How Scott Morrison Got Ahead

Name: Scott Morrison
Company: Activision (UK) Ltd
Job title: UK Marketing Director
What made you want to get into marketing?: As a career, it sold me.

Name: Scott Morrison
Company:  Activision (UK) Ltd
Job title:  UK Marketing Director
What made you want to get into marketing?:
As a career, it sold me.

How did you get into the industry?:
I was one of six in the 1995 Saatchi & Saatchi graduate intake. Advertising gave me a fantastic grounding in strategy, creative problem solving and diplomacy.

What was good and bad about your first job?:
The people, the environment and the Saatchi philosophy Nothing is Impossible were all great.
Only being able to afford beans on toast for the last week of each month was a lowlight.
List your jobs to date:
Saatchi & Saatchi – graduate trainee to account director – (1995 to 2001)
Wieden Kennedy – Account Director (2001 to 2002)
Levi’s – Head of Marketing UK & Ireland (2002 to 2005)
Activision UK Ltd – Marketing Director (2005 to present).
What were the best and worst, and why?:
I’ve sat red-eared through the 50th edit of a ten-second radio ad with hours to spare before its aired, watched in horror as a 60k car for a shoot was stolen by joyriders in Wales and driven into someone – sending them to hospital. And Ive seen a product we spent months launching crash and burn. Thereve been bad times too…
Who has been your biggest inspiration?:
My mum – she makes me believe that I can achieve anything and she’s always proud.
Who in the industry do you most admire?:
Two people – Kevin Roberts for having the bravery to embrace the ideas philosophy when people still talked about advertising, and Johnny Wright at Saatchis for being living proof that you can take the man out of Skelmersdale but…
What is your biggest achievement to date?:
Getting into the consumers mind and challenging the status quo – with my team, we achieved some great things at Levis, introducing the Levis Ones To Watch music and Elle Style Awards programmes – both of which raised the profile of Levis as well as delivering commercial success at retail. Both of these were driven from consumer insights and challenged the thinking that TV was our best option to deliver to the audience. Both programmes have now become the centrepiece for activity in the UK and continue to be successful.
On what do you base your success so far?:
Listening, thinking, doing, learning, listening.
What are your ambitions?:
Short term – complete the Run London 10k
Medium term – complete the London Marathon
Long term – help consult businesses on getting the best creative, yet commercially viable, communication solutions for their market.
Change one thing about your job:
The M4 at 6.30pm.
Change one thing about your industry:
The status quo.
Change one thing about the world:
Status Quo isnt enough enough?
What is your favourite brand?:
R Whites lemonade – I’m a secret lemonade drinker.
What is the next big brand in your view?:
Guitar Hero – it is going to completely change the way people play video games.
List your media diet:
The Sun in the morning (transfer speculation only)
Messenger to keep in touch with the US later in the day.
i-tunes for my ambient soundtrack to the day.
Game Rankings and MCV for the latest chart info and game reviews.
Fantasy football online at lunchtime to change my team for the weekend.
Channel 4, Discovery, Sky Sports and Paramount at various points during the evening.