Introduction

Brands and the hospitality industry are my passion and I have learnt so much during my career that with persuasion from friends, it is now to time that I shared my experience and learnings.

I have been so lucky to look after some really fabulous brands, I’ve often said I have worked on brands that bring joy but I have also been fortunate enough to have worked with some brilliant, clever, funny yet genuine people, who I will always count as friends.

Each of my roles have given me the experience and knowledge to jump to the next role, just like Super Mario.  From the luxury drinks industry, to luxury food and beverage retail and Michelin-starred restaurants. Most recently working within and with hotels, from luxury to business and from select service to individual brands.

It was in my early career at Moët Hennessy that I recognised the power of a brand. If everyone in the company believes in it, including Marketing, Communications and the Sales team, then together we can make magic.  We had great fun in those days, it was back in the 90’s, when we worked hard and we partied hard too! What is most important though, was that the left hand worked together with the right. We hosted events together, our PR campaigns were driven by strong strategies from the Marketing teams, and the sales teams used everything that we created to sell our brands not only off-trade but on on-trade as well. Walking past an off-licence I would see the work that we had done in Marketing and PR illustrated in a shop window and I could not but feel a sense of pride.

In moving to the hotel industry, I quickly realised that it is important that not only the Sales and Marketing teams work together but the operations teams come on the journey with you, or you go on the journey with operations. Essentially, when everyone strives for the same result, an energy is triggered that you are all swept along with and it delivers the outcome you deserve.

In this blog, my aim is to cover a variety of subjects with a focus on brand that will help hotels bring that essence to life too: from partnerships and sponsorships that work, to bringing brands to life and from strategic planning to delivering results.  From understanding when you have a strong PR story, that the media really want to write about, to Global campaigns versus localisation.  This is a new journey for me and I hope you will join me in the discovery.