Best pitch presenter you’ve ever seen:
Joe Lamb, Volume PR, we came up together and both had to learn the ropes, but he had a way of making friends in every room he entered right from the beginning. I fell for it too. We ended up living together after knowing each other for about two weeks. He has a skill few can learn.
Best sports marketing campaign (that wasn’t yours):
It didn’t have the biggest budget and wasn’t from a sexy brand with famous faces, but This Girl Can had a cultural impact few campaigns can say they had. As a man who also had to learn to be comfortable in his own skin it had such a strong, clever, fun and inspiring message.
Best agency (that isn’t yours):
They’re not an agency as such but I think the model Versus has built is similar and the ideas they create for brands are excellent. Storytelling with an editorial eye and a commercial lens, which brings together fans.
Best young industry talent:
There is so much amazing young talent out there. To be honest, I think the other direction needs some pop. I always got the sense communications, advertising and marketing was a young person’s game and didn’t know where to look to see longevity at agencies. Sarah Firth of Speed and Founder of agency Anything But Grey is someone I look up to. She shows us there’s more to marketing than attracting Gen Z.
Best sporting event attended:
I spent part of my childhood in Bath. Walking home from school I would pass The Rec, home of Bath Rugby. At the end of one street there was a gap between a row of houses, and you could stand there and watch the match from a distance, hearing the crowd, seeing the floodlights and hearing the rush of the weir right next to the ground. It was magical. Give kids easy access to sport, let them witness it from afar and be drawn in.
Best sporting event on TV:
It’s a cliché one…but the Olympics. I love it. The variety, the fun, the passion, the stories, and the fact it’s once every four years. In a time where rights holders are driving for share of voice and always on consumption it’s an amazing example of how scarcity creates desire
Best brand ambassador:
I love seeing what Stormzy is doing with Adidas around Merky FC. It’s not as big, glossy and clever as some but it’s got longevity, impact, authenticity and purpose
Best industry event or conference:
I’m a shy extrovert so to be honest you’ll rarely see me out in the wild at industry events. I’m trying to go to more but it’s hard finding ones that deliver on price, and return on investment
Best film containing a scene depicting the sports business:
Damned United – I grew up a Leeds fan, close enough to hear the legends, the folklore and see the highlights. Seeing Michael Sheen embody Clough and the whole story played out on screen was a wonderful thing to share with my Leeds supporting side of the family and get an insight into the inner workings of management.
Best book recommendation:
This whole interview has been a challenge for me. I do not like picking favourites and my thoughts change every day! Non-fiction – Humankind by Rutger Bregman, for the LinkedIn learners, Stolen Focus, for the dreamers, The Northern Lights Trilogy and a book I always return to, The Humans by Matt Haig
Best bar or pub:
As a non-drinker I’m probably not qualified to answer this, but I have two. The connector is they are both slammed full of character. The Admiral Benbow in Penzance and the Faltering Fullback in North London
Best restaurant:
My own kitchen table. I love cooking and I love sharing. I trained as a chef and get to go to different places around the world right from my own house. For half the price.
Best holiday resort:
I don’t know about resort, as not really my thing, but I went to Oaxaca in Mexico for a few weeks and stayed for four months so it had something going for it
Best box set:
This really is pulling at my inner conflict of not being able to have favourites and needing multiple answers for every question… but if I’m on the spot then Mighty Boosh. It never fails to cheer my soul
Best influence on your career:
Probably Paul McCormick. He was a calm manager who called me out on some bad habits at a key point in my career.
Best dinner companions (min 4, max 6):
Through this work I’ve met a lot of people and in all honesty give me my friends, my family and my partner anytime.
Best job in the sports biz:
Greenkeeper – you live by the seasons, walk in nature and get to torture people with how fast you make the greens or how dense you make the rough
Best professional regret:
Not regrets just lessons. I’ve had a good career, with ups and downs, but I look back with a lot of pride
Best skill you most covet:
The ability to care a little less. I love making good work, but I can take things to heart and carry elements home with me
Best trait you admire in others:
The ability to share – time, ideas, feedback, objects, thoughts, conversation, knowledge – it’s a wonderful thing to see pure generosity of spirit.
Best overrated virtue:
Talking the talk. I lean to the people who walk the walk.
Best ambition:
A life lived with contentment. We need little and want lots – finding the balance and appreciation between the two is key