Clare Witty

I have had the privilege of being part of the Marketing Leadership Masterclass over the course of the last 12 weeks, run brilliantly by Thomas Barta and Syl Saller CBE. For those that aren’t familiar, the virtual course covers a huge array of topics, spanning all aspects of marketing leadership from behaviours, skills, strategy with a number of hugely inspiring outside speakers from the world of FMCG and service marketing. I thought I would share my top insights below. I would love to hear your reflections on reading. 1.     Be sure of the value you are creating – either for the consumer, your customer or your company. Consider why you are working on something, what are value are you creating, how will you extract the value, is it worth your time, the investment you are making. Always be clear on the ‘value creation zone’. 2.     Zooming out, Zooming in – always be clear on the big picture problem you are trying to solve and present your case using the right level of detail / data to support. 3.     Know your audience – what type of a leader are they? Know what motivates them and adjust your style and the way you present your case accordingly. Are they more detail focused, or more emotional? What will they need to see to go with you on your journey and be convinced? 4.     Zero based Budgeting – this breeds creativity, do less with more. Prove what you need and why. 5.     Know your brand objective  - go back to the funnel – are you needing to raise awareness, considering, preference or conversion? Be focused on the objective. 6.     Bitesizing – consider your journey as smaller, bitesize steps. Consider your audience and reframe the challenge in palatable chunks that will work for them. This approach often helps mobilise energy and support internally. 7.     Start a movement internally – put yourself out there and gather support, build belief. Test and learn and prove the case enabling you to go further, unlocking the support you need. 8.     Don’t let the elephant in the room get in the way – be brave, recognise it, lean into it. 9.     A Team – be demanding on talent, hire for distinctiveness either internally and also with the partners you are working with. Face into where there is a weak link and address it. It’s only fair on them and the rest of the team too. 10.  Build trust – connect with your team, show vulnerability, and build confidence. There is no room for ego. 11.  Ruthlessly prioritise – invest your time and resources in what will build equity and deliver results. Keep doing this, reassessing. Keep focused on the value creation zone. 12.  Be clear on how you inspire others – know yourself and what your purpose is as a leader. 13.  Be Brave, aim high and be your authentic self It was hugely valuable and really thought provoking. Thankyou Thomas Barta and Syl Saller CBE, thoroughly recommend to others.

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🏇A day at the races - critique. British horse racing has so much going for it. I've read a bunch of stories from afar this year and you would get the feeling the sport was on its knees. What I saw today at Ascot (admittedly an upper echelon place) really made me think. 🤔 Cons - The bars are infuriating! 😭 It was a pretty quiet day and I queued for nearly the entire time between two races to buy some drinks. And they did not have a single soft drink option beyond water at the bar I went to. If you aren't into racing, this would make you think twice about coming back - Zero family activities within sight or advertised. It's possible there were some but certainly none we ventured across. It's the summer holidays, parents are desperate for things to do. It's an open goal. 🥅 Pros - We have some wonderful stars of the sport, even on the quieter days. Oisin Murphy said hi to my daughter from the saddle twice. He didn't need to. But he did and it made her day. (Side fact - I arranged his first ever live interview with Sky Sports). 🎤 - People were having a lot of fun! Smiles all around. 😀 Overall, it was a lovely day, with a bit of work to do in certain areas. The answers are simple. 👍Deliver great service - make everyone feel special throughout the day. 🏆Provide an atmosphere that can be enjoyed by all - whether it's the PG crew or 18+ crowd. 💰Invest in promoting the sport! Given the supposed value of British horse racing to the UK economy (upwards of £4.1bn), it is negligent to allocate so little from within the sport to central marketing and promotion. British racing is a fantastic spectacle, so give some more resources to these teams...they do a sterling job on mouse-like crumbs. 🐀 Am I right? What am I missing? #horseracing #ascot #hospitality #marketing

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Diageo and Guinness continue to understand exactly what OOH is all about 🍻 #OOH delivers reach within proximity to over 3,000+ pubs and bars, Guinness' directional messaging helps you find the right one for you. ➡ As they continue to own the summer, activating on those hotter days means their display works harder than ever, owning a key category entry point which is often taken by lager and cider 💡 If you want your OOH to work hard for you, think about your triggers for purchase, which category entry points do you want to own (we can help with a recent research piece around this called 'want to take this outside') and keep your poster simple. It will work. Thanks to PHD, Jennifer Gabbarelli, Amy Papaphotis, Molly Jones, Anita Sztrizsak, Holly Fischer, James Weatherill and all involved.

