CB Hot Suit Takes: Jen Sharpe, Founder and Managing Director, Think HQ
CB Hot Suit Takes is our new Q&A series for extremely busy CEOs and senior leaders across the industry ~ covering careers, creativity, challenges and the song that sums it all up. Next in the hot seat is Jen Sharpe, Founder and Managing Director, Think HQ.
1. What made you get into advertising?
I didn’t enter advertising to sell more ‘stuff’. I entered it because I saw communication as the most powerful lever for positive change. Early on, I noticed a systemic hypocrisy in the industry – agencies cashing cheques from gambling or tobacco giants while using pro-bono non profit work to polish their reputations. I founded Think HQ to prove that you can build a world-class, commercial agency without the conflicting values. For us, ‘values-aligned’ isn’t a marketing buzzword – it’s the filter for every client we take on and every story we tell.
2. Which piece of work are you most proud of, and why?
We are a largely project-based business so the diversity of our output is extraordinary, so it’s hard to pick just one. There is however, a more recent project we delivered via the TAC, that lent in to all our strengths as an agency – that being completely through the line and reaching today’s Australia.
The Transport Accident Commission needed Victorians to buckle up, so we took the message somewhere unexpected: the barbershop chair. A haircut’s about more than looking sharp, it’s about connection. From that simple truth, the Cut, Colour, Click campaign was born. A first-of-its-kind road safety initiative that turned everyday appointments into lifesaving road safety conversations.
Backed by powerful creative, local partnerships, media relations, tech, in-language communications and digital storytelling, this integrated campaign started in trusted community spaces and grew into a statewide conversation.
3. What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role right now?
To hold strong on our vision and strategy, while also pivoting to incorporate the benefits of AI. We are a human-led business and always will be, so my lens is on how we can integrate AI to ensure we can grow our team, not reduce it.
It’s about crafting client solutions that incorporate great, smart humans, with the power and efficiency of AI. It’s hard to do this in an environment where the industry seems obsessed with talking about the inevitable reduction in headcount, rather than the upsides for the teams that underpin the industry’s existence. If leaders in the industry aren’t careful, good talent will wander off.
4. What’s the most recent thing you’ve learned – professionally or personally?
AI, AI, AI, AI, AI – it’s exhausting. But apart from that, I’ve recently been leaning into the importance of understanding personal emotional trigger points and how they influence leadership. Learning to sit with those uncomfortable feelings without letting them dictate business decisions has been a huge personal focus and I’ve benefited greatly. It’s also something I’m going to integrate more into the leadership culture at Think HQ: self-ownership. It makes for a far better work culture and better decisions.
5. What song best sums up your career so far?
The only way is up by Yazz.
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