The Next Round

This episode of The Next Round podcast is absolutely jam-packed with wisdom, insight, foresight and advice from a man who describes arriving at his current post as Direct Line Group’s Marketing and Digital Director as the result of a lot of happy accidents, and always landing jam-side up after some early challenges. Mark Evans compellingly takes us through the transformation and disruption facing both the insurance sector, DLG as a legacy brand and the marketing function as a whole, ably guided by podcast host, AAR’s Robin Charney. The power of heritage brands and the role of neuroscience; the benefits of being creatively bold; the importance of a blended model in a modern marketing ecosystem and how the CMO has the hardest job of the entire C-Suite are all covered in this packed enchilada of a podcast. Or should that be pizza?

Host Robin Charney welcomes FMCG marketer Caroline Hipperson to the latest episode of The Next Round podcast. After stints at Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline, Bacardi and Holland & Barrett, Caroline arrived at pladis Global as Chief Marketing Officer UK&I on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently responsible for brands such as McVitie’s, Carr’s and Jacob’s, to name but a few! With the emphasis on fast, Caroline explains the main challenges facing the FMCG sector today and how such rapid and seismic change can provide the perfect opportunity for creative marketers to thrive. Caroline discusses how a rich heritage helps with brand authenticity, but only if you stay relevant; how collaboration is at the heart of their recent marketing transformation; why long-standing agency relationships are key to both business and brand success; the growing importance of DEI and sustainability, and why curiosity is the main attribute if you want to work in Caroline’s team. You can also hold Caroline personally responsible for the fact you can never eat only one McVitie's Milk Chocolate Hobnob. 

Host Robin Charney is joined by the CMO of the Recruiting Group for The Army, Nick Terry, in this episode of The Next Round podcast. Nick is part of the senior leadership team that’s transformed Army recruitment, delivered against commercial targets and rebuilt its reputation as the exemplar of public/ private partnerships, not to mention producing some of the most visible, most talked about and most awarded creative work of the last few years. Charged with generating north of 100,000 applications each year, Army recruitment has had to shift gear along with focus as a result of a shrinking youth population, societal change, a highly competitive job market and the pandemic. Can better audience segmentation, emotional not just rational messaging, an engaging campaign platform, a focus on the candidate journey and a commitment to bold, brave marketing drive this original brand with purpose onto a successful Next Round? We certainly think so.

Host Robin Charney is joined by a guest she’s been stalking since Series 1: BMW’s Marketing Director, Michelle Roberts. Over two decades at the brand, Michelle has experienced huge transformation in both the automotive sector, with a shift to electro mobility and an ever-increasing consumer focus on sustainability, and within marketing itself, with the move to digitalisation, personalisation and focus on ROI. For a brand over a century old with a rich heritage as sector pioneers, it’s essential that innovation continues as BMW moves to the future with customers, and marketing, well and truly at the heart of the business. We may need to wait just a little longer for those flying cars, though!

Host Robin Charney is joined by the current Chair of The Marketing Society; a man whose CV boasts some of the coolest jobs in Marketing, Craig Inglis, for this episode of The Next Round podcast. Stints at Thomson Holidays and Virgin Trains preceded 12 years at one of the nation’s most beloved brands, John Lewis and Partners, before Craig moved onto his Next Round late last year. Throughout his time at John Lewis, Craig has overseen seismic shifts in both retail and marketing, with the digital acceleration forcing legacy brands to redefine their entire DNA. Hear how building emotional as well as rational affinity, putting staff at the heart of the customer proposition and rebranding for a tech-facing future has placed John Lewis in a position of strength for its next challenge. And how creativity, content, editorial perspective and differentiation will be the battlegrounds for brands over the next decade. Don’t panic! There’s the obligatory Christmas Ad anecdote in there, too! 

Series 3 of our popular podcast returns with a bang as host Robin Charney chats history, brand values, creativity and generosity of spirit with the Marketing Director for Cadbury, Benazir Barlet-Batada. The current custodian of a 200 year old brand, Benazir shares how responsibility for continuing the fantastic legacy of stand-out marketing constantly feels like making that difficult second album; how the upcoming High Fat Sugar Salt legislation is keeping her up at night and how the progressive values instilled in the brand by founder John Cadbury in 1824 helped successfully navigate both a recent brand reset and a global pandemic.There’s also an unorthodox piece of interview advice for any budding marketers out there.

In this episode, Robin has the pleasure of speaking with Alison Jones, Customer Director at Coop. A cornerstone of our high street since 1844, the Coop has encountered, and crucially survived, many challenges over the years, largely thanks to its clearly defined brand purpose and values. Hear how those values helped support both colleagues and communities during the pandemic, how they’re actively taking the brand to a younger, health conscious, socially aware market and how the pioneering Coop Live Arena project in East Manchester ties innovation with those core Coop values around ethics, community member value and benefits.

In those heady days before lockdown, Robin spent some quality time with “girl crush” Margaret Jobling talking about the challenges of ‘turning the oil tanker’ that is British Gas ‘into a speed boat’ in her then role as CMO of Centrica (she’s now CMO of NatWest). How do you keep a 200-year-old institution as market leader in a sector disrupted by nimble, tech-lead innovative brands? How does a product first organisation pivot to become customer first? And how do you change the culture of such a large, complex business to embrace their ‘Here to solve’ mantra? All this and critical advice on paw-renting two very different dogs in this week’s episode.