- Describe yourself in three words.
Relaxed but focused.
- How would you define marketing?
Selling.
- What would you be if you weren't a marketer?
Professional big-game fisherman.
- What advice would you give someone starting their marketing career today?
Get as much experience of how each channel works. Don't get pigeon-holed.
- What attracted you to your current job?
I have a stake in the business and I believe in the product.
- What was your first job?
Planner in a big agency.
- How did you get your first job?
Furious networking of everybody I knew. It paid off.
- What was your finest hour?
Getting Cherrygood listed in Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Waitrose before we went into production. The buyers got it straight away and could see the gap in the market.
- What is your favourite marketing campaign?
The rebranding of Skoda by VW.
It proved that a brand can be turned around.
- What is your all-time favourite slogan?
'Beanz meanz Heinz' or 'They're tasty, tasty, very very tasty', the latter because nine out of 10 people can't name the brand.
- Do you have a marketing mentor?
I listen to a lot of people and pick out what resonates.
- What marketing trend is dominating your job at the moment?
Social media and digital marketing.
- What hobbies do you have?
I coach a youth rugby team and get great pleasure from developing young talent.
- If you weren't you, who would you be?
I am quite happy being me. I have two great kids, a brilliant if long-suffering wife, and a great job.
- What is your favourite pub?
The Forsinard Hotel in the north of Scotland.
- What's your favourite holiday destination?
India. The best holiday I've had.
- What have been your best and worst freebies?
A ticket to Twickenham is good any time. I did once receive a dog biscuit, which I gave to a colleague to try, not realising what it was.