entrepreneurs 17


Pictures by Angus Thomas


we help people fall in love with brands through meaningful, memorable and magical live brand experiences.


Ours is a people business in every sense of the word, and if you have the right principles and a strong culture, then you attract the right people and you have a successful agency. We are incredibly fortunate to have a portfolio of 15 fantastic clients, mostly blue-chips and large corporates such as Heineken, BP, Sainsbury’s, British Gas, as well as several public services.


Name one campaign that really stands out


One we are especially proud of was for Procter and Gamble’s Pampers brand. It was called “The World of Babies”, it was very ahead of its game and won over a dozen industry gold awards, including a Globe (for the world’s best experiential event). The campaign was created around a giant caterpillar with different pods, each pod representing a different baby stage of development. A caterpillar


turns into a butterfly and using a similar analogy we brought the world to life through the eyes of a baby, so it was both educational and scientific. Parents loved it and sales were incredibly high.


We also do a lot of campaigns with Public Health England, especially on the “Be Clear on Cancer” campaigns, raising awareness of health issues, encouraging people to see their doctor and participate in screening programmes. The work is incredibly inspiring and we have thank-you letters from people who say an early diagnosis has helped save their lives.


What have been some of the challenges?


The business was originally in Central London, but after having children, sitting on the M4 every day didn’t feel like a good life, so we relocated to Ascot. Naturally we lost a lot of people in the move and the business directors and myself had a year of putting the business back together. Four years down the line I know it was the right decision and now I just have a five minute commute to work, which allows me to be heavily involved in my children’s lives. Since then, we’ve reopened an office on London’s South Bank, as having two locations helps us attract and retain the best talent, and I spend two days a week there to get my “London fix”.


Where next for BEcause?


We are in the process of franchising the business worldwide so are trialling some different options, such as licensing the brand. I don’t have the desire for the core business to get bigger and bigger because I don’t want to lose touch with the clients. At 50 staff we are small enough to keep that contact, and big enough to do the job very well. Rather I want to be able to duplicate what we do in different global markets.


We already have offices in Australia and a licensing agreement in Russia and I want to see a community of BEcause partners across the world, I think it will be inspiring to help mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs while giving them the platform and the toolkit to fast track success.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2015


In my day-to-day role, I spend a lot of time looking after the enterprise value of the brand, seeing how we can continue to stand out within a very crowded market place and grow our bottom line.


Digital and social media means our industry is evolving very quickly; we’re constantly learning and adding new skills into our service mix. We’re currently developing new market research tools to help clients better evaluate marketing spend and I’m also working on a rebrand and new website which will be live in July.


How would you describe yourself?


Fair – I always do what I think is right; firm – because in a senior role you have to be decisive; and fun – life’s too short to take yourself too seriously.


Are you involved in charity work?


We do a huge amount of CSR and give back 5% of our profits to good causes. We do a lot in Africa, we’ve just finished building a township education centre, giving 120 children safe and secure care for 12 hours a day, when otherwise they would be left home alone.


We’re about to launch a new non-profit arm called Add Positivity – I want to bring together other agencies and make it easy for us to work together to give something back. My vision for the new brand is to be able to positively influence 10,000 lives a year.


What’s your greatest achievement?


Happy children at home, and a happy team at work. What do you do on your time off?


A healthy body is a healthy mind, so I have a personal trainer three times a week and I also run to keep myself sane. My weekends are for my family – and enjoying a glass or two of wine with friends.


Details: www.becausexm.com www.businessmag.co.uk


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