How has your career path led you to marketing at Lloyds Banking Group?
It’s certainly far from straightforward – some dabbling in journalism and arts marketing to begin with, then found myself in an Austrian telco start up doing content marketing and a bit of sponsorship; that was then bought by Orange and they needed someone to lead the external communications for the rebrand to Orange. I can’t have messed that up too badly, Orange global hired me to move to London where I did Global Sponsorship strategy for 28 markets, and then managed their first pan-European sponsorship for EURO 2012. After that, I joined EE to help launch their new brand, and then decided that I’d seen most of Telco and wanted to try my hands at a new problem: banking brands.
Fascinating, to go from young tech brands to a brand with a 250 year history, and also a brand that was at the time marred by the financial crisis and had to fight a battle to regain a share of the public’s trust.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
The constant newness of the next exciting project (that may contain things or technologies I haven’t got the slightest clue about and need to figure out how to work with first), combined with the long-term commitment of running a brand and developing and growing it is a very attractive proposition. And for me, marketing is about storytelling, in many guises. If I get to do that, I’m happy.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
Believe in what you and what your brand are doing. Believe in your customers to do the right thing, and encourage them to do it. The magic point of success sits where those three intersect, and create commercially relevant actions from your customers. If you can do that time and again, and stay hungry (with a large dose of foolish), what’s to stop you from having a brilliant career?
And who is a great example of this?
Well, one of my all-time icons is Wally Olins. He’s had a pretty good run, wouldn’t you say? Other great marketers are the YBA, people like Tracy Emin – may not be the traditional marketer you think of, but I can’t think of a better example of authentic brand marketing!
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
That people don’t want to be marketed to, simple as that. Marketing must evolve, and brands must evolve, to be in a constant, truly meaningful two-way conversation with people (and I say people, and not customers on purpose!). To stay relevant in a time when people are exponentially more flooded with brands in more channels, so that marketing becomes background white noise, and you’re really competing for people’s time they spend with you. How can you add something valuable to people’s lives, and make them want to spend time with your brand, that’s the challenge.
How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
I think it’s part of my job to keep up with technological developments and innovation in comms, with the latest thinking on brands and how to interact with customers better – to their benefit, and to the benefit of the brand I’m working on. Talking to people about their experience and what they think the next big thing is going to be is the lion’s share of how I keep up, and reading, of course.
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