consumer tech
& automotive
CMO, Samsung Europe (for work at Audi)
Benjamin Braun
Delivering aspirational and memorable creative can be hard in automotive but an inherent sense of style and image set the work Benjamin Braun oversaw at Audi apart. Audi has become a byword for outstanding creative and Braun has been behind much of the awardwinning work, alongside agency BBH. Its ‘Clowns’ ad won a clutch of awards including a Cannes Lion and the Grand Prix at the IPA Effectiveness Awards. The ads are not just beautiful, the car brand grew three times faster than the total UK car market and two-and-a-half times faster than Audi globally.
Braun was also lauded for reinventing Audi’s events strategy, transforming the digital experience and changing its media approach. He increased the car brand’s 2018 investment in Facebook and Instagram on the back of a successful campaign in 2017. He also aimed to create as beautiful a digital experience as customers would experience in dealerships, and brought IBM on board to deal with the 87,000 visits to audi.co.uk and kickstart the company’s digital transformation.
Blake Cahill
SVP, head of digital marketing and ecommerce, Philips
Blake Cahill takes a scientific and data-led approach to marketing to consumers, and a consumer approach to marketing to business, as he manages the dual challenge of talking to two audiences across a diverse range of territories and needs. Cahill has overseen both the B2B and B2C aspects of Philips’ digital marketing output, covering products from MRI scanners, to breast pumps and electric toothbrushes. That has enabled him to create a more unified brand experience across the wide range of products and country markets, leading to better customer engagement and less wastage on duplicate resources and brand assets.
Cahill has also found that social media can have a powerful impact. Philips now uses shoppable social posts and influencers, for example, on its Avent babycare products, while LinkedIn has proved critical to its ability to convert and sell. Philips is also improving customer engagement through tech by ‘gamifying’ toothbrushing and using chatbots to support online interactions.
Cheryl Calegari
VP marketing EMEA, Beats
Cheryl Calegari is a marketer of international pedigree, having spent her career with brands at the cutting edge of cultural relevance. Joining Beats in 2015, she has made the most of the company’s sports assets, running the Beats Collective, a group of influential tastemakers. A collaboration with Rio Ferdinand produced a documentary about Moscow street football. Meanwhile, its partnership with boxer Anthony Joshua, #Abovethenoise, generated 3.1 million views and the company is now building one-to-one relationships with influencers across Berlin, London and Paris.
It has also used this collective to promote women’s sport, identifying key athletes and influential teams ahead of the Women’s World Cup to engage with youth culture. Away from sport, Beats launched a campaign matching food to music on the fine dining scene, which culminated in a special one-off dinner by chef Tom Sellers served to a playlist by Professor Green.
Paul Davies
Consumer marketing director, Microsoft
In his role at Microsoft, Paul Davies is responsible for consumer marketing on a brand portfolio that includes household names such as Windows, Surface, Office, Bing and MSN. Managing more than 20 campaigns a year, he has taken a less tech-focused approach to advertising in a bid to stand out from the competition. For the launch of the Surface Pro 6, for example, Microsoft created a Banksy-style add with Shadow Posters that didn’t actually feature the product but instead showed it sprayed on to walls.
That advertising has helped Microsoft reframe its brand image among consumers so it is once again seen as a tech leader. Davies has also spoken extensively on the issue of diversity, both in terms of the make-up of his teams and how it targets consumers. That has seen it abandon industry norms in favour of targeting customers by use and adoption of technology, whatever their age or status.
Andrew Garrihy
CMO, Huawei
Andrew Garrihy’s focus on Huawei’s standout handset innovation is driving rapid growth for the hitherto relatively unknown brand in the UK market. Despite political machinations, there is growing consumer enthusiasm for Huawei’s innovative technology and the brand is starting to take share from Apple and Samsung – at one point becoming the second largest mobile phone maker globally.
Garrihy attributes this to the focus on making “a meaningful difference in the markets in which we operate” and the importance of partnerships like the one with Leica that underlines the handset’s USP in cameras. It has also taken a different approach to advertising compared to the rest of the sector. To promote its camera capabilities, Huawei created a photography competition judged by AI, for example. Using AI is very much a theme for Garrihy, with Huawei recently staging a concert of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony – finished by AI. AI has serious applications too. Huawei has launched an app, StorySign, to help deaf children and their parents learn to read together.
