Digital Leadership and eCommerce Executive Search Specialist

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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