Clients

Charity


I have been working as interim head of marketing & communications for The Pennies Foundation, creator of Pennies, the electronic charity box. The role culminated in a showcase event at BAFTA, which premiered the new Pennies video (‘The Power of Pennies – One Year On’), launched a new social media campaign, using a Facebook app, and announced a series of new high profile supporters of Pennies, including Gary Barlow, Cheryl Cole and Jason Donovan. Pennies was also featured on the BBC and in the Guardian.

 

My role has been to take over from the previous head of marketing & communications at the end of July, manage in-house and external marketing resources, oversee the autumn campaign detailed above and recruit, coach and support a new permanent ‘head’, handing over the role at the end of November. It’s been a privilege to work alongside some inspirational people, as well as a great learning experience!

 

“Ian is one of those incredibly talented Marketing and Communication Directors with great versatility and reliability. His excellent personal relationship skills and understanding of business agendas means he can be a “safe pair of hands” if you urgently need help in the short term or have an interim role that needs quality results with little hassle/involvement from the executive. Equally as an experienced marketing professional he can also help a business perform a ‘game changing’ campaign to raise profile/launch proposition in a matter of months. Whether as a consultant, an interim or an executive I have experienced Ian in all three roles and would recommend him withour hesitation. I would welcome the opportunity to have him as part of my team in the future.”

 

Alison Hutchinson, CEO, The Pennies Foundation

Paralympic Athlete

 

 
I am working with leading Great Britain paralympic athlete, Sophia Warner, providing communications support (please visit her website, which I designed and wrote for her)  as she tells her inspiring story to the media and seeks financial sponsors in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
 
Recently, Sophia travelled to New Zealand as part of the Great Britain team to take part in the IPC Athletics World Championships, winning a bronze medal in the T35 100m, setting a new European record, and a silver in the T35 200m, breaking her previous personal best by over 2 seconds.
 
She is one of 43 Paralympic athletes on the UK Athletics World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) which supports elite athletes in their preparation for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
 
Please watch a short feature on BBC South East Today about her here.

“Right from when he first met me, Ian has listened to what I wanted to achieve and designed a communications plan to meet my objectives. He found a really good web designer and has written great copy and used images really effectively to produce a website that I am proud of.
 
More importantly, the website has impressed some major sponsors and has saved me lots of time in explaining my story to various media and corporate contacts. The email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn integrated communications campaign is working really well too.”

 

Sophia Warner, GB Paralympic Athlete

Web Agency

 


 
Dock 9 is a financial services specialist web agency, with a proven track record for producing complete website solutions that offer great user experiences and enhance business. I have been engaged as marketing consultant to the business as it seeks to raise its profile in the UK insurance and mortgage markets, through an integrated communications and PR programme.

General Insurance Provider

www.marketguard.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MarketGuard is a financial markets insurance specialist, offering an innovative rate capping insurance product, RateGuard.

 

RateGuard allows intermediaries to provide their clients with protection from the effects of interest rate rises by paying a monthly insurance premium. For 4.5 million variable rate borrowers in the UK, many of whom wish to cap their rate but are unable to remortgage, RateGuard can give them the peace of mind they need.

 

In my role as ‘virtual marketing director’ I provide marketing consultancy and support, co-ordinating closely with MarketGuard’s PR agency, Lansons Communications.

Market Research Agency

www.opinium.co.uk 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opinium is an expert market research consultancy based in the City of London. Opinium’s clients include world famous universities, media and PR heavyweights, global banking and financial services giants and the creators of consumer products in every-day use. In my role as ‘virtual marketing director’ I provide advice and support to Opinium’s MD, working closely with him to build and implement a marketing strategy that is designed to increase awareness and understanding of Opinium’s expertise and services.

“Growing our business in  the current economic environment means that we need to invest carefully. So it is great to be able to hire talent such as Ian on a ‘virtual’ basis as I have regular access to his knowledge and support, without having the overhead of a full-time senior resource.”

 

James Endersby, Managing Director

Mortgage Broker

www.largemortgageloans.com 

 

 

 

This award-winning specialist mortgage broker focuses on arranging £500k+ mortgages for high net worth individuals. I act as the ‘virtual marketing director’, providing my services on a variable days per month basis, delivering PR, blogging, reports, html emails and partnership marketing.

“Ian is a great asset, always available to help formulate marketing plans and implement communications campaigns to our various target audiences, and extremely flexible in his working patterns, to fit our requirements. The ‘virtual marketing director’ concept gives us an experienced marketing resource, on tap when needed, but at a fraction of the amount that a full-time marketing director would cost.”

Paul Welch, Managing Director

Financial Adviser Network

www.openwork.uk.com 

 

 

 

 

In my role as interim Head of Marketing at Openwork I have helped to develop professional, well structured and organised marketing processes, as well as reviewing key elements of marketing activity (including Openwork’s new website). The role has involved coaching and developing existing staff, recruiting new staff and managing internal clients and external agencies to help achieve Openwork’s corporate objectives.

“We have very much benefited from your input. I really do appreciate your help.”

 

Martin Davis, Chief Executive Officer

 

“I just wanted to let you know how heartening it is to work with someone who actually gets stuff done! From my perspective, Openwork already appears to be motoring in a really short space of time – both in terms of laying the foundations for the longer term and day-to-day.”

 

                                                                Ian Thomas, Director, Media Relations Management

Mortgage Broker

www.privatefinance.co.uk 

 

 

 

 

I provide specialist support to the marketing team at independent mortgage broker, Private Finance, which arranges bespoke mortgage solutions for high income clients who require large loans. As part of the strategic growth plan for 2010, I have specified, project-managed and written content for the new upgraded Private Finance website, www.privatefinance.co.uk

“Ian has done a great job with our new website, quickly understanding what we needed and helping us to deliver a site that reinforces our reputation as a first-class independent mortgage broker.”

 

                                                                Simon Checkley, Managing Director

 

Life Assurance & Pensions Provider

www.windsor-life.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My role is to act as marketing and communications consultant to the business retention team, helping to design a brand manual, an IFA newsletter and portal and a customer research programme, co-ordinating all communications activities with Windsor Life’s PR agency, Lansons Communications

“Ian is enthusiastic and passionate about what he does, and highly focussed on delivering business, marketing and communications results. He brings a strategic approach to his consultancy but is also a hands-on operator.”

Tony Langham, Chief Executive, Lansons Communications

Health Charity

Chelsea and Westminster Health Charity Website 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

I have been working with the Chief Executive to formalise the charity’s communications strategy for the rest of the year, making best use of limited financial, human and technical resources to maximise its fundraising capability.

“Thanks very much for the time you devoted to this project and for the thoughts, questions and challenges that you raised. It’s always helpful to have someone reviewing the embedded assumptions and the Charity will undoubtedly benefit in the months and years ahead. Many thanks particularly for delivering on time and on budget.”

Gary Lawson – Chief Executive