Giles Gordon
Marketing director, Dyson
With a background in beauty and haircare, Giles Gordon might have seemed like an unusual choice to head up marketing for a brand once known exclusively for vacuum cleaners. But with Dyson’s expansion aross personal care and wellbeing, it becomes clear he is the right man for the job. And with his leadership, the brand’s Supersonic hair dryers and AirWrap styler have quickly become hugely sought-after products. It is a strategy that is already paying off, with the UK manufacturer boasting record profits in 2018, up 33% to £1.1bn.
As well as haircare, Dyson is also making its mark in the air-purifying space and as part of a wider marketing push is working with City Hall and King’s College London on an initiative called Breathe London. Dyson has built mobile sensor technology for the study, to monitor the air pollution inner-city children are exposed to on their daily commute. Gordon is also non-executive director and trustee of the National Youth Ballet of Great Britain, where he advises on all aspects of marketing strategy and broader governance.
David Hilbert
Marketing director, Kia Motors UK
With a reputation for being small and wallet-friendly, it can be hard to bring a brand out of a niche once consumers have happily pigeonholed it. However, David Hilbert has managed to subvert assumptions about the Kia brand. Thanks to some savvy brand-building, Kia is shaking off its budget image and entering mid-market success. Its best-selling model in 2018 by quite some way was the Sportage with prices ranging from £20,000 to £35,000. It is also beating the downward trend, increasing European sales by 4.7% in 2018 while UK car sales fell 6.8%.
As well as a high-profile TV campaign featuring Robert de Niro for its Niro model, Hilbert is also keen to keep Kia front of mind through experiential and sponsorship, from an AR experience in one of London’s busiest commuter stations, to its partnership with the English Women’s Cricket Super League. Hilbert is also behind the new MyKia loyalty scheme, which provides higher levels of roadside and insurance protection than ever before.
Anthony Ireson
Director of marketing communications, Ford of Europe
An innovative and irreverent approach to conveying ideas sets apart Anthony Ireson’s work for Ford. He has been behind some of the most eye-opening campaigns and pilots used to market cars’ defining, if sometimes boring, features. To demonstrate its Pre-Collison Assist technology, for example, rather than going for tyre-squealing drama, he had a self-braking shopping trolley created. To illustrate its Active Noise Control technology, meanwhile, the brand made a noise-cancelling dog kennel.
He also created a first-of-its-kind installation that uses AI to interact with people about what they focus on in life, with their passions then displayed across 540 LED video tiles that spell the word Focus. The attention-grabbing nature of these campaigns have generated much coverage, highlighting Ford’s innovative and playful nature. While Ireson oversees marketing across Europe, he also ensures his teams in each market have the autonomy they need to ensure campaigns are always locally relevant.
Michelle Roberts
UK marketing director, BMW Group
Michelle Roberts has risen up through the ranks from BMW graduate to UK marketing director where she now leads a team of more than 50, securing herself a reputation as one of the automotive industry’s most influential women. In a sector normally so dependent on the cinematic quality of its ads to sell cars, BMW has taken a mobile-first stance to widen its audience, introducing ‘snackable’ content on mobile devices to reach both existing and potential customers. This means extending content beyond automotive and into lifestyle, design, innovation and fashion.
Roberts won the Autocar Great British Women award for marketing in 2018, which she says is a career highlight. She received the award for her career progression over the previous two years, which saw her rise from head of marketing for the Mini brand, to a German-speaking role as head of international brand and communications management and then back to the UK as marketing director for BMW UK.
Simon Sproule
CMO, Aston Martin Lagonda
Simon Sproule is a consummate automotive brand marketer, helping Aston Martin become the world’s fastest-growing auto brand at the start of last year. He has been central to the brand’s strategy to bring on board new models, including an SUV, enabling Aston Martin to appeal to a broader audience, particularly women. This is a big departure from its James Bond heritage and has involved an all-female advisory board set up by CEO Andy Palmer. However, Sproule is careful to focus on similarities between the genders, rather than differences.
Working with world-renowned photographers such as Rankin and Nick Knight has helped maintain Aston Martin’s exclusivity, while partnerships with brands including Hilton, Beats by Dre and Red Bull have driven mass appeal. Most marketers have to work with what they’re given, but Sproule has also been involved in product direction. His CEO credits him and the company’s design chief with coming up with the idea to make Lagonda models all-electric, giving it unique brand positioning in the super-premium sector.
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The growing appeal of second-party data
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