My Experience
I’ve had experience in many different types of organisations. From an £8m turnover entrepreneurial venture, to a £16bn giant like Morrisons. I’ve operated as part of a UK only company, as a market in part of a global organisation and as a global leader of multiple markets. Just as the organisations differed, the cultures differed too. Working internationally in US and New Zealand based businesses was so different to a small UK business, which was different again to some of the more corporate retail environments, such as Argos.
2001 – 2005 – Lancaster University Management School
BSc (Hons) Marketing Management. First Class
Studying Marketing Management at Lancaster was a fascinating start to my career. The syllabus encouraged critical thinking, and included a year working in industry (see below), which allowed for my understanding of marketing to develop beyond theory and into practice. Modules such as marketing strategy, consumer behaviour and entrepreneurship were significant in consolidating my passion around people, behaviours and business.
2003 – 2008 – Reebok (UK, Europe, International)
I spent the third year of my degree working at Reebok, and returned after I graduated. I worked my way up through the European product management team where I looked after Sports Properties like Liverpool FC and Wales RFU. I progressed fairly rapidly to Global Product Manager for Women’s Apparel. This presented the first steep upward trajectory in my career, which was challenging and formative. I was responsible for driving sales across the globe by working cross-functionally across design, development and marketing to create commercial product propositions. I launched these ranges at huge global meetings where I presented to an audience of hundreds to achieve buy-in. I travelled the world to understand sports retail and frequently worked out of the World HQ in Boston, USA. Half of my tenure was under Reebok ownership and half was post the adidas acquisition, so I experienced the culture shift and changes associated with this transition.
“Charlotte was a great addition to the Reebok family and fitted in very easily from the start. She learned the ropes quickly and soon became an important part of the apparel team. She made apparel product presentations all over the world and to very senior members of the Reebok organisation which didn’t faze her one bit as she is a very confident individual.”
John Foster, Global Manager (New Balance)
2008 – 2012 – All About Food
I was always keen to enter the world of FMCG as a marketer and All About Food is a fascinating business where I spent 4 years. Mostly owned by Nando’s internationally, the proposition is about creating retail ranges for restaurant brands such as Nando’s, Pizza Express, Wagamama and Wahaca. The team was very small when I joined (8 people in the entire business) and I was one of two marketers, who had full P&L responsibility for creating profitable long-term brand growth through brand extensions at retail. Nando’s Peri-Peri sauces and Pizza Express salad dressings are examples of products I managed – both of which were market leaders at the time. The role was end to end and all encompassing – I found myself visiting flavour houses in South Africa for the launch of Peri-Peri chips (crisps) and on a tomato harvest trip in Parma to launch Pizza Express passata – I even had to learn business Italian in order to manage the project. I also launched the corporate brand ‘All About Food’ which was a rebrand from the previous B2B company. The business doubled in size while I was there.
“Charlotte is very hard working, extremely switched on and open to learning new tactics and channels to make her brand’s comms work ever harder. She was quick to grasp the opportunities that social media afforded her and added this to her planning.”
Rick Guttridge, Co-owner & MD (Smoking Gun)
2012 – 2013 – Morrisons
Morrisons was a formative time for me. I joined to lead the own brand reinvention across 55 categories in ambient, frozen, beers, wines and spirits – a business area worth £5bn. I was also responsible for the ‘good, better, best’ brand architecture across own brand, and launched brands across all tiers of the hierarchy. My proudest moment at Morrisons was relaunching own brand wine, using a brand strategy which was truly customer centric. Sales increased in double digits post launch and the range has won many awards since. After a successful relaunch of all categories and brands, I moved on to lead the first ever corporate brand team in Morrisons, which meant that I owned brand execution in store (including store design) and online. This was an amazing challenge which words cannot describe, of leadership, working at pace, with ambiguity, with multiple stakeholders. Today, Morrisons Market Street looks very different because of the team’s work in this space. A great period in my career!
“Charlotte is just a top performer! We already miss her drive and motivation at M’s HQ!!!”
Lee Tynan, Group Development Director (Creative Foods Europe)
“Charlotte was a fantastic mentor/line manager and helped me to realise my full potential during my placement- through coaching and encouragement as well as on the job training- which allowed me a greater understanding of branding and in particular corporate branding relating to in store and online.”