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That hit me in the face! Sorry! This week… Sports is a great leveller, particularly if it’s a sport that’s not in your own repertoire. I like to use ‘garden sports’ for team building, simple to organise, most people are able to have a go, generally not age or ability limited, you can make it inclusive for those that need adjustments. Mixed doubles badminton is my favourite for team activity. Book a couple of courts and rent some bats at the local sports centre, mix up your team play a game, then mix up again so everyone plays with everyone, get the people in the wider reaches of your team that don’t interact often, to play together! After a while, the ‘in-work personas’ of everyone starts to rub off and their normal character becomes exposed – admit it, you all have a work persona! Sometimes, people really are just that competitive, others trying something they don’t normally do can be hard for them, the social butterfly might become a moth and others might come forward and be more outgoing and expressive than they would due to the more relaxed setting. You should be observing and learning about each other whilst having a bit of fun, I learn so much about colleagues when we’re not in the office or wfh on teams. I’d say I learn at about 10x rate. You can use this to help tailor your interactions at work to get the absolute best out of the team. Just be careful you don’t get a shuttlecock in the face! Duck or sway! Or just use your racquet! #fail How do you learn about your colleagues? Comment below!

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Jaguar Land Rover UK launched a new ad and it doesn’t have a car in it...Are they crazy? Their ad and rebrand is defo a bold move. But, what do you think about when you think of Jaguar? A blue sports car, beige seats and wood varnish interior? Someone’s grandad whizzing through country lanes, with the roof down? Is he smoking a pipe and wearing driving gloves? Just me? 😂 Jaguar is an iconic British brand. But one that clearly has an older audience. They need to appeal to a younger audience to carve out a new space for themselves. This is clearly a brave move, but I think that anything that they did here would need to be drastic. I think it's bold, but it's necessarily. I don’t think it’s compete. I think what we've seen so far is the opening scenes of a movie. And we're about to go on a journey - taking a new generation through their rich history and what the brand stands for. I’m excited to see what they do. What do you think? #marketing #rebrand #marketers

Another great campaign with Circana for Heineken & Fosters Shandy. Showing that it's possible to deliver instore sales & drive brand uplift through ID free targeting: 💸 Results included: an ROI of £3.45 (almost three times the £1.25 benchmark); a 2.7% sales uplift, which extended to a 1.2% sales uplift for the overall Fosters brand. 💬 Heineken’s programmatic lead Dan Glynn noted: “By using combined intent personas and point-of-sale data, we’ve been able to measure ROI without the reliance of cookies, IDs or other people-based tracking methods." ✅ Brand lift study also showed a drop in competitor brand perceptions among those exposed to the campaign. Link to the full article in the comments below. Nano Interactive

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Sometimes you need to be a bit disruptive to shake people and create change. This is an IN2 specialty. To transform behaviours in today’s saturated world, you need to create a conversation. Check out some of our disruptive approaches. #globalmediacongress #positivechange

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“Make it really short so people don’t skip it” OR How’s about we make it really interesting so people don’t skip it!? Volvo proved this week with their work (in and amongst the furore around the Jaguar rebrand) that incredibly well produced stories still give the audience what they want. The 3 min and 46 second ad on Instagram, shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Interstellar and Oppenheimer, goes against every single rule you can think about as a social lead: Length. Format. Over-produced - many marketeers would not have approved it. Ultimately, this will have been perceived as a 'risk' but in my opinion it's the brand respecting the audience and trusting them to want to watch something more than 10 seconds because the story will be worth more than the disposable swipe content we all see everyday - which in-turn builds greater brand equity (potentially with an audience wishing to move away from a particular large cat brand...) What does everyone else think?

