Chief marketing officer, On The Beach
Holiday booking app On The Beach took its time in finding the right fit for the CMO role, carrying out what it called “an extensive search process” across Europe following the departure of its former CMO in 2018. But in 2021 it confirmed it had finally found its match in former GoCompare marketing chief Zoe Harris. Having begun her career in travel as a brand manager at Airtours in the 90s, before stints at publisher Reach and most recently the market comparison site, Harris brings with her a solid industry knowledge plus experience in the digital channel in which On The Beach has made its mark.
Of her appointment, chief executive Simon Cooper said Harris’s “extensive experience heading up marketing functions at a variety of large digital organisations will be invaluable as we look to further accelerate our progress in 2021”.
Though the last year has proven a challenge for the online booking tool, as it has for all travel firms, the company says it’s ready to capture a rebound in tourism in the months ahead with investment in tech, customer relationships and direct relationships with accommodation providers in the last year.■
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MEDIA, TELECOMS & ENTERTAINMENT
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Zoe Harris
Chief marketing officer, TUI UK and Ireland
With travel all but halted during 2020, TUI Group and its UK and Ireland CMO Katie McAlister, spent time laying the foundations for a quick recovery. Though it initially paused the majority of marketing amid concerns it would be “inappropriate” to continue advertising its services given the current climate, in the months since it has sensitively built up consumer demand, paving the way for a safe return to foreign travel once restrictions ease.
In July 2020, McAlister and her UK team launched the nostalgic 'Welcome Back' campaign, when the government announced certain European destinations wouldn’t require a quarantine on return. Running across TV, video-on-demand, radio, social and digital out-of-home between July and September, it was a mass media approach, though with a restraint on promotions as McAlister wanted to avoid being seen to “push” any nervous travellers into booking.
By the end of 2020 that effort was already paying off. The company reported the average price for bookings was up 14% for summer 2021, and 50% of its programme for May 2021 was already booked up five months in advance.■
Katie McAlister
Travel, leisure & hospitality
Chief marketing officer, Camelot
National Lottery operator Camelot has been on a mission to highlight the value it gives back to UK communities in recent years, following a dip in awareness of this primary role and a subsequent decline in sales during 2016.
For nearly two years that’s been the task of CMO Keith Moor, who joined the business in September 2019 following more than two decades at Santander. During Moor’s tenure, Camelot has launched two major campaigns, the first to mark The National Lottery's 25th anniversary and the second to specifically showcase The National Lottery's Community Fund and how ticket sales feed into support for good causes.
This refocus on its values-driven mission has re-engaged players too, despite increasingly fierce competition in the market. In June this year, Camelot reported a sales increase of 6% for the last 12 months, with the amount raised for good causes at £1.9bn, £1.2bn of which went directly to Covid-19 support. Moor will need to keep up this stellar effort in the months ahead though, with Camelot one of a number of companies currently vying to manage the National Lottery for its next license period.■
Keith Moor
Director of marketing and comms, Formula 1
Working quickly and flexibly has allowed Ellie Norman to successfully maintain fan engagement during what has been a “phenomenally challenging” time for sport. When the first race of the season was cancelled in March 2020, within two weeks Formula 1 launched a Virtual Grand Prix series that achieved a record-breaking 30 million views across TV and digital channels.
“It was a brilliant way to engage with fans and provide clarity and hope at an uncertain moment,” said Norman, who is on a mission to make Formula 1 more relevant to society in the longer term. As part of this goal, Formula 1 launched 'We Race As One' last summer - a campaign built around three pillars of priority: sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and community.
Key to Norman’s strategy is blending the short-term racing and entertainment element with the longer-term goals around sustainability and relevance. While the day-to-day focus is on growing the fan base, increasing viewership and getting more people to attend events, it is equally important to Norman the Formula 1 brand has meaning and purpose too.■
Ellie Norman
EMEA marketing strategy lead, Airbnb
Airbnb has hailed the impact of a new marketing strategy this year, which has seen it focus on brand building and PR while cutting its budget for performance marketing. Airbnb cut total sales and marketing spend by 28% to $229m for the first quarter of 2021, and says this shift is permanent.
The brand now looks at the role of marketing as “education” rather than to “buy customers” and its first major brand marketing campaign for five years, ‘Made Possible by Hosts’, reflects the shift. The campaign aims to inspire more people to become hosts, as well as to encourage visitors to book. Launching in Airbnb’s five largest markets, which includes the UK, the campaign has increased Airbnb traffic at a faster rate than in other markets.
