23 UK Brands with New Marketing Hires: Q1 2022

These UK brands are fresh with new marketing hires for 2022…

1)  Arsenal Football Club welcomes chief commercial officer to oversee marketing, dips spend

Arsenal welcomed Juliet Slot as its chief commercial officer in December, to oversee marketing, hospitality, commercial partnerships, ticketing, retail, and digital experience. She spent the last 10 months working as a self-employed strategic advisor, and before that, she was the chief commercial officer at Ascot Racecourse. She replaces Peter Silverstone, who left to pursue other opportunities.

Pathmatics states digital display over the last 30 days totaled £300, a decline from the £1.8k spent during the same 30 days of the prior year. 12-month spend hit £9.5k, a dip from the £182.5k spent during the previous year. Last year’s ads were placed via Google AdX + AdSense (100%) onto sites like premierleague.com (97%), cricbuzz.com (2%), gamefaqs.gamespot.com (<1%), coolmathgames.com (<1%) and football-italia.net (<1%).

• Sellers: Reach out for budget since the Premier League season is well underway. The season lasts from August to May, and is also when Arsenal spends the most. The club typically targets men.
• Agency and martech: These personnel shifts are almost certain to result in agency shifts, so martech companies and agencies should reach out for work. We don’t know who you may find among your competition. Other notable clubs include Manchester United FC, Chelsea FC, and Liverpool FC.

2)  Sage: business software company welcomes interim marketing EVP, three marketing VPs, two directors

Sage, which provides accounting and business management software, welcomed Spencer McHugh as its interim brand marketing EVP in May. He last worked as the interim marketing director at Beats by Dr. Dre, and before that, he was the CMO of OTRO. We’re keeping an eye out for his permanent replacement.

The company also had three marketing VPs just join the team: Global Marketing Strategy & Planning VP James Hankins (November; former strategy director at Manning Gottlieb OMD), Marketing Investment & Effectiveness VP Harry Davies (November; former sales data science & analytics head at Google Cloud) and Web Digital Marketing VP Stuart Scott (November; promoted from senior global digital marketing director).

• Sellers: Because spend is increasing and poised to continue doing so, sellers should reach out for budget. The demographic is SMEs, which tends to be a wide demographic. Spend often spikes from April to June.
• Agency and martech: These personnel shifts are huge harbingers of agency changes, so martechs and agencies should reach out for work. Winmo lists the roster as The Propaganda Agency (creative) and VCCP (digital). Sage’s competitors include Xero, Cegid, and Quickbooks.

3)  LADbible: media company floats on the LSE, raises an additional £30m

LADbible is officially trading on the London Stock Exchange, floating for £360m last week. At the same, according to Prolific North, it raised an additional £30m in order to fuel growth and explore acquisitions. We also want to let you know about the promotion of Marketing & Communications Director Maya Orr (March; former marketing & communications head). LADbible now seeks a social media activation executive, a campaign manager over ad ops, and an associate creative director over display.

• Sellers: Some of the money LADbible received should be earmarked for marketing. Therefore, we anticipate the recent declines ceasing (please read about recent spend below) and you should reach out for budget. LADbible tends to use VOD, social media, digital, influencer, outdoor, experiential, partnership, and cause marketing to reach Gen-Z and millennials (consumers 18-34). It does not have a top spending period.
• Agency and martech: Continue to reach out for work at this vulnerable account, particularly with pitches that can help LADbible achieve its growth goals. Agency relationships are not known. LADbible’s competitors include JOE (joe.co.uk).

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