online &
disruptors
UK director of consumer marketing, Google
Graham Bednash
Google is far more than a search engine and it is down to Graham Bednash to demonstrate how consumers can get the most from the business and all it has to offer. Responsible for consumer marketing and creative strategy, his remit covers everything from search and brand to Pixel, Google Home and Chromebook.
Bednash upended the way smartphones are marketed with Pixel 2, asking influencers to document their day using the handset, with the resulting photography used to create a 32-page magazine. It was claimed to be the first magazine to be produced solely on a smartphone. More recently, he was behind the launch of the Curiosity Rooms, a five-week residency in London spanning fashion, food and tech-themed experiences to support the launch of Pixel 3. Bednash is focused on training the next generation of digital experts, having spearheaded the launch of Google’s Digital Garage, a project to help people learn about digital through free online courses.
Joe Cross
Global marketing and PR, TransferWise
Joe Cross is on a mission to change how people send money around the world, with trust and transparency key to the message. Having launched in 2010 to disrupt the foreign exchange market, the peer-to-peer money transfer service has been in profit for the past two years. Last year, it saw revenues grow by more than 75%, with part of this growth thanks to its ‘borderless’ bank account, which allows consumers and businesses to store money in different currencies.
The company’s success is also highlighted by the fact the business is on a hiring spree. Cross, who is a specialist in growth, having worked for a number of startups across financial services, retail and travel, is looking to build the marketing team to drive its next wave of development. Partnerships are also critical to TransferWise’s expansion, with one such tie-up with fellow fintech disruptor Monzo particularly important. The two brands have joined forces to offer a cheap, fast and simple transfer experience by integrating the TransferWise service directly into the bank’s app.
Peter Duffy
Chief customer officer and interim CEO, Just Eat
Peter Duffy understands that it is the commonalities different nations share that help marketers build a truly global brand efficiently and effectively. He joined Just Eat as its first chief customer officer last year but after a few short months stepped up to become interim CEO. He has been credited with helping the business increase revenues by 43% and profit by 6% last year, but despite this improvement he has ruled himself out of taking over the CEO role permanently.
Duffy has also made improvements by consolidating marketing, leading to the launch of ‘Did Somebody Say Just Eat’, its first global brand campaign across eight markets. By doing so, the brand can make the most of economies of scale and invest more in quality creative. Even though he has no plans to lead the company full time, Duffy says he has gained valuable leadership skills by taking on the role, not least learning to speak the language of the boardroom.
Jascha Kaykas-Wolff
CMO, Mozilla
Helping consumers understand the value delivered by their browser is no easy task, so Jascha Kaykas-Wolff is positioning Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, as the customer’s champion against privacy erosion. One way it is doing this is by introducing browser-level privacy protection, to help redress the balance and put consumers back in control. Rather than looking to compete with the likes of Google and Microsoft, Kaykas-Wolff has focused on improving the understanding and awareness of Mozilla and shifting perceptions on what Firefox does differently, after its research showed these two areas were lacking.
Through his leadership, Mozilla has adopted an agile approach to marketing, which Kaykas-Wolff says is vital to achieving consistency. Each member of the 105-strong marketing team is now cross-trained in different skills, meaning their individual contribution is more valuable to Mozilla, and they will also be more marketable when they leave.
Simon Morris
VP of global creative, Amazon
From ecommerce giant to global behemoth in smart devices and entertainment too, there is no stopping Amazon, which overtook Apple and Google to become the world’s most valuable brand this year, according to Kantar’s BrandZ ranking. Simon Morris, who joined the business from his role as CMO of LoveFilm when it was acquired by Amazon five years ago, is the man responsible for ensuring consumers know exactly how Amazon can improve their lives across multiple touchpoints.
And he often does so in a quirky way. Take the brand’s Super Bowl commercial from last year, which saw Alexa ‘lose her voice’. Stars including Gordon Ramsay, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Cardi B were drafted in to take over, and the ad went on to become the most watched on YouTube in 2018 with 50.1 million views. This year’s follow-up ‘Not Everything Makes the Cut’ was another hit, again showing the brand doesn’t take itself too seriously. It was equally jam-packed with humour and celebrity cameos, this time from the likes of Harrison Ford and Forest Whitaker.
