Lola's cupcakes
Leading Cupcake brand Lola’s were facing uncertainty during the start of the pandemic, and needed a marketing strategy that built up the Lola’s brand and delivered strong return, particularly on newer digital channels as the brand pivoted to eCommerce. I was brought in to head up the marketing team and set a clear and commercially viable marketing strategy.
- I used customer research to devise and set a winning marketing strategy based around undervalued cupcake moments, including Eid, Diwali and Pride.
- I oversaw the ‘Handmade Happiness’ brand re-fresh, and delivered the marketing campaign for the nationwide cupcake product launch as part of this.
- I led Lola’s entrance into new channels, as well as their management, including Google Ads, Affiliate marketing, Digital Display and YouTube.
- I helped improve Lola’s PR function by brokering an Easter partnership and product range with Tony’s Chocolonely. I also helped build and recruit for the PR team as well as a new graphic designer and Google Ads specialist.
- I devised and executed a coherent and innovative marketing strategy at a time where there was great uncertainty owing to the global pandemic.
- The Tony’s campaign delivered significant incremental revenue during the Easter period, but more importantly generated a massive boost in awareness about anti-slavery practices in chocolate products, a core value of Tony’s.
- Marketing attributed income for the business during my tenure was in excess of £1m, with affiliate marketing campaigns delivering over £500k, and with Eid and Diwali promotional campaigns delivering circa £100k in revenue.
- We saw strong returns on digital channels, including high ROI on affiliates (9:1), PPC (8:1) and Display (3:1).
- The Eid marketing campaign resulted in Lola’s being featured on YouGov’s top brands to watch in April 2021, with growth in a range of important brand metrics.
Asher Budwig, Managing Director of Lola’s Cupcakes
OCUSHIELD
Ocushield is a blue light protection company that specialises in eyewear and protective screens for laptops, phones and tablets. I was brought in for a 6 month placement, whereby they needed to support their highly ambitious growth targets with a clear brand and marketing strategy in channel, promotional support of a range of new product launches, as well as the management of junior members on the team.
- I oversaw Ocushield’s first ever customer research project to help deliver an omni-channel marketing strategy and channel plan for the business.
- Led the marketing support of new Ocushield products, including the bamboo eye mask, blue light glasses for children as well eye drops.
- Worked with agencies and team members to manage ongoing performance across a range of marketing channels, including PPC, Digital Display, TikTok and Instagram.
- Wrote the winning submission for Ocushield being named as a winner of the King’s Award for Enterprise
“Adam offers a wealth of knowledge when it comes to marketing strategy, and was critical in balancing the creation of a new, and much-needed strategy, with the day-to-day need to manage and optimise existing marketing channels. He’s a really strong copywriter and isn’t afraid to get stuck in – this is a vital quality in a fast-business like ours. Of particular commercial importance were Adam’s writing and management of our newsletter and automation series, both of which delivered significant revenue on a monthly basis.“
Dhruvin Patel, Founder and SeeEO of Ocushield
Hot Pot
Hot Pot China is a B2B marketing agency specialising in helping fashion and lifestyle brands enter the Chinese market. I was recruited on a short-term project basis to devise and execute Hot Pot’s marketing strategy, as well as copywriting for and executing across all of Hot Pot’s owned and paid social channels.
- I delivered an end-to-end marketing and positioning strategy for Hot Pot, informed by qualitative in-depth-interviews with key decision makers. I also lead the writing and design of two thought-leadership pieces Reality Check: 10 Beauty Myths in China, and A Chinese Retail Report.
- I oversaw a content overhaul for the brand, including delivering several new brand and product videos, blog and newsletter content, and paid Linkedin campaigns, all of which served as lead generation material. Hot Pot also sponsored two industry events including a keynote appearance at Ecommerce Live in London.
- I developed, with a leading third party agency partner, an SEO and PPC channel strategy for Hot Pot which set the foundation for a steady pipeline of future inbound leads and backlinks. All of this was managed via Hubspot’s marketing CRM.
“Adam helped us get the ball rolling on a valuable marketing strategy that was informed by what our target customers were telling us, a first for us as a business. He was also a great driving force behind the bringing to life of our insight and entrance into a range of new channels. Adam has a great attitude and work ethic and would be an asset to any marketing function.“
Adam Sandzer, Commercial Director of Hot Pot
The Juice Smith
The Juice Smith, a cold pressed juice e-commerce business based in Cobham but with nationwide delivery, wanted to jump-start their end of year marketing impact and performance in the run-up to Christmas. I was contracted on a three month project basis to establish a marketing strategy, contribute to commercial growth and develop a short term uplift in performance.
Working closely with the founders and in-house team, I utilised category insights and existing customer data to develop a tactical performance plan that was geared towards commercial impact. This included:
- An annual marketing strategy, positioning plan and content calendar with tactical plan.
- A website changes plan to leverage e-commerce impact (conversion rate optimisation tactics).
- Email copywriting for end of year newsletters across the November and December period.
- The setting up of a loyalty scheme on Shopify.
- Developing new graphics for store and Meta ads alongside a designer to impact.
- Developing a range of bundles for the business which would be pushed
- Working closely with SEO freelancer to ensure a roll-out of a business-wide SEO strategy for e-commerce impact.
My marketing strategy has set The Juice Smith up for a clear, well-defined positioning this year, and my tactical initiatives resulted in an estimate 147% growth in conversion rate during the period, a 90% growth in sales and an establishment of totally new initiatives like an online loyalty scheme and a fresh SEO & link-building approach.
“Adam brought a great sense of energy and purpose during the project, and was very focused on the uplift and impact marketing was going to impact on the business. We were very happy with his impact and would recommend him to anyone looking for marketing support“
Richard-Smith Bernal, Founder, The Juice Smith
