I was absolutely delighted when Quirk asked me to be their first Non Executive Chairman. I have had a long love affair with marketing; going back to the late 70’s when I joined Unilever as a Brand manager in the UK. I got the chance to run some of their most famous brands like Persil and eventually to lead a marketing team as marketing director. It was always the purest form of demand creation, brand building and strategic/creative marketing that interested me so I left Unilever to co-found Added Value, the first ever Marketing Agency. Over 14 years we built it up to more than 1000 people all over the world, working on the greatest marketing briefs for some of the biggest and coolest brands – Guinness, Levis, Walkers, Zurich and Coke to name just a few. In fact it is hard to think of an industry sector I did not get the chance to work in. When Added Value was acquired by WPP I went back on to the client side as Global Marketing Director of SABMiller. Again, I lucked out, as this was the time – 2002-2006 – when they acquired and built all their international brands like Peroni and Miller and became the huge industry leader they are today, a business where marketing is truly valued as a growth driver.

Of course as a career marketer I witnessed the birth of digital marketing. To be honest, my first reaction was to be an ostrich. I did not understand it and was a bit intimidated by it. I was not born digital! But when, after completing my assignment with SABMiller, and having moved to Cape Town I had a bit more time on my hands, I started to explore digital. I decided that in order to maintain my long love affair with marketing I had to embrace digital, to accept with some humility that I had to relearn my trade. In fact I realised that I had to dive in to this new ocean - not just stand watching from the beach. So I launched my own digital publishing business and set up my first website and blog. I got to know the highly talented and dynamic Cape Town online community. This got me quite quickly to Quirk, Rob Stokes and his really passionate team at Quirk. Quirk people are born digital, they are passionate about it and keen to share their enthusiasm (the Quirk book on eMarketing is the best I have read). Quirk are smart and creative – like me Quirk have a love affair with marketing, but in the digital space. Added Value were the first marketing Agency – Quirk are the first eMarketing Agency. This can be no coincidence, surely?

So here I am, proud to be Quirk’s non-executive chairman and keen to share what I know about turning ambition into the development of a really successful – industry leading – agency. Non-executive means my role is advisory, I support the leadership team, but I also want to pitch in to business development. My career means that I know a lot of businesses out there, perhaps at a different access point and levels to the ones normally available to the agency. I intend to knock a few doors down and help get Quirk the opportunities it deserves. With a young growing agency there are always more things to do than hours in the day. Wherever and whenever I am needed I want to help share the load, to support the development of better process, add some perspective to a client proposal or issue, generally to roll my sleeves up and pitch in. I travel regularly to the UK and I want in particular to help Nic and his team carve out a strong position in what is a very competitive market. I know from first hand experience how hard and how much fun the journey is and I am delighted to be able to share the ride! Can a leopard change his spots – he has. 

Also check out:

• Quirk Ten Years Later
• A Chat With Rob Stokes on the eMarketing Textbook
• The Evolution of Idea Bounty