Category: Marketing & Digital

Over the past 18 months, I’ve noticed a clear shift in how businesses approach digital marketing. Where the default used to be outsourcing to agencies, more founders and hiring managers are now building dedicated in-house teams.

This isn’t just a hiring trend. It reflects a broader change in how organisations view marketing: not as a service to outsource, but as a core function that directly drives growth.

For years, agencies played a crucial role in helping companies navigate digital channels like SEO, paid media, and content marketing. But as digital has become central to growth strategies, many businesses are recognising the value of having that expertise sitting internally.

Why Companies Are Moving Away from Agency-First Models

There are a few consistent reasons I hear when speaking to founders and marketing leaders who are bringing digital capabilities in-house.

Cost efficiency over time
Agencies can make sense early on, but as marketing activity scales, retainer fees and project costs can quickly add up. Hiring internally often becomes more cost-effective in the long term.

Brand intimacy
Even the best agencies work across multiple clients. In-house marketers are embedded in the business, working closely with sales teams, product teams, and customers. That proximity leads to deeper insight and stronger messaging.

Speed and agility
Campaign changes, new ideas, and performance optimisations can happen far more quickly when the team sits internally. There’s no briefing process or waiting for external timelines.

Data ownership
Keeping marketing data and performance insights within the business allows companies to build long-term strategic knowledge rather than relying on external interpretation.

What Modern In-House Marketing Teams Look Like

As companies bring more capability in-house, the structure of marketing teams is also evolving. Instead of broad generalist roles, many businesses are building smaller teams of specialists who directly influence growth.

Some of the most common hires I’m seeing include:

• Performance Marketing Managers managing paid social and PPC budgets
• SEO and Content Specialists driving organic visibility
• Marketing Automation Experts building email and CRM journeys
• Data Analysts measuring campaign performance and ROI

This reflects a broader shift toward data-led, performance-driven marketing teams.

The Rise of the Hybrid Model

Interestingly, most businesses aren’t abandoning agencies altogether.

Instead, they’re adopting a hybrid approach: bringing strategy and day-to-day execution in-house while continuing to partner with agencies for specialist projects, creative campaigns, or additional capacity.

This gives companies greater control over their marketing function while still allowing them to access external expertise when needed.

The Real Benefits of Building In-House

When companies successfully transition to in-house marketing teams, several advantages tend to emerge.

Deeper customer understanding
In-house teams have direct exposure to customer feedback, sales conversations, and product development. This often leads to marketing that resonates more authentically with the target audience.

Consistent brand voice
When the same team creates content week after week, a clearer and more recognisable brand voice naturally develops.

Faster learning cycles
Internal teams can monitor performance daily, run experiments quickly, and adjust strategies without waiting on external reporting cycles.

Stronger talent ownership
Talented marketers often want to build something meaningful rather than simply service multiple client accounts. Offering ownership over a brand’s growth can attract and retain ambitious professionals.

Building an In-House Marketing Team: Where to Start

For businesses considering this transition, the most successful approach is often to start by identifying the biggest gap in their current marketing setup.

Some practical starting points include:

• Hiring around your biggest marketing pain point first
• Prioritising potential and adaptability over perfect experience
• Investing in the right tools and platforms from the start
• Defining clear performance metrics for new hires

Building a strong in-house team takes time, but when done well, it can become one of the most valuable growth drivers within the organisation.

Final Thoughts

Not every business needs a full internal marketing team. For some organisations, agency partnerships will always play an important role.

However, for companies where digital marketing sits at the centre of their growth strategy, bringing those capabilities in-house is becoming an increasingly attractive option.

The businesses I see thriving are those treating digital marketing not as a service to outsource, but as a core competency to build and develop internally.

We have this conversation regularly – the Founder or CMO starts with, ‘we need to take performance marketing in-house…..’

why?

It’s a regular conversation and not just a passing trend; it is a strategic move to gain greater control over data, budgets, and brand voice. If you’re a hiring manager or a performance marketer, understanding this shift is vital when considering your next steps.

Own your results – key to success
In my conversations with CMOs / Heads of Digital and business owners, a common theme emerges: ownership. When a company uses an agency, they often feel one step removed from the day-to-day activity. By bringing the function in-house, businesses gain full control over their accounts and real-time data.

Companies are now looking for hands-on talent who live and breathe the brand every day. They want specialists who are not splitting their time across multiple clients, but instead are focused entirely on one set of goals. This leads to faster decision-making and a deeper understanding of the customer journey.

Building an in-house performance marketing function – here’s how:
If you are a business owner or hiring manager looking to make this transition, the first question is usually, ‘where do I start?’ Based on the successful placements I have made, I typically see three main approaches:

• The junior hire – a cost-effective way to begin. You hire a junior specialist to execute campaigns and manage daily tasks, while retaining an agency on a smaller retainer for high-level strategic support.
• The mid-level manager – a popular choice for SMEs. You hire someone who can execute campaigns immediately, but who also has the potential to grow into a strategic leader as the business scales.
• The senior leader – for larger D2C / Consumer lead businesses, hiring a Performance Marketing or Acquisition lead is often the first step. This person sets the strategy from day one and then builds a specialised team beneath them but the focus here is to engage the audience and build from there.

