creativebrief: How has your career path led you to marketing at Arsenal?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: After graduating with an MSc I moved to London with the hopes of securing a marketing assistant role in a smaller company as I wasn’t tempted by the graduate schemes. After a while, I secured a role with Milkround. I spent 18months with them, being responsible for several of their digital marketing campaigns and their social media strategy. This started my passion for youth marketing.
I wrote my MSc dissertation on how football clubs target the female audience – and having played football myself for 12 years sports has always been my passion. One day I came across a football marketing role, and after convincing the recruiter that I had the right profile my CV was shared, interviews took place and here I am!
creativebrief: Why did you choose a career in marketing?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: My dad was a big influence when I was young and he suggested that I chose marketing as an elective course during the Norwegian version of A-levels. I absolutely loved it from the start. The combination of being creative and analytical is what drew me in, and still keeps me going today.
creativebrief: What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: Passion for the industry, good understanding of consumers and being fast paced. Marketing constantly evolves so an appetite for learning is key to success in my opinion.
creativebrief: And who is a great example of this?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: Gail Gallie of Project Everyone is someone I definitely admire.
creativebrief: What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: The constant change in the environment. This sometimes means you can only be reactive rather than proactive in your approach.
creativebrief: How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: I read selected blogs, follow key influencers on Twitter and learn from my peers.
creativebrief: How does this impact your relationship with agencies?
Anne-Lise Johnsen: It doesn’t really; I believe you can gain knowledge from different sources. However I do expect my agencies to be in the know and share good case studies without me asking. I often look to my agencies for their expertise, especially in mobile with our recent app launch as well as our youth research agency.
To read the rest of the interview please click here
