How Simon Blezard got ahead
“I want to challenge the misconception that marketing initiatives are created by marketers themselves (instead of resulting from consumer preferences).”
Name: Simon Blezard
Company: DMC Media
Job title: Managing director
What made you want to get into marketing?
Whilst wading through reams of milk round application forms for all the usual blue-chip companies after university, I read an interview with Sir Rocco Forte describing his vision for hotel loyalty programmes. Within months most of the major hotel chains had created their own loyalty programme, and schemes like Air Miles and store cards sprang up. An intelligent notion for further maximising the lifetime value of a customer had emerged and incentive marketing became a boardroom issue for major marketers. I was hooked!
How did you get into the industry (including relevant qualifications and professional training)?
Languages degree at Oxford and a Marketing MBA at NYU.
I caught the reins of the emerging ‘brand consulting’ phenomenon and later became part of the web and mobile marketing explosions.
What was good and bad about your first job?
I worked for a management consultancy as a research analyst. This gave me huge exposure to the travel industry, but frustratingly I was still too junior to be client facing.
List your jobs to date:
1. PKFA – research analyst
2. BBC – various
3. “The Team” – brand consultant
4. Agency.com – mobile strategist (London, NY)
5. Latitude – London office launch – sales & marketing director
6. FullSIX Group – Partner
a. SixandCo agency launch – Managing director
b. DMC Media agency launch – Managing director
What were the best and worst, and why?
They were all good. A job is what you make of it!
Who has been your biggest inspiration?
I have worked alongside some amazing people. But there are two figures who really stand out – Ritesh Patel & Paul Doleman – both CIOs with long agency track records. They both possess an amazing ability to harness people, encourage innovation and most importantly, to marry emerging technologies that enable rather than complicate marketing solutions.
Who in the industry do you most admire?
Marco Tinelli – my current chairman. The man is a visionary!
What is your biggest achievement to date?
A series of different agency launches.
On what do you base your success so far?
Good fortune, hard work and the support of some great people.
What are your ambitions?
To start an agency that consumers have heard of, respect and also actively involve themselves with. I want to challenge the misconception that marketing initiatives are created by marketers themselves (instead of resulting from consumer preferences).
Change one thing about your job:
Have more holidays.
Change one thing about your industry:
There should be a freer exchange between companies allowing agency and client side marketers to experience both sides of the job.
Change one thing about the world:
Bring George Bush to ransom, stop the exploitation of natural resources and manage our planet responsibly.
What is your favourite brand?
Apple – they are the kings of innovation.
What is the next big brand in your view?
Let’s see what happens to David Beckham in the next few years – if he can reconcile the US with the rest of the world and truly make soccer a global sport, surely his name/brand name will become synonymous with promoting international collaboration.
List your “media diet”:
I read the usual media journals, but have recently engaged with a series of marketing professionals in the FullSIX Group, DMC’s parent agency, to create our own online media journal. Have a look!
