How It Works The Streams
Customer Relationship Management
Sam Hornsby
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, Flamingo International, New York
What attracted you to Accelerate?
I was eager to take the opportunity Accelerate represents for lots of reasons…
The scheme is highly regarded internationally and offers exceptional networking channels throughout Omnicom, the world’s leading strategic communications group.
Accelerate is designed to offer an unparalleled mix of hands-on management experience within operating companies and focused personal development with leading behavioural psychologists. Five company placements over eighteen months equates to a breadth of exposure; to different specialisms, company cultures and client relationships that would otherwise take years to gain and which rapidly hones flexibility and corporate expertise.
As a discipline I ardently believe in the power of Communications and Relationship Marketing to create value and value for companies, their customers and stakeholders.
Accelerate opens doors to a creative sector where ideas – not simply seniority – are at a premium and to roles in which interpreting technological and cultural trends for clients is an integral part of the job.
What stream were you on and what companies did you work for?
I joined the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) stream which took me to Claydon Heeley, Exentio (CPM International), Flamingo International, Radiate Experience and Agency Republic.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt through being on the programme?
Good Communications require not only empathy, creativity and highly polished delivery but must be built on delivering ROI, meeting client objectives and hitting targets. When I’m doing my job properly I’m a client’s strategic partner – relationships characterised by service provision aren’t good enough when competing for business.
What’s the hardest thing about being on the programme?
On a day-to-day basis the most challenging parts of the job; short project turn-arounds, high expectations, complex scheduling and successfully managing (internal and external) relationships are also the most rewarding.
What is the best bit about being on the programme?
Broadly, the satisfaction that comes through consistently meeting challenges at work and coming to understand my own strengths and weaknesses has been (surprisingly) enjoyable. Highlights so far include working on assignment in New York, winning pitches and making lasting friendships within the company.
What piece of advice would you give someone applying to Accelerate?
Personal experience and intuition are your strongest assets, so use them. The language and mechanisms of business a) come later and b) are there to help you express yourself, not re-educate you. Keep your eyes open and don’t hold back.
Please give an example of something you’ve done that you never would have had the opportunity to do if you hadn’t been on the programme?
Personal meetings with the CEOs, Presidents and Chairmen of leading global Advertising and Media agencies in order to develop my ideas on issues facing the industry is an incredible privilege. It’s an opportunity few people are ever afforded and is characteristic of the value DAS Omnicom place on fostering talent.
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Why only 3?
There are many different ways of describing CRM but perhaps the simplest way of thinking about it is in the context of how you experience it- an individual interaction with a brand that isn’t an advert or mass communication. Our perception of a brand is built over-time though the thousands of small gestures it makes and how it engages with us at every encounter, as a result brands look to CRM to help craft and build better direct engagements with customers at these critical moments. Examples of this can be done ranges from Live Events (think Innocent Village Fete 2009 where they run the show, or the Orange ‘chill and charge’ tents at Glastonbury), to direct marketing (think of those tailored offers and messages you get from your Nectar or Tesco clubcard). This stream focuses on what goes into create great direct engagements and how they provide a bedrock of brand success.
Campaign Magazine’s “Direct Agency of the Year 2004” and “Best DM Creative” in 2005, Targetbase Claydon Heeley approaches client issues without a specific medium in mind, and so is able to plan and execute the appropriate solution via direct marketing, relationship marketing, advertising and consumer and trade promotions.
CPM is the global leader in providing integrated sales strategies. Using Insight and Influence, CPM offer clients cutting edge solutions which are implemented through in-house sales teams. The fact that many of their clients have been with them for over 25 years is testament to the high impact and success of their campaigns. If you have ever drunk a free pint of Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day, or bought a Mars bar when paying for petrol, you have already made contact with CPM.
As the largest qualitative research agency in Europe, Flamingo believes that brands exist because people do. For them, brands are not fixed and static ‘entities’, any more than people themselves are. People and brands are part of this complex, beautiful, often mystifying web of connections called culture.
For over 18 years, Flamingo has been making sense of brands and culture in partnership with many of the world’s most successful businesses, delivering inspiring consumer insights and commercially-incisive brand thinking across cultures, all the time.
Experience Worldwide creates events which bring the brand experience to life, enabling customers to develop a firsthand relationship with the brand. From Virgin and Heineken, to the BBC, Experience Worldwide are changing the way people think, feel and behave through the power of experience.
Agency Republic is a digital advertising agency with a unique combination of marketing experts and digital specialists. As 5 times winner of Marketing’s ‘Digital Agency of the Year’, Agency Republic have an industry leading track record of using digital channels to deliver commercial success.