It’s meet the team time, and this week we get to know Sarah, our Head of Marketing, just a little bit better.
Sarah has been with the business for almost a year and in that short time has delivered some big projects and helped The Point.1888 prepare for another exciting year in business. She also heads up our creative division (Creative.1888) here at The Point.1888 and loves nothing more than helping our clients with all things brand, design and marketing related!
Let’s see what she has to say!
We’d love to hear a little more about your career to date-
I count myself very lucky to have worked with some wonderful brands over the years. Starting out in Luxury with high end fashion at Aspinal of London, this role really helped me decide that brands and all that encompasses the selling and marketing of a brand was my calling.
I then joined Montezuma’s Chocolates, where I spent an incredible 10 years amongst the most amazing people, growing a small start up brand into a multi million pound business, but maintaining its core values along the way. This business gave me the opportunity to learn about so many areas, from manufacturing and operations, to B2B sales, ecommerce, marketing, finance and retail. When you are part of a small business growing very quickly, it is imperative to appreciate what everyone else does and I loved that at Montezuma’s. My wonderful team and I worked very hard, and we achieved huge things such as gaining grocery listings, attending the biggest trade shows, creating incredible first to market products, securing overseas stockists and delivering some impressive year on year sales results!
My latest challenge prior to joining The Point.1888 was launching a brand from scratch! This was an opportunity too good to miss. I was recruited to set up and bring to market a concept and because I saw real potential in the founder’s mission, I knew I could work with them to deliver it. We spent 12 months creating the brand, naming it, working on the look of the brand, the tone of voice, creating a range, sourcing the packaging and deciding on our final product, developing a website and then all the commercials that go alongside. We launched The Little Botanical, and within four months I had a listing in John Lewis – the first ever living plant product the retail giant had sold and it was an immediate success, both for John Lewis and our own ecommerce business. The success was led by a huge following on Instagram, gained organically and authentically. My leap into this had paid off and here we had a brand changing the way consumers purchased house plants – mission complete!
Why the move to licensing?
It wasn’t a quick decision… Will (our MD) would tell you, it took a few years to get me on board! I felt I had things to learn, more industries to experience and a wonderful brand to get launched and operating beautifully before I was ready for another challenge. Then the time came to join The Point.1888. I worked with Will when he first set up the agency back in my Montezuma’s days, and we got on so well, had similar opinions on things and just clicked straight away. He said “one day you will work for me”, I didn’t believe him… but here I am.
Why is licensing the industry for you?
As an industry, there is everything you could possibly want, no matter who you are and what you do! But our agency is what is keeping me here. At The Point.1888 we do things differently, we are changing the world and we have the very best people in our business to ensure that our clients and partners are with us every step of the way. I can’t believe there are many industries that would enable me to work on such a variety of projects all at the same time. From planning an instore launch of an Ice Cream range, to creating branding for a new opportunity, to supporting new businesses in their initial stages and then working with universities to recruit the very best talent for our business. Variety is the spice of life, so they say… well The Point.1888 offers every spice going!
What are you excited about in 2020?
This year could not have started any better. We have the biggest changes to come this year and I can’t wait to get stuck in. But I’m so excited to see all the Team GB product hit retail in just a few months’ time, and then cheering on our Olympians with a cold beer.
We also have some big things ahead for our newest brand Moomin. This brand is so special and I think every one of our team is honoured to be playing a part in the next stage of its growth.
Personally I hope to work more on telling the world about our purpose and values, showing everyone that flexible working improves businesses results and empowering more companies to try some of the policies we have in place to enable their teams to have a better #lifework balance.
If you want to chat to Sarah about how she can support your business then head over to her LinkedIn or email her sarah.crimes@thepoint1888.com