Katie Drew, Business Development Manager (A G Barr)
2013 – 2015 – Argos
Argos asked me to join them to lead their own brand reinvention as part of their transformation. They owned 77 brands in total but most of them had become meaningless to their customers, and Argos needed these brands to work harder to differentiate them in a crowded marketplace. I led the relaunch of once-loved household brands like Chad Valley toys and Bush electronics, which had lost relevance to customers. I built a team of talented marketers and drove an internal education towards the commercial power of brands and marketing, demonstrating that marketing isn’t ‘fluffy magic’ or the ‘icing on the cake’ – sound brand strategy is the difference between long-term commercial success by creating differentiation and customer loyalty.
“Charlotte was a driven, insightful and purposeful leader, who brings passion and energy to big challenges. Charlotte is passionate about brands and undertook some significant projects from strategy to execution, whilst building and developing a team of talented marketeers. I really enjoyed my time working with Charlotte and she was a brilliant partner to drive this business forward with.”
Jack Wallace, Head of Marketing (Sainsbury’s)
2015 – 2018 – Les Mills International
Les Mills is a brand that touched my life long before I joined them. Around 2010, lacking motivation to exercise and with not enough strength to do a single press up, a PT suggested I attend a BODYPUMP class. My world changed. After a few classes; I stopped thinking I had to exercise and started wanting to exercise. So, when I got the opportunity to lead their global marketing function from London, it was a moment where my head and my heart aligned.
Les Mills is a New Zealand family owned company which is expanding rapidly globally (currently in over 100 countries, in 20,000 gyms with 130,000 instructors), so as Global Marketing Director, I frequently travelled from country to country hiring people, setting best practice principles in place and relaunching the brand value propositions. I built a special team of people who are still delivering on this strategy today, and my proudest legacy is reframing marketing into a commercial, demand generating function – as well as becoming a certified BODYPUMP instructor myself!
“Since Charlotte joined Les Mills International, she made a significant and noticeable impact on the business. Charlotte single-handedly implemented the first ever B2B value proposition including full creative and strategy across 40+ global teams. Following this Charlotte continued to embed an entire business function to service the Marketing needs for the club and Instructor audiences… Charlotte is a fantastic communicator, she is clear, personable, inspiring and transparent. Personally, I’ve grown more in my skills and confidence in these two years than I have throughout my entire career.”
Chloe Liddy, Global Marketing Manager (Les Mills International)
2018 – 2020 – ClearScore and coaching
In 2018, I was presented with a fantastic opportunity to work with ClearScore, in a consultancy capacity, as their Interim Chief Marketing Officer. At the same time, I was able to focus on building my coaching experience in order to complete my 2 year-long ILM qualification. ClearScore is one of the most successful FinTechs in the world. Founded in 2015 by Justin Basini, it has nearly 9 million users in the UK and nearly 12 million globally, operating in South Africa, India and Australia. ClearScore employs over 300 people.
It was a complete privilege for me to work with ClearScore at such a pivotal time in their growth. Some of my proudest achievements include supporting the team to grow the UK user base from 6m to nearly 9m users, create South African and Indian TV ads which have contributed to 12m users globally, and building a superstar marketing team who are going to continue to drive sustainable growth. For more about my learnings at ClearScore, read my blog post.
“Charlotte is, quite simply, wonderful. She brings her exceptional experience to bear on new and challenging questions at ClearScore and develops clear and comprehensive strategies, which she supports the team to deliver on. Not just a super smart strategist, Charlotte is one of those extremely rare people who is not only brilliant from a business perspective, but who works tirelessly to coach and develop her team and dedicates enormous time and energy to everyone. I’ve learned an immense amount from her, admire her hugely, and feel very fortunate to have been led & coached by her.”
Jacqui Grimsey-Jones, UK Marketing Director (ClearScore)
“Charlotte’s highly productive, partnership approach allows her to identify problems quickly, develop solutions and execute against these in a collaborative and inclusive way. Working with senior teams, marketing teams and suppliers to get it right. All of this with a big smile and passion.”
Kirstin Furber, Chief People Officer (Kantar)
2020 – 2024 – RS Group PLC
Led a team of 45 to deliver and execute group marketing strategy across 32 markets during a period of change and growth within this FTSE 100 omni-channel global business. Responsible for group brand strategy and propositions, end-to-end integrated planning and delivery, supplier co-marketing, category marketing, email marketing and creative services.