Business owner Sue Watson tasked us with sourcing the next generation of leadership to run her business. The brief was to find a tech savvy CEO, using social media. She stipulated that she was looking for genuine leadership ability over experience or background.
We ran a #nextgreatleader Twitter campaign that reached 1 million followers in over 30 countries. It was a huge success with extraordinarily high quality applicants spanning various industries. Social media was also used as part of the screening process, with applicants asked to create their own Pinterest board and Vine video.
Certainly not the norm for an executive search process; It raised eyebrows, but that was always our intention. Our campaign uncovered a candidate with no CEO experience from a pharmaceutical background, but with true charisma and leadership ability.
Read more in the Harvard Business Review.
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As a global FMCG company, digital hadn’t historically been an integral aspect of the business. The market was shifting with new disciplines emerging in online grocery channels and consumer data, which were identified as being increasingly important.
We were approached at an early stage to discuss openly the opportunities presented to the business and discover where these could already be fulfilled in house. Through a diligent consultation process, we outlined the need for the first UK Director of Digital to optimize and take ownership of these uncharted new channels. An extremely talented candidate was hired and we have subsequently filled a team under her that has set a precedent for digital excellence in the FMCG industry.
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Bridges Ventures partner James Ashwell was putting together a Joint Venture with a well-known dementia charity to create a aggregator of information, products and services to support carers for dementia sufferers.
He had the business plan, he had his route to market and he had investment but he had no idea about how to make it all come together on a digital platform. James had had a very early success running his family business after the early demise of his father. However the family business had been an engineering firm and he had no experience of B2C, branding or the mechanics of eCommerce and digital marketing. We were tasked with finding a CEO within 20 days to meet an investment committee deadline.
The brief involved finding someone with the usual eCommerce and digital marketing expertise with the added ability to build a community and customer journey in what was possibly one of the most sensitive areas of someone's private family life. By the end of 2 weeks Bridges Ventures had met and reduced the candidate list down to 2 finalists but then asked if we could do even better if we had more time. Two weeks later David Lethbridge was appointed and in September 2015 www.unforgettable.org was launched.
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Like many successful catalogue retailers, Boden were early adopters of ecommerce. However, in a rapidly evolving market, they recognized that the business needed to be realigned with digital at its core. A need to stay ahead of competitors as well as international expansion opportunities in the US and Germany brought about a search for a digital purist to take a leadership role, building upon the already strong ecommerce team.
We listened and supported the board in articulating exactly who it was they were looking for. It was a collaborative process working closely with HR that resulted in the appointment of its first eCommerce Director. It currently ranks amongst the UK’s most successful online retailers.
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TOG knew that they needed to sort out the technical / digital challenges that they were facing: Legacy IT systems had layered on legacy IT systems, they were in competition with the "unicorn" WeWork who differentiated themselves on tech credentials and they had just been bought by Blackstone and were primed for expansion. Was this a problem to be solved by an uber IT Director or was this a job for some mysterious "digital" person? Working with the CEO, HR and CMO we focused on the need to bring a customer focused approach to the problem and identified that a Product Director was needed. 6 weeks later he started work...
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CEO - retailer
Head of Domain Acquisition Services – online brand protection services
Marketing Director – mobile phone manufacturer
COO - retailer
Head of Strategy –mobile phone manufacturer
Sales Director – mobile operator
Deputy Director, Digital – London Borough Council
Transformation Director – legal
Director of E-tailing – global luxury goods retailer
Programme Director – Digital Transformation – fashion
Principal Consultant – Management Consulting
Associate Partner – Strategy Consulting
Managing Director (Digital) – financial Services
EMEA Director, Analytics – global food retailer
EMEA Director, Programmes – global food retailer
Director, CRM Products – global food retailer
Director , E Commerce Products – global food retailer
Director of Digital, EMEA – FMCG
Head of Customer Marketing – Retail
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“In looking for my new CEO, I wanted to bring fresh leadership onto my board. A lot of headhunters seem to circulate the same short list from job to job and I wanted to look further afield. Hannington Tame understood the brief and delivered a first class process which resulted in a great hire. They did a fantastic job.”
Sue Watson, Owner;
Lyle & Scott
“Hannington Tame have been a fantastic support to my career. They are incredibly intuitive in their ability to understand where people will form great relationships. We have subsequently worked with them to recruit for my current team.”
Becky Taylor, Director of Digital;
PepsiCo
Executives in the world of digital marketing, multi-channel retail or eCommerce face one of the most fast-paced business environments in the world. You may be a eCommerce exec or a CEO with eCommerce as part of your skills. By starting a conversation with us, you are opening up possibilities for your career. Our partners will offer you personal, discreet consultation that will connect you to just the right opportunities at the right time.
Clients seeking to build their digital capability, transform their business or augment a current team will find a group of experts who are uniquely equipped to advise you on both the talent dynamic within the market and robust, effective talent solutions. We have expertise in both B2B and B2C and a track record of filling roles that have no precedent with compelling, creative talent who possess the capability to take on the challenges of this new landscape.
We have been working with digital people in one way or another since the late 90s. We have watched our early clients grow from dot com start ups, to major online brands and many of the people we placed into mid-level online marketing or eCommerce roles in the corporate world 10 years ago, are now on the boards of major brands.
We have watched London become the global centre for eCommerce and multi-channel retailing. We are the team who can help you bring digital talent into your business.
Patrick began his career as a headhunter after leaving the Army in 2003. He quickly made a name for himself as a recruiter in what was then an emerging digital and ecommerce market, founding the successful recruitment firm Beringer Tame, of which he is still a Director. Things have moved on a bit since the wild-west days of dial up and wap and as the market has grown, more space has been made in the board room for digital and e-commerce leaders. Patrick has increasingly been asked to lead senior level search assignments and now works exclusively on ‘C’ level retained search.
Outside of Hannington Tame, Patrick enjoys paragliding and paramotoring (he can often be seen in the skies over Hampshire), riding horses and messing about on boats. Patrick also plays in a band, is a director of the London Mozart Symphony Orchestra and volunteers as a Princes Trust mentor.
James joined the Royal Navy straight after school and was sponsored through Durham University. On leaving the RN in 1999, he set up one of London’s first serviced offices in the midst of the dotcom boom. By 2001 he had turned the basement into Adam Street Private Members' Club - London’s first club for entrepreneurs. Adam Street's membership was dominated by the tech scene and given James passion for making great connections it was a natural move to join Patrick's team in 2013.
Outside of the tech/entrepreneur world, James reopened the famous music venue The Tabernacle in Notting Hill and assuages his love for the sea/mid-life crisis by dinghy racing. He now also admits to being an over-zealous MAMIL.