Building Britain's Most Iconic Brands - Kerris Bright (BBC)
Oct 9, 2024
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Kerris Bright, Chief Customer Officer at the BBC and former CMO at Virgin Media, brings a unique blend of creativity and analytical prowess to her marketing insights. She discusses her unexpected journey from molecular neuroscience to major marketing roles. Kerris shares how purpose-driven campaigns can transform brands and the critical role of authenticity in messaging. She also highlights the importance of collaboration between marketing and sales teams and offers candid advice for aspiring marketers aiming to make an impact in the industry.
Kerris Bright's unique combination of neuroscience and marketing emphasizes the integration of data-driven insights with creative storytelling to influence consumer behavior.
Her experience at Unilever highlights the importance of agility, adaptability, and leadership development in cultivating innovative marketing strategies in a competitive environment.
At the BBC, Bright focuses on fostering brand trust through transparent communication and campaigns that emphasize the organization’s value to society and culture.
Deep dives
The Impact of an Unusual Background
Kerry Sprite's unique educational background in molecular neuroscience provides her with a distinct perspective in marketing. She emphasizes the importance of understanding consumer behavior and the science behind decision-making, which influences her storytelling approach in her marketing roles. This duality of left-brain data analysis and right-brain creativity allows her to integrate scientific insights with marketing strategies effectively. Her journey reflects the value of diverse experiences in enriching one's capability to connect with audiences.
Foundational Lessons from Unilever
Sprite's time at Unilever was instrumental in shaping her marketing expertise, particularly in brand building and personal development. Unilever's commitment to nurturing its employees helped her cultivate essential leadership skills early in her career. Working in a smaller, entrepreneurial environment within a larger company enabled her to experiment with innovative marketing strategies and take on significant responsibilities quickly. These experiences highlighted the importance of agility and adaptability in a competitive marketplace.
Adjusting to New Roles in Different Industries
Shifting from brand-led organizations to commercial and R&D-focused environments presented unique challenges for Kerry Sprite. Her transition to ICI, a paint business, required her to adapt her branding skills to a more technical, product-centric approach. Confronted with crises, like losing key distribution channels, she learned to leverage her marketing insights to navigate complex situations and drive brand recovery. This experience underscored the significance of resilience and strategic thinking in times of organizational stress.
Defining Customer Value at the BBC
At the BBC, Sprite focuses on humanizing the organization’s data insights by emphasizing customer value in relation to the license fee model. She has developed a cross-media measurement tool to codify valuable audience behaviors and identify who is benefiting from BBC services. This strategic approach allows the organization to enhance its offerings while ensuring equitable value distribution among all users. Her work demonstrates the challenge of managing a universal service while maintaining audience engagement in an evolving media landscape.
Building Brand Trust and Advocacy
Sprite is dedicated to enhancing the BBC's brand trust amidst evolving audience dynamics and media consumption patterns. By creating campaigns that emphasize the BBC's commitment to truthful reporting and transparency, she aims to foster deeper connections with audiences. Her focus on advocating for the BBC’s value highlights the vital role of effective communication in ensuring sustained audience support. Ultimately, her vision is to increase public acknowledgment of the BBC's invaluable contributions to society and culture.
Kerris Bright is the Chief Customer Officer at the BBC. She was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Virgin Media.
She is a highly experienced leader, bringing a customer-centred, data driven approach to setting marketing strategy and executing with creative flair. Before Virgin, she held senior marketing positions at British Airways, ICI Paints and Unilever. While at British Airways, she spearheaded the development of ‘To Fly: To Serve’, a new purpose for the organisation and a multi-platform campaign and at ICI Paints she transformed the company from a ‘multi-local’ to global brand building organisation. After gaining a PhD in molecular neuroscience from the University of Sussex, she began her career in marketing as a graduate trainee at Unilever.
Timestamps
00:00:00 - Intro 00:00:26 - Why Kerris has a PHD in molecular neuroscience 00:04:04 - Getting marketing training at Unilever 00:09:56 - From Unilever to joining Dulux in crisis 00:18:33 - How marketers can work closely with commercial teams 00:22:12 - Purpose led campaigns 00:31:36 - Lessons from Kerris’ time in Private Equity 00:42:06 - From British Airways to Virgin 00:48:42 - Kerris’ role at the BBC 00:58:32 - The power of the BBC’s editorial independence 01:01:05 - Marketing the BBC 01:05:20 - How the BBC makes engaging content 01:08:13 - Kerris’ advice to aspiring marketers
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