creativebrief: Can you tell me a bit about your career history?

Sarah Ellis: I’ve spent the last ten years working for a number of FTSE 100 brands including Boots, GSK, Barclays and now Sainsbury’s in a variety of Marketing roles ranging from proposition development, innovation, communications and more recently branded content. Over the last year I’ve built a new content team in Sainsbury’s and I am now very excited to be moving to a new role in Consumer PR as part of the Corporate Affairs team.

In 2010 I completed an MBA with distinction at Warwick University. I have also recently been selected as one of the winners of the WACL Future Leaders Fund (and the honour of receiving the Patricia Mann award), where I am intending to use the funds to complete a one week leadership course at Harvard in June 2013.

creativebrief: Why did you choose a career in marketing?

Sarah Ellis: I’ve always loved developing new ideas so Marketing seemed like a great place to start! At the start of my career Boots offered me the opportunity to try out four different functions for six months at a time and I found I thrived in the Marketing related functions – I even spent six months in Marketing procurement which I loved.

creativebrief: What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?

Sarah Ellis: My observation is that successful marketers are brilliant at discovering true customer insights and developing creative ways to respond to these insights.

creativebrief: And who is a great example of this?

Sarah Ellis: Sara Bennison (Marketing Director at Barclays) was a great role model for me as she placed insight at the heart of Barclay’s communication strategy. In addition I think her agency experience ensured she gave our agencies the space to develop compelling creative ideas.

creativebrief: What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?

Sarah Ellis: Understanding the implications and uses of data is both an opportunity and challenge for today’s marketers. There have been some recent high profile examples of where brands haven’t acted in a responsible way with their customers data and this can do significant damage to a brands reputation. Research also demonstrates that the number of customers who are prepared to share their personal data in return for a more tailored service increased from 75% to 84% between 2011-2012 so this presents an interesting opportunity for brands to deepen the level of engagement and quality of relationship with their customers.

creativebrief: How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?

Sarah Ellis: I don’t think there is any one way to keep up with innovation. Like most people I use websites (and Sainsbury’s subscribe to Contagious which is great), books (Paul Arnold does fantastic book summaries which you can subscribe to for free) and try to attend relevant events. As well as these resources I think that you often get the most value from having conversations with your internal and external network. The skill with innovation is often not necessarily keeping up with what’s going on but working out how to select where to invest your Marketing budget.

creativebrief: How do you know if you’re getting the best from your agencies?

Sarah Ellis: I feel that a successful client and agency relationship is built on trust, open communication, continual feedback and shared objectives. The most visible evidence of a successful agency relationship is the quality of the creative work being produced, but other indicators of a strong relationship are the ability to collectively review and critique work, a joint desire to continually improve and how an agency responds when under pressure.

creativebrief: Of your recent work, what makes you particularly proud and why?

Sarah Ellis: Though it was a few months ago I was very proud of the small role we played in Sainsbury’s overall sponsorship of the Paralympics. As a content team we produced a short video called ‘Ask Beck’s’ where Paralympians and Sainsbury’s colleagues asked David Beckham questions using an innovative split screen format – a fascinating insight into the world of a superstar footballer whose favourite place to spend a holiday is at home!

creativebrief: How do you think marketers can raise the profile of marketing within their organisations?

Sarah Ellis: The role of Marketing is to represent the voice of the customer, which is relevant to most functions within an organisation so this provides a fantastic opportunity to shape and influence the direction of an organisation.

creativebrief: Do you see yourself as a generalist or a specialist, does it matter?

Sarah Ellis: I see myself as a Marketing generalist but in the main I don’t think it matters. In certain roles of course specialist skills are required but my observation is that brilliant people tend to be brilliant whatever their role.