Consumer tech, manufacturing, property and automotive

Consumer tech, automotive, & manufacturing

CMO Europe Samsung Electronics From signing sponsorship deals to developing new creative and immersive experiences, Benjamin Braun wants his marketers to be on the front foot. In February, Samsung outlined its ambition to create retail experiences fit for the post-pandemic world, dialling up its investment in experiential marketing for the opening of the Galaxy Experience Space in London. To launch its S23 model, Samsung partnered with ITV presenters Olly Murs and Fleur East for a Saturday night spot showcasing the phone’s capabilities, part of a wider launch strategy spanning radio and content on gaming site Twitch. Braun’s marketers have also been busy inking a one-year sponsorship of Channel 4 show Sunday Brunch to promote Samsung’s home appliances, alongside releasing the latest ad in the ‘Join the flip side’ campaign aimed at driving demand for the brand’s foldable phones. Describing himself as “unapologetically dyslexic”, Braun wants his marketing peers to recognise the “untapped potential of a neurodiverse workforce”. He also joined Samsung’s Tech Together event in June, focused on digital inclusion for people with visible and invisible disabilities.■

Benjamin Braun

Director, European digital marketing Enterprise Rent-A-Car Having garnered experience at Facebook, Rackspace and agency side at Digitas, Charles Dodd assumed his current role as digital marketing boss at car rental business Enterprise in 2018. Describing himself as a specialist in developing data-driven digital marketing strategies, Dodd oversees website merchandising, SEO, programmatic display, analytics and conversion rate optimisation across the company. A month into taking on his role at Enterprise, Dodd’s team renewed an ongoing partnership with UEFA to sponsor the Europa League tournament. Now also a sponsor of the UEFA Europa Conference League competition, UEFA claims Enterprise has built “considerable” brand equity among fans across Europe by launching both pan-European and individual market promotions each football season. The business decided to tap into fan stories with its ‘All Roads Lead To Thursday’ campaign, a play on the day of the week the Europa League tournament is staged. Offering football fans special car rental rates, access to tickets and VIP match day experiences, Enterprise credits sport with having played a key role in the growth of its brand across Europe.■

Charles Dodd

Head of global marketing, growth and insights Spirax Sarco A marketer with more than 20 years’ experience across businesses ranging from Nestlé to HSBC, Alexandra Ip joined engineering giant Spirax Sarco in August 2022 tasked with driving sustainable growth. A major part of her role involves helping to “nurture” trust for the brand as a leader in decarbonisation and energy optimisation projects. This push has seen Spirax Sarco – a specialist in technology harnessing thermal energy – commit to hit net zero by 2030 as part of its ‘One Planet: Engineering with Purpose’ strategy. The business continues to invest in marketing. Introducing a dual brand strategy has proven “highly successful” for Spirax Sarco’s steam specialties business, helping align each brand with its chosen growth sectors. In May, the organisation claimed to have driven “historically high” order levels within its steam specialties division. Last year also saw the launch of several “customer value propositions” focused on decarbonisation and net zero products for advanced thermal tech brand Chromalox, which required a marketing refresh. Spirax Sarco believes it is now on track to deliver double-digit sales growth across the group in 2023.■

Alexandra Ip

Bonnie Pelosi

Michelle Roberts

Izabela Santos

Jon White

Peter Zillig

European marketing director Canon Boasting more than 16 years’ experience at Canon, Susie Donaldson heads a team of 40 marketers with a remit spanning strategy, content, data analytics and customer experience. Despite the tough macroeconomic environment, her team contributed to Canon Europe enjoying a 16.7% sales rise to 254bn Yen (£1.4bn) during the first quarter of 2023. In a bid to engage customers, the brand launched a European-wide membership programme in December. Boasting more than 11,000 members, the Canon Club programme provides users with a personalised homepage curated to reflect their interests and skills, as well exclusive content and an overview of benefits earned. By engaging with the community, users earn points to move through three membership tiers, unlocking benefits and discounts on selected Canon products, as well as promotions with brand partners. One such partner is Red Bull, which teamed up with Canon in June to transform the Natural History Museum into a skatepark. Content from the ‘Skate the Museum’ campaign went live on the company’s YouTube channel, as well as Red Bull TV and the Red Bull Skateboarding YouTube page.■

Susie Donaldson

Michaela Maerkl

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Head of marketing Europe AP Moller - Maersk Michaela Maerkl has headed up marketing for Europe at Maersk since 2019. In that time, changing perceptions has been high on the agenda, as the business repositions from shipping giant to leading brand within logistics and supply chain management. To drive this transformtion, Maersk released its latest global brand campaign 'Discover New Paths' in March. The creative depicts a logistics professional on a perilous journey to deliver valuable cargo, aided on her mission by a Maersk employee. This was supported by regional marketing activations to bring the logistics offering to life. Looking to the world of B2C for inspiration, Maersk views creative brand building as a “transformative” means of achieving its vision, with the new campaign reflecting the change afoot. As a result, Maersk claims to be forging stronger connections with customers. The business notched up 11% growth in its logistics and services division over the past 12 months, 74% of which came from its top 200 customers, including Asos, which in February signed a multi-year supply chain management partnership with Maersk. In a bid to increase customer centricity, the business implemented a new organisational structure in January based on 15 areas of responsibility, spanning strategy, product and tech.■

