European Vice President Brand Marketing – adidas
Combining a passion for sport and a passion for marketing is the simple ‘big’ idea that has lead me to spend most of my career connected to sport principally at adidas as well as Reebok, Helly Hansen and an ‘entertaining’ period at Leeds United. This followed starting my marketing career at Unilever, which not only gave me a fantastic functional grounding but crucially my first experiences of working both locally, regionally and internationally with a couple of years in Australia which were great for building perspective. It would seem I also have a passion for shoes although in truth its more about building brands. This lead to four years at Clarks, who are the definition of a company with a rich authentic history from which great stories can be told, which is often part of the recipe in building a strong brand.
My approach to marketing has always been about trying to find the sweet spot that combines the art and the science because then business effects follow. Technology has clearly enabled access to more and better data but ultimately marrying that with an idea beautifully executed that triggers an emotional response in the consumer is where the magic happens ….and in truth this can be elusive.
I am genuinely excited and honoured to be invited to be part of the judges panel and I look forward to seeing some ‘magic’ submissions .