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“The IPA Effectiveness Awards winner is a case study in the marketing fundamentals that most brands ignore or forget – and it’s brilliant because of it” Mark Ritson Fundamentals are fundamentals for a reason. Don’t let new brand messages delivery toys forget it. Over two decades, McCain Foods has talked about the number one message to tap into safety, connection and belonging needs: FAMILIY. We are tribal animals. From music, to flags, to sports teams, to IG challenges, to languages… you name it! … it’s all about belonging to a tribe, in my opinion. Have you found your tribe? #marketing #ipaawards https://lnkd.in/gP96ZTsJ

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A great day yesterday at Brands&Culture inaugural event Ministry of Sound! 6 highlights that really stuck with me: 💡 Knowing you brand, what it stands for + what value it adds to the cultural landscape and conversation is the single-handed most important understanding you can have - before any campaign, comms or amplification. Thank you Leila Fataar. Or, put simply by Tom Rainsford from Beavertown Brewery: No one cares about your brand - so you have to find a way to get them to care. 💡 Hot takes on generations and over-obsessing over youth culture. Truthfully - everyone feels they’re unique and interesting. Forget generational divisions, as mindsets, attitudes and passions are much more meaningful segments. Get into mindsets more - then you’ll deliver the brand and understand culture. Thanks again Tom Rainsford. From Tim Barnett of LADbible Group: The only commonality between Gen Z is that they spend 5 - 9 hours on socials daily. Every other experience is personal to them. 💡 From Peter Semple at Depop on earning cultural influence, and continuing to build and sustain the cultural voice, by absoutely heroing the customer. Casting buyers and sellers in their ads and campaigns is genius. Plus, led to bigger campaigns with celebrity Depop users like Charli xcx and Olivia Rodrigio, allowing the brand to break into both meme culture and pop culture, which in turn make non-fashion partnerships like Depop x Sims uniquely interesting and relevant. 💡 Channel 4's Katie Jackson talking about using humour to engage all audiences on their change climate season programming to make audiences sit up and take notice - a campaign that became the channel's most complained about content, stirred hope amongst Gen Alpha and was seen by over half of the UK population. 💡 Matt Watson on the Doritos crunch cancellation software. Effectively solidifying themselves as the favourite snack of gamers, and reminding us that your fans' insight is eeeeverything, and by listening to and acting on it, cements your place at the top (and secures PR reach of 3.2 bn to boot). 💡 A masterclass in culture relevancy by Leyla Guilany-Lyard from Tinder - and how revealing their organic data insights gathered during the Paris Olympics (passport feature up +100%, swipes in France +25% and +50% increase in the word 'Olympian' or 'athlete' in bios) to the press at the exact right time led to over 1,000 pieces of coverage across 35 countries without spending a penny. Until next year!

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Download this plain speaking brief, written for MDs, Directors and Owners of mid-cap SMEs who don't have a Marketing Director but need marketing to drive growth in new markets or sectors. It'll help you consider the state of your marketing now, where you need to take it, and evaluate anyone you hire to help you. To download, click the full-screen square at the bottom of the preview, then click the download arrow at the top-right of the screen.

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Today, South Asian Heritage Month (SAHM) starts, and Disability Pride Month continues - all my worlds and identities colliding! This summer is about more than SAHM and Disability Pride Month; we also have the long-awaited 2024 Paralympics. But this is why I feel especially disheartened. The announcement of the Paralympic presenters for 2024 once again reveals a significant over-exclusion of South Asian representation. South Asians make up the second largest population in the UK and are more likely to experience disability than other ethnic groups. This ongoing erasure isn’t just disheartening; it underscores the critical need for representation that authentically reflects the rich diversity of our society. The impact of this over-exclusion sends a message that our contributions, our stories, and our identities are not valued. It only perpetuates a cycle of erasure within an already oppressed community, where our needs remain unmet because our intersection of race, ethnicity and disability is ignored. In South Asian culture, disability faces a further sense of stigma and is deeply rooted in shame, perceived as a reflection of family honour and personal worth. Disabilities are linked to past misdeeds or karma, reinforcing feelings of individual or familial guilt. Navigating these complexities within the South Asian community, let alone the wider disability community, underscores the need for collective support and advocacy to uplift and educate. South Asian’s also need access to role models and representation that affirm our identities in all spheres of life, particularly in events that celebrate resilience and the human spirit, such as the Paralympics. Ironically, this year’s SAHM theme is “Free to Be Me.” How can we feel truly free to be ourselves when we’re still fighting for visibility in spaces that exclude us? “Nothing about us, without us” - the well-known slogan in disability rights activism, sadly remains a fallacy for some of us. #Paralympics2024 #DisabilityPrideMonth #RepresentationMatters #SouthAsianHeritageMonth

