Our ‘Profile: A Day in the Life of’ feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry. This week we head to London to speak to the chief executive at Unique Digital, James Briscoe.
In one sentence, how would you describe what your company does?
Unique Digital blends media and content strategies to profitably engage brands with consumers.
Duration in current role:
2015 will see my 11th year at Unique Digital. I was appointed international CEO in May 2014.
Where are you based?
Predominantly London with frequent visits to the New York office.
Previous performance marketing-related companies you have worked at:
Prior to joining Unique Digital back in 2004, I worked for AllResponseMedia as the senior planner buyer, helping to build some of the most exciting brands as the dotcom age started to mature.
What are your current firm’s unique selling points?
What makes us different is our ability to combine the strengths of an independent agency with the muscles of a group. Think of Unique as a collection of specialist agencies, working together to provide integrated services that help brands grow.
Within the last year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
Undoubtedly, launching our New York office this year. It shows the ambition of the company as we support our growing international client base.
New York opens the door to an endless amount of possibilities for us as a company, across the group’s four agencies and 25 US staff members we have a collective pool of talent, encouraging further cross-business projects and collaboration, providing clients with genuine end-to-end delivery.
What are your main job responsibilities?
As international CEO my responsibilities are wide-ranging. A large part of my role involves mentoring the managing directors and their teams and keeping contact with our clients to ensure the teams are focused on the key business challenges and the clients can see results.
I also take responsibility for ensuring our brand messaging and company ethos is consistent across our nine international offices as well as contributing new business.
Talk us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday?
I usually start off my Monday morning with… A.Strong.Coffee.
Further to that, I can then be found on a plane or in the car travelling to one of our offices.
A lot of my time is spent catching up with the management teams to both discuss our priorities and focus for the week ahead and the company’s achievements for the week previous.
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
Twitter, The Drum and Brand Republic.
What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
- It may sound like a cliché but networking is important. Make sure you immerse yourself in the industry – learn the trade and be seen!
- Have a focus and understanding of what’s important. I set myself the top five tasks of priority which I aim to achieve every single day.
- Enjoy what you do! It’s much harder to succeed in something that you will lose your passion for.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
Heading up the media operations for Syzygy Group (Unique’s parent company) and working with a larger client base across more regions.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you:
Having worked with a company for nearly 11 years, you’d think there wouldn’t be much that they didn’t know. However, I was a scuba diving teacher for three years.