Freelance (2008+)

Shed is the name of the company I set-up in March 2008 to operate from as a freelancer. I’ve always been a big fan of sheds (and shedworking) and their place in our culture as a place to get away from it all and focus on being creative and inventing things. 

Over the past three years [after working at Limelight, Cow and Bite] I’ve continued to work with amazing brands, often in partnership with a growing number of amazing agencies. Some start-ups and some world-famous, all eager to embrace the web and get involved in it.

Addlestones (with Piracy) > Devising a programme of digital and social media activity, establishing a branded presence on all the major social platforms and a seeding and sponsorship programme to encourage trial by cider lovers and early adopters. 

Blackthorn (with Piracy) > Social media crisis communications support, focusing on Facebook and including a fast-moving listening programme to monitor and respond to all negativity surrounding an issue the brand was experiencing. 

Bondy Consultancy > Ongoing support to drive digital and social media understanding and competence, including an ongoing agency-wide training programme and ad-hoc new business consultancy. Bondy has won Outstanding Small Consultancy of the Year in the CIPR Excellence Awards in both 2009 and 2011 (and they totally deserve it). 

BookRabbit (with Inferno, which is now part of Bite) > Support with the launch of a brand new proposition - a social network for books and book-lovers. Sponsorship of the Tuttle Club and influencer outreach to ensure that early adopter book lovers got to give BookRabbit a spin first.

Bview > Helped Bview (now the UK’s largest voucher, sale and discount search engine) devise and implement a social media strategy and PR programme to help grow its user base and attract additional investment.

Cadbury (with Hyper) > Helped drive awareness of Cadbury’s partnership with Fairtrade with a live webcast and a Q & A session. Realtime monitoring and response, as well as longer term more strategic advice. 

Channel 4 (with NixonMcinnes) > I’ve worked on a few Channel 4 projects with the lovely people of NixonMcinnes (recently voted as one of the UK’s most respected agencies). Helped to drive buzz and excitement online around shows such as 10 O’Clock Live and Ask the Chancellors and engaged with niche communities to raise awareness of important topics covered in documentaries such as Find Me a Family.

Citigate Dewe Rogerson > Comprehensive online and social media monitoring for a technology client that was facing some extreme negativity online and needed to get a daily, sometimes hourly, update on the situation, along with advice on how to respond most effectively. 

DCSF (with Nixon Mcinnes) > Using a Facebook Page as a hub, engaged with young people and their influencers to showcase the career options available to them. We asked people to share their stories and secured partnerships with other organisations to help share engaging content and ensure that we reached as many young people as possible.

DSA > Agency-wide training programme to get everyone up to speed and engaged with the potential of social media.

Financial Times (with Smesh) > Training session with the Business Education team to help them use social media to engage with readers and grow their communities though effective community management. 

Gaymers (with Piracy) > Creation and implementation of a digital and social media programme of activity to support the brand throughout a season of music festival sponsorship. We also worked with the in-house team to completely redesign the Gaymers website, integrating social media directly and training people on how to use it effectively.

GetThemIn > Support for the launch of this Facebook application that enabled people to gift each other drinks over the internet, including more traditional PR activity and business development consultancy.

Kronenbourg 1664 (with BBH) > Community management to support the launch of a brand new advertising campaign featuring Motorhead performing a slowed-down version of the Ace of Spades. Detailed audience mapping to identify beer fans, ad fans and Motorhead fans to give them a sneak preview of the TV ad and the chance to win gig tickets and signed Motorhead goodies.

Mango > Agency-wide training programme as well as ongoing ad-hoc consultancy and new business support.

Metia > Comprehensive digital and social media training programme to get everyone up to speed with the latest tools and technologies and apply sensible strategic social thinking to their own clients and implement social campaigns themselves. 

McCann Manchester > Ongoing ideas generation and new business support, as well as training sessions covering effective blogger outreach and future trends in social media.

MeCard > Devising a social media and marketing strategy for the launch of this brand new pre-paid credit card for young people. Included recommendations for the integration of social media into the website and the overall product experience, as well as paid-for advertising, partnerships and sponsorships.

Microsoft (with Inferno, which is now part of Bite) > General consultancy on a programme of social media activity to support Microsoft Office Live.

MyDish > Creation and implementation of a social media strategy for the launch and growth of this social network for food lovers that enables people to share recipes with each other. Included amplification of a successful appearance on Dragon’s Den where funding was secured from Deborah Meaden, as well as establishing a social media presence and working with the rest of the team on effective ongoing community management. 

Nokia (with Hyper) > Project launch support to ensure that the innovative Nokia PUSH concept resonated with key influencers right from the start with comprehensive audience mapping and an outreach and community management programme. 

Orange (with Poke) > Over the past three years I’ve worked with the clever people at Poke on a number of Orange projects, mainly helping to find and engage with the right people to make sure they know about all the amazing stuff Poke and Orange do together. Support with the development of a newsroom for the PR team to help distribute news more effectively. Seeding of a number of different projects including Where’s My Welly, GlastoTag, MovieMates and Balloonacy and ongoing support for The Feed. Support and training for the customer services team as they launched an official Orange presence on Twitter.

Plum Baby > Ongoing consultancy to ensure that social media plays an important role in the overall communications programme for Plum. We’ve done everything from advise on a new website to implementing a blogger relations programme and setting up sponsorships with key online properties.

Publicasity > Agency-wide training programme covering off everything from the tools and technologies available to effective measurement and evaluation of social media campaigns. Ongoing ideas generation and ad-hoc consultancy.

The PR Network > General social media training, giving members an overview of the main social tools and technologies and how they can use them effectively as part of the work that they do for their clients (as well as themselves).

Raffles (with Mango) > Working with the PR team to create a logical process for the development and implementation of a global social media programme of activity.

RSPCA (with Nixon Mcinnes) > I love cats (and also dogs) so it was a pleasure to help raise awareness of some of the problems caused by irresponsible breeding. We carried out really detailed audience mapping to establish other dog lovers that would be able to help get behind the campaign, then engaged directly via social channels in order to help spread the word and share some useful assets that had been produced to help people understand more about the issue.

SAP > Optimising corporate social media presence ahead of a major event, where social media was used to enhance attendee experience with a Twitter wall and a dedicated team of social media ambassadors. Ongoing social media analysis and research to provide intelligence to the marketing team across a wide range of different industries to inform their marketing and social media programmes.

Stella Artois 4% (with Poke and Mother) > Video seeding to support the launch of a new advertising campaign and a microsite built by Poke to showcase the short films and other content created for it. 

Simplifydigital (with Bondy) > General consultancy to ensure that social media was used effectively, including optimising social media profiles and ensuring there was some level of integration with the main Simplifydigital site and other marketing activity. 

Tube Exits > Launch of a brand new app from a first-time developer that enabled Londoners to save time travelling on the tube. Very detailed audience mapping and seeding to ensure that early adopters and tech-savvy commuters knew about the app first. 

UK Film Council (with Bondy) > Launch of FindAnyFilm.com, a website that enables people to find and watch any film in any format both on and offline (legally). I helped make sure that all film lovers and tech savvy early adopters got to hear about the new site through a comprehensive seeding programme across all film and technology related communities, people and places.

Wrigley (with Publicasity) > General consultancy for the launch of a new campaign for Wrigley that involved the creation of an iPhone game by AMV BBDO in partnership with leading developers Somethin’ Else, which we seeded with key online influencers. 

Zopa > After first working with Zopa at Bite, I continued to help raise awareness of their core proposition of social, using social media and community management to engage effectively with potential lenders and borrowers. The company is growing from strength to strength and I’m immensely proud to have been part of its early growth.