Brand controlled?
Waitrose.
What are your main priorities over the next 12 months?
To provide a truly integrated approach to customer communications and to test and learn the opportunities open to us in connecting with customers.
Agencies used?
Manning Gottlieb OMD, Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, John Brown Group, Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw and Grand Union.
What are the main criteria you use when selecting an agency?
Ability to understand our business, to challenge long-held assumptions, and the ability to develop relationships.
Any advice to agencies pitching for business with new clients?
Always have some of the people in the room who will work on the business.
What has been your most enjoyable/successful campaign?
Our Christmas campaign appealed to both hearts and minds, with a mixture of product and poignancy.
Supermarkets are one of the few retail sectors to buck the general malaise in Q4, how important will marketing be in securing Waitrose's share in 2009?
Marketing will play an even more important role in achieving our growth objectives for 2009, both in terms of reinforcing our brand proposition, as well as driving footfall as we open new branches. New opportunities are opening to us in how we deliver our messages to our intended audiences and we will continue to explore a number of test initiatives this year.
How has your career background prepared you for your current role?
My background was initially in the publishing sector, which requires you to think creatively and intuitively, as well as applying the rigour and analysis that you have to make it work.
Which medium can't you live without?
The internet. There are so many new possibilities for us to talk to existing audiences and tap into new ones.
