Socratis



How long have you worked at CMPi?

I joined the company when my old employer – The Builder Group – was acquired four years ago. By that time, I’d been at The Builder Group eight years – so all in all, I’ve spent nearly a third of my life with the same organisation. Which must mean I’m having fun!

             

What’s your current role?

As group marketing director, I am responsible for all the marketing activity in my division, Property & Construction Media, which is one of the biggest in CMPi and includes some of our best known brands, such as Building , Property Week  and BD . As publishing has expanded from print magazines to all sorts of other activities, the role of marketers has grown too and it now embraces everything from driving paid subscriptions, to brand development, search engine marketing, event marketing, and supporting individual sales teams. A good marketing director needs to be on top of all these aspects of the job at any one time, so I’m generally pretty exhausted at the end of the week.


What sort of things do you do in the course of your week?

Apart from keeping on top of all the activities I’ve just described, I have make sure that everything we do is aligned with the work of publishers, editors and commercial directors. So that invariably means lots of meetings – and (if I’m not careful) lots of caffeine and biscuits. But one of the benefits of getting to my level is the freedom to make the job what I want it to be, so I can always justify hooking up with marketers in other media organisations, seeing clients, and attending our own events. And, as marketing director, I’ve got the opportunity to organise some of those events around activities I like. Hence we’ve hosted Dragon Boat Racing, Rugby 7s, Football tournaments and – my favourite – taking part in the industry we serve’s biggest yachting regatta. When I’m cruising around the Isle of Wight in September, swigging champagne, I always have the comfort of knowing I’m being paid to be there.


What other roles have you performed in your time here?

Over the past 12 years, I’ve worked my way up from marketing executive to marketing manager, and now director. I’m a true specialist, and I like the confidence that all those years of experience give me.


What’s the best thing about the job?

Definitely the people I work with. The media is a people business, and CMPi is fortunate to have some extremely vivid and entertaining characters, many of whom I count as personal friends. They are the main reason why I’m still here after all this time. I’m ashamed to say that I often see my work colleagues more than my wife and three children. At least, I think it’s three. Must check.

 

What gets you out of bed on a wet, cold Monday morning?

Apart from three (is it three!) screaming children, it’s the anticipation of the week ahead, which I know will differ from last week, and the fear that I’ll be missing something if I wimp out, like my boss does, and “work from home”. 

 

What’s the most unusual thing you have done at CMPi?

One of the reasons that I enjoy working with my colleagues here is that there are very few egos. No one, however senior, is too proud to muck in. And that’s precisely what I had to do at an extremely important drinks reception we hosted at the House of Commons earlier this year. We needed to erect a stand to display an array of covers of Building magazine, and – with no one else around – the men tasked with grappling with all the poles, clips and felt panels was the group marketing director (aka yours truly) with the marketing manager. Just as I was doing as a junior marketing trainee in 1995! 

 

What’s been a major highlight of your career to date?

Freshest in my mind is the night in October 2007 when my team won PPA subscription magazine of the year for the 5th time in six years. In fact – and I hope this isn’t bragging – my division's magazines made up the entire shortlist. It was a proud moment to saviour the success of people I’d recruited and helped to develop.


Memorable team event?

I said earlier that I enjoyed forming close bonds with my colleagues, but I inadvertently took this to extremes in 2006 when – as part of a prize for winning Team of the Month – I found myself having a mud wrap in a room at a health spa with the  construction & architecture's marketing manager  David Watton. Both of us were wearing nothing more than paper pants. David’s a nice bloke, but, at that precise moment, he wouldn’t have been my choice of room-mate. In the circumstances, there was only one possible medicine to ensure that we banished the memory of this uncomfortable episode of male bonding. A pint of Best. And then another. And then another. And, well, you get the picture.


Future ambitions in the role?

As I hope you can tell, I love what I do, and I’m very lucky that the role keeps expanding and presenting me with fresh challenges every year. I do have broader ambitions but I don’t want to tempt fate…Or unsettle the people whose jobs I covet…only kidding!!!

 


What achievement are you most proud of since you joined the company?

I’m delighted to say that there have been so many – not just mine personally, but those of my team and the wider team I’m a part of. Record subscription numbers for Building and Property Week, as well as record yields and revenues. The 20 awards our division has won in 2007.  Being part of the launch team for the Think show. And finally seeing my peers – the people I started with in the mid-90s being elevated to senior director and publisher level.

 


Have you travelled with your job? If so, where and why?

The travel is normally linked to our activities, as with the regatta in Cowes that I mentioned earlier. These have also taken me to Paris, Cannes, and – next year – Dubai. As we become more international, I’m hoping to clock up even more air miles. The question is: can I come up with a decent marketing rationale for hosting an event in the Maldives?

 

 

 


What do you look for when you recruit people for your team?

Intelligence and a great sense of humour. We are in a tough, competitive market, and you need to have the strength of character to take the knocks, bounce back, and out-smart your rivals. With such a terrific team already, I’m also looking for people who will bring new skills and who will command respect from some experienced operators.

 


If you had to describe your life at CMPi in three words, what would they be?

Energetic. Dynamic. Enjoyable.