What do I build?
Brand strategy
I start with Business, Sales and Marketing objectives (refining and even creating them if necessary). I then establish from those how best to employ the brand in order to most efficiently achieve them. Meanwhile I seek to uncover insights to use develop and establish the brand's positioning. This in turn forms the groundwork for a brand's identity, informs the development of a tailored communications platform and establishes a means to evaluate creative and media ideas to execute against the objectives.
All to get them queuing out of your door.
What do I build?
Branded communications
A solid brand strategy should clearly indicate what the appropriate communication should be. If any. Nike wants everybody to feel like an athlete and so tells us to just do it. The subsequent selection of the right message then informs the appropriate media. We then enter a cycle. Message informs media informs message and so on until the plan is optimised. The final task is to ensure that the communication is briefed accurately and the creative idea delivered is an appropriate response to it. Shouting rarely gets heard.
Career
Mighty atoms 2022 - Present
Chief Marketing Officer 2022- present
Partner in Marketing consultancy that supports SMEs in Marketing and communications.
CC works 2020 - Present
Brand strategy director (part time) 2020- present
Consultant partner in F&B concept agency realising projects like the Food department in the Magna plaza.
Bose Corporation 2012-2020
Global brand & marketing strategy manager 2019 – 2020
Responsible for Global brand strategy and marketing planning for the automotive division. ($1B revenue)
Global brand manager 2018 - 2019
Member of the Global brand strategy team. Accountable for Global brand integration into Corporation.
Global marketing planner 2015 - 2018
Responsible for setting Global marketing strategic objectives and driving their precise execution ($250m budget)
Creative planner 2014 - 2015
Responsible for setting major campaign communications objectives and writing Global creative briefs
European marketing program manager 2012 – 2014
Responsible for driving planning and coordination of marketing programs within personal audio category
J Walter Thompson 2011-2012
Client service director 2011-2012
Responsible for JWT int. (Moscow) Russian account management team Lead on MTS (Russia’s largest brand by revenue $9.7B, telecoms) and VTB (Russia’s 2nd largest bank)
Wieden + Kennedy 2009-2010
Client service director 2009-2010
Accountable for client management and development of Global brand campaigns for Heineken & Honda
Design bridge 2008-2009
Business development director 2008-2009
Responsible for new business development within Europe and Africa. Member of management team
Bugaboo 2006-2008
UK Marketing manager 2006-2008
Oversaw full strategy and implementation of all marketing activities within UK & Ireland. UK & Irish revenue increased 12.4% (from a base of €12m) between 2006 & 2007
Campbells grocery products 2001-2006
Senior brand manager – new ventures team 2004-2006
Cross functional new ventures team selected to fast launch no1 UK priority brand (£3m budget)
Senior brand manager – Campbell’s soup 2003-2004
Developed and delivered brand plan for Campbells soup UK (£2.3m budget)
Customer development manager (Sales) 2002-2003
Responsible for Iceland, Costco, Netto and discounter accounts to deliver £4.5m (vs £4m target)
Brand manager – Batchelors Cup a Soup 2001-2002
Management of UK no.1 instant soup brand (£68m rev., £4.2m budget) Oversaw full strategy and implementation of all marketing activities within UK & Ireland. UK & Irish revenue increased 12.4% (from a base of €12m) between 2006 & 2007
Bass plc (Graduate scheme) - Britvic soft drinks/Pepsi 1998-2001
Brand manager – tango 1998-2001
Management of UK 2nd largest soft drink brand (£83m rev., £6.4m budget)
Education
1995-1998 University of Newcastle upon Tyne
BA (Hons) Business management (2:1)
1988-1995 Loughborough Grammar school
4 A levels, 1 S level, 8 GCSE
Work
Build substance
Hearing is an undervalued sense. One that you take for granted but also one that can be a central tool to enable you to live your life fully. It can help you to focus or relax, to run or sit still. This insight formed the cornerstone during my time at Bose and drove us to express the power of hearing as substance, and the strength of Bose products in delivering it. At a time when the competition was focused superficially on style, this particularly resonated: Substance over style. This ad, which was briefed by my team highlighted noise cancellation as an impressive technology. But only valuable when you connect it with its true benefit: the blissful experience of getting close to your music and away from it all.
Build difference
Bugaboo not only disrupted the market for strollers, but reinvigorated the whole nursery category. What had been an uninspiring necessity for tired parents became an aspirational way to retain your identity and independence just when your new responsibilities threatened to take them away. This positioning was developed within the UK market that I was responsible for (alongside the US) and was ignited with bold PR and carefully selected product placement. By treating the purchase very much like how families considered a new car it also gave a role for new fathers in the often bewildering world that is parenting.
Build partnerships
Finding common ground between two already iconic brands in Bose and Mercedes AMG F1 and giving that relationship relevance, required careful surgery. After exploration my team arrived at some common truths: both of us valued the rewards that come from precision engineering and the importance of sound to our chosen fields. Technology is often impressive. But the steel and microchips themselves leave us cold. The brief we wrote looked to find the humanity in the pursuit of excellence and combine that with the raw human thrill of the sound. Once we had pinpointed that the partnership was cemented and over more than five years has developed into a synergy that produced content that engaged. Millions liked it.
Build loyalty
By the late noughties Heineken had undisputed Global awareness. But to know of them was not necessarily to know them. Research showed that the awareness was not being converted into loyalty, because consumers felt that the brand was aloof and not close to them. Whilst at W+K I worked in the team that created "the man who knows". An attempt to open up the brand and expose its character. An undoubtedly cool and talented guy who everybody loves and loves to be around. Putting Heineken in the centre of the party. The ad and its accompanying soundtrack immediately summoned a following.