Today I found myself making a 4-hour journey from Southend to Nottingham, having left behind a 3-hour London commute, to start a new job at a creative agency.
Most people want to reduce their commuting time – but not me. The M25 and the M1 are to become my best of friends! Whilst I was sat in traffic at 6.30am on the M25, it got me thinking “what got me to this point?” (as most people stuck in M25 traffic do). Now, I’m a little pained to make this another one of those cheesy “check me out achieving what I’ve always wanted to do” blogs that seem to be all over LinkedIn at the moment, so I’ll try and keep the cringe-levels to a minimum…
I may have never been the ‘model-marketer’, but I’ve had the pleasure of being surrounded by, and learning from, some of the best in the business. Some have been metric-based marketers, some high-level strategists, and others have been creative thinkers – but all have been huge influences on my journey to this specific traffic jam on the M25. This brings me onto the main point of this rambling – why on earth would I leave a good career in the increasingly attractive industry of B2B Tech Marketing to work on the agency side?
To answer that, I have to go back to my time at University in the deep, dark valleys of Wales, where I went (with a youthful whiff of optimism in my lungs) to study computer animation at the University of Glamorgan. I assumed I’d immediately be offered a job at Pixar – though I never did get that call from John Lasseter!
I left my studies knowing that I probably wasn’t the strongest in my year, but also knowing what I wanted to ultimately achieve. I wanted to be part of the customer-facing side in the creative industry; leading the business and marketing function at a ‘digital creative agency’…you can probably see where this is going now.
However, the journey to get there has certainly not been the norm. This is a bit of a theme in my life – as most of my friends, family and definitely my ever-supportive wife would attest! For example, I started off as a kitchen designer after University (clearly the right place for any ‘digital creative’), going on to become a retail salesperson, and then an IT applications analyst, until finally ending up in the realm of B2B Tech marketing!
I’m not quite sure how I got there, but it was a career path that embraced my creative side and passion for campaigns with personality – as well as obtaining the insight to understand tech developments giving me a pretty well rounded view of the industry. However, having worked with a number of agencies, I never forgot my eventual goal of being a Director on the agency side before turning 40. This takes me back to the M25! Stuck in traffic, yes, but literally on the road to my goal…
But then, why go all the way to Nottingham?! As much as I love the M25 and the M1, there’s loads of agencies all over the UK, including a few that are down the road from my house! Well let’s all be honest with ourselves, the happiest jobs we have had aren’t completely about the work. It’s undoubtedly a big factor, but the main reason we enjoy our jobs is the company culture which people embody. This is where Affari come in.
When I was on the outside, the ethos and character that permeated Affari always made me quite envious. It’s almost like some sort of movement, it’s not something I’ve experienced before. Yet, there was never any ego with it and the quality of their work, professionalism, and ambition of the people was continually present. So, when the initial conversation to join them came up in a London pub there was no way I was going to turn it down.
So not only have I achieved my “dream job” (sorry, but, not sorry) much earlier than I expected to, but I’m doing it in a culture that breeds ambition and creativity.
It seems like such a grandiose title: Engagement Director. But what will I actually be doing with my time? Well in the simple terms, I’ll be looking at all levels of engagement for our customers:
- Ensuring campaigns are engaging for their audiences
- Ensuring they’re using the most engaging assets and methods of delivery
- Ensuring that we engage with current and prospective customers in the right way on all parts of their journey with us.
I just want to make sure we’re enabling clients to deliver exciting campaigns and assets that captivate their customers in new ways. As much as I hate the word Innovation, it is actually a big part of the Affari culture, and building innovative campaigns is what we do best!
Now for that terribly corny bit that I promised I wouldn’t do… This kind of role has been a long-term dream for me, and it’s come about in a way that I would never have predicted. Now it’s time to grow the movement that is Affari!
