Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, interviews Bev Ridyard, Head of Airline Marketing for Manchester Airports Group and Marketing Academy 2010 alumni.
Bev has been working in marketing for over seven years. She has always been passionate about challenging marketing roles – either partnership marketing, marketing someone else’s product or marketing products which are perceived by some as less glamorous. She has worked her way up from Marketing Executive at Halifax/Bank of Scotland to Marketing Manager at Bupa Care Homes, then onto marketing car parks for Manchester Airport (yes car parks!) to now being responsible for all airline marketing across three UK airports. She has been exceptionally honoured to have been in the inaugural year of The Marketing Academy which has transformed her life both professionally and personally.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
As soon as I went through my marketing module for A Level Business Studies, I just knew it was for me! The mix of creative, analytical and commercial sides appealed to me.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
Three things:
- Knowing your numbers. Driving home commercial results and not just talking ‘ROI’ but demonstrating it day after day. We all know ROI can be difficult to measure and we feel the pressure of time restrictions between campaigns but it is so important to then feed this information to other business functions, which may just change their perception of what marketing can do!
- A passion for innovating.
- Working with amazing people who share your passion and want to make positive change.
And who is a great example of this?
Gosh, that is a tough one! I have met so many amazing people through The Marketing Academy in particular it is hard to pick one. If I had to I would say Amanda Mackenzie. She is truly, truly authentic, inspires and supports, drives change and is a genuinely nice person.
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
It has to be showing commercial value, linked to changing (some peoples) perception of marketing. If I was given a pound for every time someone said I worked in the colouring in department….
How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
I push myself personally to read something new every day. Whether it be a magazine, blog, book, email I take the best bits and see how I can also take this back into the business and see how we could learn from it.
To read the rest of the interview please click here
