For a communications company, Skype's offices in London's Soho are eerily quiet. That could have something to do with the fact that, being an internet-based telecoms brand, there are no phones. It may also be that half the desks appear empty.
They are not in the middle of a move, insists chief marketing officer Doug Bewsher. 'We have people working at home and all over the world, albeit at strange times,' he explains. It all fits nicely into Skype's brand proposition of 'being able to do things together when apart'.
Passionate about both travel and working in international markets, including a stint at McKinsey in San Francisco, Bewsher was offered the Skype job eight months ago, while working in Singapore for mobile social network Mig33. At the time, he was regularly using the Skype service to chat to his wife and son on the other side of the world in the US.
He could not resist the opportunity to work for a truly global brand, based in Luxembourg but operating in 32 languages and almost every country.
While Bewsher seems at ease with the business of being interviewed, as Skype is currently in a 'quiet period' ahead of its initial public offering this year, he cannot discuss the company's financial details.
According to recent reports, Skype is looking to raise up to $1bn (£612m), which would make it the second-biggest tech company to list after Google in 2004. Its recent IPO filing revealed revenues of $406m for the first six months of 2010, ending 30 June, and a net income of $13m.
Bewsher will also not be drawn on eBay's $1.9bn sale of a majority stake in Skype in September 2009; it bought it for $2.5bn three years earlier - a big write-down.
One thing Bewsher is very eager to talk about, however, is that for the first time in its eight-year history, Skype has started serving advertising with the aim of making money from its free 'Skype to Skype' calls.
'We've been looking at doing this for a long time,' he explains. 'User experience is paramount, so we have been doing tests and research for more than a year to ensure advertising didn't interfere with this.'
Bewsher argues that, while Facebook has 'incredible numbers', it is hard for marketers to be creative on that platform, and although YouTube offers creative rich-media ads, users spend less time on its homepage per day. 'We are trying to be somewhere in the middle and fill the creative engagement gap,' he says. 'We have one-and-a-half hours a month in terms of engagement of our users, but we can offer rich advertising placements.'
Since ads launched last month, Bewsher claims Skype has received a 'really positive' response from brands, including Visa, Groupon, Universal and Disney.
The additional revenue stream, which Fortune magazine predicts could drive its returns to $200m, will also help the brand develop its products for multiple platforms.
Skype boasts 145m users, but faces tough competition from Google and Microsoft, which are developing their video-calling services, and, of course, from Apple.
It kicked off 2010 with 'Outside', a campaign devised by Poke to drive awareness of Skype on mobile devices. In December, Skype scored a coup when it extended its service to Apple products. This created a direct challenge to Apple's Facetime video-calling service, which is a key selling point for the iPhone 4 and iPad 2.
Yet Bewsher downplays any rivalry, pointing out that Facetime is available only over wi-fi, not 3G. 'The iPad is a beautiful device, so it has a great experience, but it's not about us versus Facetime. What we want to do is different.'
Since Skype is based on being 'useful, universal and wonderful', Bewsher says it aims to be available on all platforms.
One of the greatest challenges he faces is how to define the range of consumer products Skype offers - now more than 30.
'The number of products can be overwhelming for new consumers, but we must make sure we remain simple,' he says. 'You only have to look at certain cellphone manufacturers to see how "feature creep" can destroy a great user experience.'
Bewsher believes that product development comes before marketing for many internet and technology brands. This presents a particular challenge for those with a traditional marketing background such as his. 'You have to work out how you transfer that to an environment where people think that everything is just about great products,' he adds.
Nonetheless, Bewsher knows he has been fortunate at Skype, which, he insists, has always been focused on the need for the product and brand to work together. Indeed, he describes chief executive Tony Bates as the 'greatest brand champion'.
By comparison, he thinks that for companies such as Facebook, brand marketing has come by default. 'Try to find the chief marketing officer at some of these companies and it can be very hard,' he says.
Skype has dealt with this shift by moving its focus away from value propositions to 'roles'. 'We are trying to ask what the unique role is that Skype will play in your life - much in the same way that Facebook and Twitter have unique roles,' he says.
Becoming of 'greater value to society' is key to the role Skype hopes to carve out. As well as being used as a replacement for satellite phones in the armed forces, Bewsher's favourite example of this is the story, which he tells with a broad smile, of the military father who was able to watch from his overseas posting, via Skype video-calling, as his child was born.
A big push for Skype will be the expansion of its classroom programme, which enables teachers to run lessons with others around the world. 'The project shows off the participatory nature of Skype and we hope to apply the same logic to other sectors, such as healthcare,' he explains.
Building business use is another focus this year. Last week, the company launched a B2B campaign called 'Living workplace'. According to Bewsher, 37% of users use Skype at work or for work reasons.
Publicly it may be a 'quiet period', but this is far from being the case behind the scenes. As a self confessed 'Gleek', the physics graduate is particularly animated as he explains that the TV show's star, Lea Michele, recently tweeted that her favourite night in was one spent on Skype.
Having been at Skype for less than a year, Bewsher's mind is on the job, rather than looking beyond to his next move. He is still clearly revelling in being at the helm of an international brand and community.
'We have an opportunity here to make Skype a mainstream brand like Coke, so I don't see myself going anywhere any time soon,' says Bewsher. 'We truly are this phenomenon, it is just immense.'
Inside work
1990-1995: Brand manager on portfolio of hair and personal care brands,
Unilever
1997-2002: Associate principal, McKinsey
2002-2005: Global director, customer marketing, Vodafone
2006-2008: Senior vice-president and managing director, Publicis Modem
2008-2010: Chief marketing officer, Mig33
2010-present: Chief marketing officer, Skype
Outside work
Lives: Luxembourg, with wife and young son
Favourite brand: Lego
Hobbies: Scuba diving, skiing, travel
Music: Glee, Queen, Supertramp