Jennifer Grey is the Head of Digital PR at Greenpark. we asked her to name her digital hero.
Who is your digital hero?
Ian Colvin, CSO of Greenpark (and former Global VP Digital at Unilever)
What have they done to win hero status in your eyes?
Ian was one of the people who inspired me to make the move to Greenpark and was also someone I was most intimidated to meet! Ian stands out because of his constant commitment to pushing the envelope, asking the difficult questions and continuing to stay ahead of the market. From working on the Love/Hate Marmite campaign that became a household name, to leading digital transformation at Unilever, Ian’s achievements are astonishing. He’s always worked to be at the forefront of new ideas, immersing himself in digital marketing from its inception and upskilling as he goes. His enthusiasm and openness to new ideas know no bounds, and he’s still constantly excited and engaged with new digital innovations, such as catalysing the early adoption of Gen-AI internally to bring our clients’ brands closer to their audience.
He’s also one of the most approachable people I’ve met in my career – remember when I said I was intimidated by his profile? Ian has spent countless hours assisting me in my own career journey: providing feedback in his free time, helping me develop my thinking on tricky problems and providing an open door when I’ve struggled both in and out of work. He’s not just a living legend, he’s a lovely one!
How has their heroism helped drive digital?
Ian’s been involved in taking the idea of digital mainstream and making it a key focus while in-house at some of the biggest brands on the planet today, from Unilever to Pepsi Lipton. He’s always worked to recruit the best and brightest upcoming talents and give them a platform to enact transformation on a massive scale, which has impacted the marketing landscape we work in today. His fingerprints are all over how the biggest food brands in particular approach digital, and how it’s become a key strategic consideration in blue-chip boardrooms. He’s brought that fearlessness to Greenpark, where he constantly challenges our teams to think bigger and better in our quest to create amazing content that both people and algorithms love. Would my job as I know it exist today if it wasn’t for Ian? I’m not saying it wouldn’t, but I’m not saying it would either!
What are the biggest challenges in digital we need another hero to solve?
We need someone to start repairing the trust between agencies and clients, yesterday. For years now, parties on both sides have been feeling unheard and underappreciated, and we’re starting to see clients openly claiming they don’t trust ‘salesy’ agencies and recruit internal teams. Ian’s brought a huge amount of client-side knowledge to his role at Greenpark, and I’ve learned so much from him on how to help my clients see their challenges and how to communicate what’s important to them – this has been especially powerful for our inhouse digital squads. However, the fact that I’m learning this a decade into my career only shows up the huge gap between what clients are asking their agencies for and what agencies are actually delivering. It’s a massive shame, as I’ve worked with some amazing talent throughout my career who were really focussed on providing best in class work, but the lack of this partnership approach led to failures in communication with the people we wanted to help. We need to set up about re-aligning ourselves, so we can all succeed together.
What is your most heroic personal achievement so far in digital?
I wouldn’t say I’m in any way ‘heroic’ – it’s always a team effort! However, I do always try to remember that what’s good for the talent can be good for the business. I’ve been lucky enough to helm teams who have regularly run campaigns that get 50+ or 100+ pieces of coverage and backlinks, and worked with some amazing clients, but I never did it alone and we usually got there by taking a chance on a crazy idea or listening to a more junior voice with potential. I’m starting to see some of these people become amazing leaders in their own right and nothing could make me happier. If my heroic achievement is helping the real heroes along their journey (and hopefully leaving them all a bit better than I found them), then I’m happy.
