After graduating from university, Sophia started on the Lowe grad program and trained as a planner working across Johnson & Johnson and Innocent drinks.
She later made the move to M&C Saatchi where she stayed for the best part of a decade. The first four years Sophia worked up the rungs in account management, working across some of the most challenging and exciting accounts from Change4Life to RBS, Ladbrokes to BeatBullying. As an Account Director, she had been supporting the Global CEO, Moray MacLennan, on some international projects outside of the day job. He then asked her to work for him as Director of International Development, where she worked across network opps, global new business and marketing. While out in New York helping launch the office, Sophia was persuaded by the local team to stay, and has just returned from a two year stint in the Big Apple.
Sophia now works at Google and has taken the deep dive into Digital Media – her role entails working with agencies to ensure they are getting the best out of Google’s platforms, technology and tools.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
I’ve always had a huge interest in the arts, and took an art foundation diploma after school. Much as I loved the studio world, I also had a keen interest in business, unsurprising given my parents were entrepreneurs. I wanted a job that allowed me to do both. If I’d been a more astute teenager I might have looked at my bedroom wall (plastered in Boddingtons and Perrier posters rather than boy bands) which spelled out rather clearly where I was headed.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
If you asked me about a happy career in marketing I’d have said a passion for creative communications, an interest in human behaviour, the ability to enjoy a media landscape that is changing all the time. But success isn’t always the same as happiness, so perhaps you’d add in tenacity, guts and charm – lashings and lashings of charm and patience.
And who is a great example of this?
Carrie Hindmarsh and Eileen Naughton.
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
The rapid evolution and ceaseless change happening in ad-tech and mar-tech. Understanding how to strategically leverage cloud capabilities. Being able to sift out which data is most valuable to your brand, understanding how to segment it and use intelligent targeting to find your most valuable audience. How to deliver outstanding sequential messaging campaigns with bespoke, compelling creative. The biggest headache of all is then how to do all of the above on budget.
How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
I’m extremely lucky because at Google I live at the heart of innovation and I get to play with the tech and tools at a very early stage. I feel pretty up to speed, but I also accept that it’s impossible to know everything. I try and focus on the areas most relevant to my business, and geek out on those. I also have a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs, and I learn a lot about what’s coming up from them.
How does this impact your relationship with agencies?
It’s a privilege to be able to share new innovations with them, and they’re always excited to get their hands on an exclusive Beta, or new tools and platforms. It’s a two-way relationship though – they’re constantly being sent innovative media formats or ad-tech, so sometimes they’re the ones teaching me.
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