Bec Mortimer
Marketing director, Netflix
Bec Mortimer is responsible for creating the buzz for the shows that create a buzz, and as a result, Netflix has been on a meteoric rise. The streaming giant claimed second spot in YouGov’s annual BrandIndex buzz ranking last year, having only entered the top 10 in 2016. The ranking is compiled using buzz scores, a balance of whether people have heard good or bad things about a brand, with the success of its original film and TV series like Stranger Things and the Oscar-winning Roma no doubt contributing to the positive chatter.
Local activations have been Mortimer’s speciality. The tie-up between Stranger Things and Coca-Cola for season three, for example, was brought to life by a 1980s-themed pop-up arcade in London. As well as original video games, there was a secret upsidedown world, with the first 800 visitors to find it winning a limited-edition upside-down can of Coke. Mortimer says she uses a “healthy blend” of data analytics, insights and expert intuition to drive the marketing strategy.
Rachael Pettit
Regional director of marketing for UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, Uber
Uber redefined the notion of the taxi service and now, in the UK, Rachael Pettit is redefining Uber. Uber has been on something of a turnaround campaign since new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joined in 2017, and marketing has played a critical role in its mission to rebuild trust. Its ‘Safety Never Stops’ UK campaign, for example, is a spoof of airline safety checks to make sure all riders are well-prepared.
Not just set on disrupting the taxi market in key cities, Uber is now also rolling out its electric bike-hiring service Jump in London, as it scopes out the possibility of a bicycle and scooter sharing app in the UK. Jump bikes can be found on the Uber app in London with a view to extending beyond the capital if the trial is a success. Pettit has been at Uber for five years and is also an EMEA board member for the Mobile Marketing Association and a mentor for the European seed fund Seedcamp.
Tristan Thomas
Head of marketing and community, Monzo
There’s more to business than just disruption, and now Tristan Thomas is tasked with taking Monzo to the next phase: from challenger to mainstream global banking brand. With that in mind, Monzo launched its first major TV campaign earlier this year, which drove “insane” growth for the brand. The impact on sign-ups was immediate, with the bank signing up more than 250,000 new customers in June alone, up from 150,000 a couple of months before, making it “by far” Monzo’s biggest month for sign-ups.
Meanwhile, prompted brand awareness increased 13 points from 35% to 48%, according to the bank. From challenger bank two years ago to a valuation of £2bn and expansion in the US, the bank isn’t just winning customers over from legacy institutions, it is also causing these established players to rethink their own customer experience. This has led to many of the more traditional banks attempting to emulate Monzo’s approach when it comes to things like paperless statements and budgeting functions.
Inés Ures
Global CMO, Deliveroo
Just being fast is not enough, so Inés Ures is exploring new ways Deliveroo can help grow the industry it serves. This has been her mission since joining the business at the beginning of 2019 from beauty appointment marketplace Treatwell. Deliveroo is a brand built on customer experience excellence, so relies heavily on word-of-mouth recommendation. It therefore tracks metrics such as ‘trustworthy’, ‘reliability’ and ‘innovation’ to ensure it is delivering, and uses NPS as a measurement of success.
The app is a critical part of service delivery and Ures says the next step will be looking into how it can be further personalised, and what role automation could play to understand gaps in the market and provide recommendations to customers. Elsewhere, Ures spearheaded an initiative to attract more women into the UK food industry. ‘Recipe for Success’ is a scheme that gives female food entrepreneurs access to female leaders to help create and launch their own food brand.
Mark Vile
CMO, Compare the Market
Mark Vile is the man behind Compare the Meerkat, one of the UK’s best known marketing campaigns of the past decade. He is responsible for introducing one of the most adored and enduring brand ambassadors in the UK – no small task given insurance comparison is a sector with low consumer enthusiasm. Better still, the Meerkats have yet to be exhausted after more than 10 years, giving life to innovative and amusing extensions, such as the recent AutoSergei execution.
The Meerkats are also central to its loyalty offers, Meerkat Movies and Meerkat Meals, which have helped lead owner BGL Group to a year of strong profits. It saw turnover rise 13% in the year to 30 June 2018, with pre-tax profits up 16% to £146.9m. Customer numbers, meanwhile, rose by 12% to 9.5 million, driven in part by the Meerkat loyalty offers. More customers than ever before are also returning to Compare the Market to buy more than one product, according to the company – again, testament to the initiatives.
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REGULATED INDUSTRIES
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SPORT, GAMING AND GAMBLING
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The growing appeal of second-party data
FURTHER READING
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The Future of the CMO/CIO Relationship
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From Marketing Week's 'Intelligent 1:1 Customer Journeys', sponsored by Salesforce
From Econsultancy
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