A Day in the Life of Martin Stead
Im lucky to say that I cant really think of any worst days. When youre in a job which enables you to build a brand and also mobilise people to make efforts in the race against climate change, its pretty motivating!
Name: Martin Stead
Company: EDF Energy
Job title: Brand Director
What keeps you busy all day? Encouraging the public to join our 2012 Carbon Challenge and take action to reduce their carbon footprint by a tonne of CO2.
What keeps you awake at night? Thinking about my training schedule for the inaugural EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon – The Race Against Climate Change – in October. It’ll be race day before I know it.
Describe your working day: Stimulating, fun and rewarding. I’ve been in place for four months now, and much of my time has involved me laying the foundations for the work ahead. I’ve been immersing myself into the business, the organisation, and on the road at power plants and with consumers. The brand building challenges are becoming clear, and we have recently agreed the brand and marketing strategies to take EDF Energy into the future.
What’s your busiest time of day? No two days are the same – which keeps things very interesting! Generally, I spend time working with my teams between the London, Hove and Paris offices. The work ethic at EDF Energy is great as there’s also time to play hard when the working day ends.
What brands/accounts have you worked on? Prior to joining EDF Energy, I was based at Procter & Gamble’s Geneva Head Office, as Global Brand Manager for Oral-B, responsible for upstream innovation. Before that, I was the Regional Brand Manager for Ariel, and for the UK I developed the ‘Championship Whites’ campaigns with the Lawn Tennis Association and Tim Henman.
Best day at work: The launch of our latest integrated campaign in May – it launches our sustainability partnership with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It was exhilarating to see the team pull together to deliver a truly integrated plan around the idea that ‘sport has the power to unite people in great challenges’ – and so far we’re exceeding our targets for the number of people who have visited savetodaysavetomorrow.com and joined our 2012 Carbon Challenge.
Worst day at work: I’m lucky to say that I can’t really think of any ‘worst days’. When you’re in a job which enables you to build a brand and also mobilise people to make efforts in the race against climate change, it’s pretty motivating!
Name one thing you’ve achieved that has made your bosses sit up and take notice: Probably my first presentation as Ariel Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble’s Brussels office. Faced with a windowless room of 40 people and 60 laptops and blackberries switched on, desperate measures were called for. My key message was that Ariel was being misunderstood as a brand. Presenting my first 3 slides in Mandarin certainly caught the room’s attention and made the point! Taking Ariel to UK market leadership behind the Championship Whites campaign also got people sitting up…
Ambitions: To use this once in a lifetime opportunity of working with EDF Energy to work with London 2012 to build the brand while mobilising people in the race against climate change.
Advice to other rising stars: Above all else, enjoy what you do.
Quote from the boss: “Our commitment to taking action against climate change is a marathon not a sprint so I’m very pleased Martin runs intelligently with pace and style.” (Eva Eisenschimmel, Chief Operating Officer, EDF Energy)
