TikTok viral? Why or why not?
I can’t promise it’ll go viral, but there is a mass of Trello superfans on TikTok sharing their best tips and ways to use it.
We want to know what tools you use to make you successful. If you’d like to contribute or know someone who would want to be featured in Tools of the Trade, contact kyle.obrien@adweek.com and fill out our survey.