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A truly spectacular way to open the seventh EV SUMMIT! Following on from this incredible performance, we had a full auditorium for the opening keynote from Marc Palmer and then the Auto Trader UK panel discussing the need for greater affordability and education for consumers to propel EV sales. Quite some start to this year's EV SUMMIT...! #EVSUMMIT | #EV | #BEV | #EMobility | #ElectricVehicles | #Decarbonisation

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🌿 Effective collaboration is key to real climate action. That’s why Clear Channel UK have been working with local authorities for decades, supporting innovative initiatives like Aberdeen Meadows-in-a-Box and Bristol City Leap. By demanding transparency and setting higher benchmarks, we can help ensure commitments go beyond lip service. But what else can be done? Partnerships and Creative Director, Louise Stubbings (she / her), answers the question in the latest Local Government Chronicle. Read it here: https://okt.to/EqB4e2 #PlatformForGood #Sustainability

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Excellent summation from Les Binet here on maximising effectiveness, efficiency, ROI and enhancing margins by doing some simple things with media spend distribution but also the core of the effectiveness is creativity. I find creative is often observed as an overhead of advertising rather than an investment but the research doesn't lie - amazing creative is as big an ROI multiplier than other factors combined, so the payback of these combinations in the short, medium and long term is absolutely worth it.

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Many motorsport sponsor leaders think visibility and logos on cars are enough to drive results. They’ve got it all wrong. Here’s why this approach is misguided: I can’t tell you how often I hear, “We’ll post occasionally on LinkedIn and let the team handle the rest.” But here’s why that doesn’t work for sponsors looking to maximize partnerships: 1. Nobody Recognizes the Brand’s Commitment Motorsport fans and executives need to see consistent engagement from your brand to understand the why behind your sponsorship. Posting sporadically isn’t enough to establish trust or credibility in motorsport. I recommend sharing 3-5 posts weekly, highlighting your activations and connection to the sport. 2. Authentic Messaging is a Skill It’s not just about visibility; it’s about what you say and how you say it. Your content must be tied to your business objectives so that you're able to stand out. Whether you’re driving sustainability, technology, or innovation, fans and stakeholders need a clear narrative about why your brand is involved in motorsport. Posting twice a month won’t cut it—you need regular practice to refine your voice and messaging. 3. Content is Like Race Preparation Think of your sponsorship as a high-performance car. Posting on LinkedIn is like testing and refining that car—you need regular laps to make it race-ready. Sporadic efforts won’t give you the insights or the traction needed to connect with motorsport executives or fans. My Advice for Sponsor Leaders: → Post at least 3x per week to build momentum and stay top of mind. → Align your messaging with your brand’s business objectives—tie sponsorships to measurable outcomes. → Use authentic content that showcases how your partnership impacts the motorsport world. Motorsport sponsors who show up consistently build stronger relationships with teams, fans, and stakeholders. That’s where the real ROI lives. Image by Clive Rose - Getty Images

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"Guinness limits supplies after demand soars". Guinness announces The Premier League partnership (Aug '24) and becomes title sponsor of Women's Six Nations Rugby (Dec '23). Any relationship? 👇 💯 Diageo is working at 100% production capacity but has still placed limits on orders in Great Britain after "exceptional demand". ❓ Wouldn't it be nice to know if their new sponsorships were a key driver of this? 🤷‍♀️ Something has changed. 📈 Guinness is bucking market trends. While overall beer drinking was slightly down between July and October, the volume of Guinness consumed from kegs was up more than 20%. 🏉 The BBC reports that "the drink has been rising in popularity with women and young people, and recent rugby internationals have put a strain on supplies." 🧠 Guinness is all about being top of mind during drinking occasions and have established this in men's rugby after years of consistent activity. ⚽ Have they quickly established themselves in the minds of women's rugby fans and Premier League fans too? 👨‍💻 Let's hope Diageo is doing the analysis. 🤔 What do you think? ----------------------- 🤝 I advise brands on use of sponsorship to solve their marketing challenges. 📲 Contact me if you are looking for some support. ♻️ Repost if you found this useful. #StriveSays #SportsIndustry #Sponsorship #SportsBusiness #Guinness

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