The most important thing in marketing is combining creativity and business sense. David Abraham, now chief executive of UKTV, was responsible for giving me a sense of the importance of the former.
David hired me at St Luke’s when the agency was a few months old. His mantra was to ‘get inventive early’ and let the process follow. It worked well for us at St Luke’s in new business pitches, and I’ve tried to live by it ever since.
After six amazing years at St Luke’s, I left to go to Italy to help Tom Mockridge launch Sky Italia, of which he is now chief executive. Tom’s calm sense of perspective was reflected in two important business lessons: ‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint’ and ‘Do the basics well’. In the rush to launch Sky in a very short space of time, these were great guiding principles.
A view from Sarah Johnson
Me & My Mentor
Tim Hunt, director of marketing and communications, Freeview