If there’s one guy who knows his way around a marketing department, it’s Simon Francis.
That’s why now, his job is to transform them into lean, mean, business-generating machines.
Simon is CEO at Flock Associates, a marketing transformation company. It isn’t an ad agency – what they do is more like ‘teaching a man to fish’. Flock helps businesses optimise their marketing operations, capabilities, procurement and project management so they can go and do great things.
Previously, he’s been CEO, EMEA for Saatchi & Saatchi, and Aegis Media, MD EMEA for OMD. He has also held senior positions at Leo Burnett, MindShare and ZenithOptimedia.
'I can't separate the role of being a CEO from a marketeer.' - Simon Francis, Flock Associates -
We talked about:
• The big challenges facing CMOs today in terms of teams and processes;
• The only two people in a company who are interested in marketing integration;
• Where customer services should fit in across an enterprise;
• How a global video games company completely re-aligned itself;
• Changes in the client/agency relationship;
• What to outsource and what to do in-house;
• Why process and integration is more important with technology;
• Tips for attracting and retaining staff;
• Culture and confidence (and how it can transform a business);
• And the differences between dealing in the US and Europe.
Simon on…
The problem of integration with companies:
Marcus Kramer (CMO of Aston Martin) said there are only two people that are interested in marketing integration in our company. There is me, I’m the CMO, and there is the consumer. Everyone else has a vested interest or a budget or an ego to protect. And I think that sums up the challenge. ….So it is stringing together sales, marketing, customer services, and other departments, to build a holistic seamless customer experience, which is important.
The client-agency relationship:
There is a massive overplay and a dog eat dog environment… (So) clients need to be crystal clear in how they set up their relationships: from a personal point of view, from a contractual point of view, from a payment point of view, from a process point of view.
The importance of really knowing your customer:
(Companies risk) optimising themselves to death because they don’t have a view of whether the consumer is enjoying any of it.
People Tell Richard Stuff: Episode 14
Simon Francis, CEO, Flock Associates
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