LSDM Podcast - London School of Design & Marketing

The 9 to 5 industrial-age work model has excluded many talented professionals especially in the design and marketing field. Agency founders Lizzie Penny and Alex Hirst saw the 3 things missing from the corporate world - flexibility, empathy and meritocracy - and appear to have the antidote.

Hoxby is an agency that relies on a talented network of thousands of freelancers who do outstanding work on their own terms. 

Using their own personal examples, including Lizzie’s return to work after becoming a parent and Alex’s story of burnout at the time, this episode reveals how a fundamental change in our ways of working is necessary.

What started as a change-the-world discussion in a pub in 2015 has become a leading UK agency built on the “work style” concept - the idea that anyone, anywhere can work with purpose, and judged on the quality of their work, not their circumstance or location.

This episode is a story of #leadership based on #purpose that has created extraordinary success in a short period of time and delivered work for some of the largest brands in the world in a brand new way.

Great leaders say to their teams, “I can help you with that, but what do you think would solve the issue?” Brad Smith is the founder of Succeed Digital, having built an agency that bridges the gap between sales and marketing. On this episode, Brad joins us again to discuss how leadership styles create successful outcomes for clients and teams. Is there a shift towards valuing empathy and kindness as a leadership quality? 

Brad also delivered a Masterclass with LSDM’s Marketing Director on Online Sales and Lead Generation strategies which you can watch on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPlQcA0c5jM

In this episode, we are joined by Andy Wooley, a digital marketing expert and trainer, to discuss how the numbers marry up to the brand. How do brand leaders combine both data and storytelling as methods for customer and stakeholder communication.

Going into a physical shop and buying something is now abnormal. Employees are no longer in the office. Change is upon us; this is how leaders respond… In this episode, we speak with Brian Hardie, Regional Director of The Marketing Centre. Brian draws upon a wealth of experience, including that of the 125+ marketing directors his organisation represents both in the UK and internationally, to discuss how marketing leaders respond to crisis. This episode is 30 minutes long.

We will learn about:

1. The Impact of COVID-19
2. The Role of Leadership
3. Developing an Agile Approach
4. Internal & External Factors
5. The Leaders’ Mindset
6. Decision Making Processes
7. The Importance of Outcomes
8. Understanding Event, Response, Outcome
9. Mental Health & Employee Engagement
10. Plotting A Course Through A Crisis

Key Takeaways from Brian Hardie:

• Be ready to be agile and flexible. Change is coming.
• Be focussed on outcomes to emerge from the crisis.
• Take people with you - explaining “why” creates buy-in.

Conclusions from Brian & Frank:

Understanding the “Event, Response, Outcome” method is key to plotting a way through a crisis. Marketing has a very valuable part to play in managing communication with stakeholders (from customers to employees) and can accelerate the recovery. Keep your eyes on the OUTCOMES your business needs to achieve and be sure to explain “why” it is important to gain buy in. Underinvesting in marketing only slows down the recovery so make sure that your team and management are aligned to the mission.

About LSDM:

The London School of Design and Marketing delivers accredited BA and MA courses, 100% online, in 3 languages (English, Spanish and Portuguese). Check our courses at  https://lsdmlondon.com/ 

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To view this episode in Español or Português please visit out YouTube channel.