CMO Microsoft UK Having joined Microsoft UK as CMO in September 2022, Bonnie Pelosi leads on all marketing and brand strategy with a view to delivering growth for the tech giant. With Microsoft focused on leading the new AI platform shift, it has used 'leading in an era of AI' as a theme to accelerate companies' success in this area. AI has been at the centre of its biggest events this year as the tech giant looks to captivate the market and maximise reach ahead of launches such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is set to be generally available in November. Pelosi’s team worked to promote the annual Microsoft Ignite tech conference, which in 2022 took place in Manchester under the theme ‘Spotlight on the UK’. Microsoft’s UK marketers also developed a campaign raising awareness of how technology supports people with dyslexia. The ‘Be You’ campaign featured in-person and virtual workshops hosted by retailer Currys, demonstrating how tech can break down barriers for neurodiverse children and adults.■

UK marketing director BMW Fostering partnerships across the cultural landscape has been a major focus for Michelle Roberts over the past year. Reprising its partnership with the Cannes Film Festival for 2023, the car marque joined forces with the British Film Institute in March on the BMW Filmmaking Challenge. Tasked with creating a short film on the theme of ‘Evolving Perspectives’, the winning filmmaker’s work will appear at the BFI London Film Festival in October. Meanwhile, April saw the staging of the BMW Classics 2023 free concert in Trafalgar Square, marking the 12th year of collaboration between BMW and the London Symphony Orchestra. The company also hosted its second ‘iPitch with Purpose’ event celebrating progressive leaders in partnership with female members network AllBright, continued its collaboration with British Vogue on the ‘Forces for Change’ initiative and enhanced its three-year tie-up with National Parks UK. Investing in immersive experiences has been another priority over the past 12 months. Roberts praised BMW’s “hugely successful week” at October’s Frieze Art Fair, which featured an installation inspired by the BMW i7 electric saloon.■

Strategy and marketing director, Halma plc Ampac Company Describing herself as a specialist in delivering commercially driven marketing strategies, Izabela Santos joined B2B tech giant Halma in 2021 with a seat on the executive board. The organisation, which develops technology for healthcare, safety and environmental analysis, enjoyed its 20th consecutive year of profit growth in 2023. Adjusted profit before tax rose 14% to £361.3m during the 2022/2023 financial year, with revenue up 21% to £1.85bn. The business remains on track to meet its aspiration of doubling profitability every five years. Halma views strategic communications and brand as one of its seven core growth drivers. With this direction, the company seeks to help its portfolio of more than 45 businesses worldwide build their brands, understand the market needs and “develop leading positions”, using the endorsement of the Halma brand. From a social purpose perspective, the company continues to invest in partnerships. Halma’s ‘Water for Life’ campaign saw the business join forces with water charity WaterAid in March to give more than 10,000 people in northern India access to clean drinking water.■

CMO RS Group Change is afoot at industrial products business RS Group, which under Jon White’s leadership has embarked on a rebrand, refreshed visual identity and team rejig. This year the company rebranded all its B2B businesses under the RS name, consolidating the product and service portfolio under a single unified identity. The rebrand followed a review of the brand architecture, designed to unify seven businesses and move from a house of brands to a branded house. RS Group has also invested in “detailed” user analytics to enhance its digital customer experience and in-depth analysis of the customer base. Strong performance across EMEA in the year to 31 March was driven by improving the customer journey for larger industrial customers, pushing digital revenue up 16%. Meanwhile, the decision was taken to integrate the sales and marketing teams in the Americas, which helped drive a 34% increase in sales of the group’s solutions products. Notching up a £371.5m pre-tax profit in 2023 – up 23% on 2022 – RS Group claims to continue to “outperform” the market.■

Director of marketing Ford Europe Ford’s European business is enjoying an exciting 2023. Described by Peter Zillig as representing Ford’s “adventurous spirit”, in June the car brand unveiled the campaign for its all-electric Explorer 1 in collaboration with Disney and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Referencing the imagery and music from the film franchise, the campaign launched across TV, social, digital, radio and outdoor ahead of the movie’s European cinema release dates. The tie-up will see travel influencer Lexie Alford undertake a round-the-world journey in the Ford Explorer later this year. Earlier in May, the car brand unveiled its “new vision” for customer experience across Europe, spanning online showrooms, virtual test drives and transparent pricing. Sponsorships are also on the agenda. In January, Ford inked a three-year title partnership with cycling festival RideLondon, playing into its wider ambition to reach carbon neutrality by 2035. Ford’s European operations are contributing to overall business success. Reporting its first quarter results in May, Ford claimed reorganising operations around distinct customer groups is driving growth, as revenue rose 20% from 2022 to hit $41.5bn (£32.3bn).■

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