EMEA marketing strategy lead Lulu Skinner has been at Airbnb for five and half years, having previously worked at agencies including Fallon London and AKQA. She describes using analytics to build an overarching marketing strategy that includes market prioritisation, timing and budgeting.■
Lulu Skinner
Marketing & brand director for UK and Ireland, Paddy Power Betfair
Betting platform Paddy Power resisted the urge to follow its peers and pull marketing spend during the pandemic. Instead its marketing and brand director Michelle Spillane was determined to stay “in it” with consumers, keeping up channels of communication as the crisis unfolded and building up solid customer connections as a result.
That philosophy also helped it spot an opportunity in the midst of lockdown. Spillane’s team recognised early on a lack of live sport would leave a void and set about plugging the gap with its own stream of content (300% more than the year before). From the release of scripted comedy series The Mascot and celebrating the ubiquity of Zoom calls to all-star darts matches, the sidestep allowed the platform to reposition itself as an entertainment brand, and open up new avenues for growth. It seems to be working with its darts matches viewed upwards of 20 million times across 20 different markets.
“Go for growth, keep the lights on, keep investing in what you have, but be ambitious,” said Spillane.■
Michelle Spillane
Global customer director, Premier Inn
When Tamara Strauss joined Premier Inn at the start of 2020, the business warned of a tough year ahead amid Brexit worries. Combined with the added impact of Covid-19 and Strauss has had to navigate what parent company Whitbread describes as the most challenging period in its 279-year history.
When Premier Inn reopened its more than 800 hotels following the first lockdown, Strauss had to “rip up the rulebook” and rethink everything from rates to customer experience. “We are having to work with uncertainty looking forward, which means we have to take a few gambles along the way, but they are calculated gambles,” she said.
In April 2021, Premier Inn launched its first major brand campaign in more than three years after Whitbread announced a £20m investment in marketing across its UK brands. According to YouGov’s BrandIndex,‘Rest Easy’ achieved the highest uplift in ad awareness of any brand in the UK with a nine-point rise to 16%.
In addition to reinforcing brand consideration, Strauss is also focusing on broadening Premier Inn’s digital reach and delivering more relevant direct digital marketing.■
Tamara Strauss
Commercial and marketing director, The FA
After deciding she wanted to apply her marketing skills and experience to a “totally different context where it wasn’t motivated by chasing market share,” Kathryn Swarbrick joined The FA from PepsiCo at the end of 2019.
Since then, Swarbrick has been responsible for commercial and marketing across The FA’s entire portfolio and has made it her mission to promote inclusivity in football and to connect the grassroots and elite game. This included the recent launch of the brand’s direct-to-consumer England Football digital hub and revamped Three Lions logo, which Swarbrick was instrumental in pushing through the association’s nationwide network of boards and committees.
Joining a new company at the start of a global pandemic has not been without its challenges. However, Swarbrick’s belief that out of crisis comes “great innovation” has enabled The FA to keep providing a service to fans. Its virtual FIFA 20 tournament drew in 3 million viewers while simultaneously raising awareness of the National Emergencies Trust.
“Everything we do as a commercial and marketing function is to raise funds to reinvest back into the game,” Swarbrick said.■
Kathryn Swarbrick
Sales and marketing director, Merlin Entertainments
Operating more than 130 attractions in 25 countries, Merlin Entertainments had a front row seat to the devastation caused to the tourist industry by the pandemic. It didn’t take its unique position to effect change lightly either. With Sara Holt as sales and marketing director, the company led the ‘SOS London’ campaign in July 2020, calling for action on the UK government to avert a crisis across the tourism sector by committing to greater investment and support, including an extension to business rates for seasonal businesses. She sits on the London Tourism Recovery Board and is chair of the London Recovery Board Marketing Directors Group.
Managing the sales and marketing strategies for the likes of the London Eye, Tussauds and Sealife, Holt has an up close understanding of the impact on businesses over the last year. This was coupled with her experience and insights from years spent managing content and product at some of the world’s most iconic brands. Prior to joining Merlin she oversaw franchise marketing (Top Gear, Planet Earth etc) as well as digital planning at BBC Worldwide and is also the former digital marketing director of Lego.■
Sara
Holt
GREAT campaign director, Cabinet Office
Selling the UK abroad - at a time of limited travel and when the country has withdrawn from an international trading bloc through Brexit - is a unique challenge.
GREAT Britain has been credited with bringing £4.5bn of trade to the country since it was created in 2011. It has just launched a refreshed version of its campaign, developed in conjunction with high profile individuals, not-for-profit organisations and businesses - big and small - to show what Britain stands for.
“The brand, like the UK, has evolved over time and the refreshed campaign speaks for a global Britain,” said CMO Dan Ramsay, who is employed by the Cabinet Office. “We’re calling on British brands to join us in championing the UK’s fresh perspective around the world.”
A Fellow of The Marketing Academy, Ramsay took on his current role last year after being marketing director at EE. He previously worked at companies including Barclays and BT.■
Dan Ramsay
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How brands can control their data destiny
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