About

I'm Christie Gray. I lead brand identity and design at Kimberly-Clark, where I'm responsible for some of the world's most recognised consumer brands — including Andrex (No.19 in Britain's Greatest Brands) and Kleenex.

I've spent fifteen years building brands. Brands with a clear identity, a story worth telling, and the kind of trust that compounds over time. Andrex. Kleenex. OVO Energy. Carlsberg. Coca-Cola. Clarks. Minute Maid.

I've spent all of it inside the work — the briefs, the boardrooms, the quiet decisions that decide whether a brand actually means something. That's what Field Notes of a Creative Director is about: brave brand work, the cultural fluency it takes to make it land, and the recognition dynamics that decide which people get seen for it.

Sharp thinking on brave brands, and the clarity it takes to build them.

What I believe

A brand isn't a logo, a tone of voice, or a campaign.
It's a story with a human insight at its heart and a single thread running through every decision. Get the story right and the system follows.

Brave brand work isn't made at the shoot.
It's set up upstream, at the brief, in the boardroom, in the quiet decisions that get made before anyone touches the creative. That's where the work is either set up to be brilliant or set up to fail.

The strongest brands survive internally.
They survive boardroom compromise, retailer pressure, leadership change, and shifting strategy. Not because the work was untouchable, but because someone in the room believed the story enough to sell it.

AI is changing how brands get made, but not what makes them matter.
Tools are becoming abundant. Judgment, taste, and a clear point of view are becoming scarce.
The brands that will hold up over the next decade are the ones with humans who know what they stand for and why.

Recognition

D&AD Wood Pencil - Creative Review Best in Book - Brand Impact Awards Winner (FMCG, Beer/Wine/Spirits) - The Drum Awards - Gold (Kleenex Å~ Mr Doodle) - Canadian Packaging Awards Winner (Minute Maid) - Creativepool Annual Bronze - The Dieline Bronze

The Work Behind it

  • Leading 360 brand identity for Kleenex, Andrex and the wider International Family Care and Professional portfolio. Evolving legacy brands without losing what made them legacy.

  • Delivered 30%+ uplifts in brand awareness and consideration through global rebrand. Built and led the in-house creative studio from the ground up.

  • Independent design and 3D moving image studio. Brand creation, propositions and art direction across FMCG.

  • Brand campaigns and brand collaborations including Marvel, Disney and National Geographic.

  • Carlsberg K.benhavn Collection — D&AD Wood Pencil, +6% commercial sales uplift, longest-running limited edition in the brand's history. Minute Maid global redesign across 1,000+ SKUs.

  • Packaging design for Accolade Wines, Diageo, William Grant & Sons.