At last! I have joined The Value Engineers after stalking them for over a decade. Initially we had the pleasure of working together on market and competitor analysis and organisational transformation within EA, which quickly evolved into projects on digital transformation, rich content creation and audience engagement.
I have always endeavoured to be an innovator for digital audience engagement, with now over 20 years’ experience building brands online, globally.
Working with an amazing team of colleagues, we pioneered digital strategies and transformational collaboration at EA, launching over 200 websites in 20 languages, visited by over 350mm annual visitors; to then launching and growing several 40mm+ social marketing groups across Europe for titles including EA SPORTS FIFA, Battlefield, Need for Speed and The Sims.
However, I’m easily distracted so, for me, variety is the spice of life. I’m lucky enough that my experiences have covered marketing agencies, entertainment and technology industries, consulting and marketing strategy, from start-ups to global brands via digital agencies, winning a variety of social and marketing awards along the way. I am most proud of the team being awarded the “No.1 Social Brand in UK’s Top 100” in 2013 for EA’s Battlefield.
I started my career in the world of direct marketing and promotions agencies, for brands like Heineken, Marlboro, Honda, the BBC and Waitrose, at agencies including Tequila and JKD, whilst waiting for the internet to be invented. I was lured from poaching into gamekeeping with the role of Director of Web & Communities for Europe, at Electronic Arts (EA), which was a fascinating time as social marketing went ballistic.
I like to think of myself as a creative, analytical, digital marketing strategist with a commitment to boundary-pushing innovation which engages and inspires audiences and influences their behaviour. Or something.
If you pressed me, my ethos would be “Make things remarkable by design, to inspire change.”
The same search for variety is true of my hobbies – I am is still trying new adventures, having dipped my toe in the waters of scuba diving, water-skiing, off-piste skiing and windsurfing. I am now on to motorcycle trackdays and riding off-road, from Cambodian jungles and the Kwazulu-Natal valleys in South Africa, searching the next thrill. In the meantime, teaching my teenage daughter to drive is proving an extreme sport.