What businesses need to consider
Moving your marketing in-house is a significant commitment. Before you begin interviewing, I recommend reviewing a few key areas:
1. Technology and tools – do you have the right tech stack to support an internal team? You will need ownership of your tracking, attribution, and reporting tools.
2. Data ownership – make sure you have full access to your historical data from your current agency, so your new hire can hit the ground running.
3. Culture and support – performance marketers thrive when they can collaborate closely with creative and data teams. Ensure your internal structure allows for this.

Hiring advice!
For performance marketers, this shift is great news. Moving in-house often allows you to see the long-term impact of your work. You can track how campaigns affect the bottom line over months and years, rather than focusing solely on weekly reports.

It also offers the opportunity to build something from the ground up and grow alongside a brand but agency side performance / growth marketing talent need to be mindful – showcasing you pay attention, care and consider the end result of campaigns you run are key to securing that move client side!

The role of insight teams is undergoing a profound transformation.

Fuelled by AI, automation, and evolving stakeholder expectations, the demands on today’s insight leaders are sharper, more complex, and more strategic than ever.

The critical question now facing the industry is no longer “how do we keep up?” but “what does true excellence look like in this new landscape?”

Drawing on the latest intelligence from Kantar, Ipsos, System1, and industry-leading practitioners, here’s a perspective on the emerging blueprint for success — and how organisations can future-proof themselves by investing early in in-demand consumer analytics and the evolving skillsets in insights jobs.

The New Skillsets Defining Insight Excellence

Success in insights today demands a new breed of expertise — one that fuses technical capability with commercial and creative intelligence:

• AI fluency combined with human storytelling: Mastering AI tools is only the start; the true differentiator lies in the ability to translate complex outputs into narratives that influence decision-making.

• Data synthesis over data gathering: Teams that can connect disparate data points into strategic insights will lead the next generation of decision-making.

• Commercial acumen as standard: Insight professionals must think beyond research outputs to business outcomes, embedding themselves deeply within the commercial ambitions of the organisation.

For businesses serious about excelling in in-demand consumer analytics, developing these skillsets in insights jobs must become a strategic priority.

Rethinking Team Structures for Agility and Influence

Structural change is also essential. The most progressive teams are moving towards:

• Lean, agile pods: Small, expert teams empowered to pivot quickly in response to business needs.

• Embedded agency-client hybrids: Breaking down traditional silos to deliver seamless, end-to-end insight capabilities.

• Cross-functional collaboration: Stronger integration with brand, customer experience, and strategy functions to ensure insights are not just heard but acted upon.

The future belongs to those who design their teams not just for efficiency, but for influence.

Building the Right Technology Foundations

Technology is no longer an optional enabler — it is a strategic lever:

• Automation is central: Insight functions must invest in automation tools that liberate human talent from repetitive tasks, allowing more focus on interpretation, innovation, and strategic guidance.

In an environment where in-demand consumer analytics is a competitive advantage, the right tech stack will determine which organisations win.

Cultivating a Culture of Strategic Leadership

However, perhaps the most significant shift is cultural. The best insight teams of the future will be defined not only by what they do, but how they lead:

• High emotional intelligence: Teams thrive under leaders who prioritise psychological safety, trust, and empowerment.

• Focus on clarity over complexity: Insight narratives must cut through the noise and catalyse action.

• Positioned as strategic advisors: High-performing teams will earn — and demand — a seat at the strategic table.

Culture is no longer a “soft” consideration; it is a critical pillar of insight excellence.

Winning Strategies from Top Insight Organisations

Leading teams are already embracing innovative models to stay ahead:

• Modular, targeted training: Rapid upskilling in AI, data storytelling, and commercial impact thinking.

• Insight-as-a-service models: Increasing flexibility and scalability without losing depth.

• Collaborative deliverables: Moving away from static decks towards dynamic, live problem-solving sessions that co-create solutions with stakeholders.

The insight teams that thrive in 2025 will be those that anticipate the future — not react to it.

Investing now in the right skillsets in insights jobs, embracing in-demand consumer analytics, and fostering a culture of strategic leadership will define the organisations that lead, not follow.

If you’re navigating these shifts — or ready to discuss what future-ready insight leadership looks like in practice — I would welcome a conversation.

At the beginning of 2019, Crabtree & Evelyn—known for luxury body, fragrance, and home care products — announced they were shuttering their bricks-and-mortar stores around the world. Moving forward, they’ll be operating as an (almost) digital-only company, serving customers in just one lonely London ‘concept’ branch, according to reports.

But while some outlets have questioned “what went wrong” for Crabtree & Evelyn, is it possible that this is actually a savvy business move? (We hesitate to call it a ‘business decision’, given that industry insiders had been chalking up Crabtree & Evelyn’s bankruptcies and store closures for months.)

After all, we are living in the digital age, when beauty brands are able to hold their own online, and Crabtree & Evelyn is a big-name brand with an internationally recognised concept.

But can Crabtree & Evelyn thrive (almost) online-only?
It’s key to consider that Crabtree & Evelyn’s customers mainly consist of Gen X and Baby Boomer consumers. Can they rely on their name-brand, luxury legacy alone, if they abruptly shift focus from the high street?

It’s possible, but considering their target markets skews older and more affluent, they may find their profits taking a hit. After all, while some studies show that Baby Boomers spend more online than Millennials, it’s generally understood that online shopping is a young person’s game.

However, from my experience in this market, it can be done, especially in a world where direct-to-consumer sales are dominating, and other companies have successfully made the move online. Take Lego — a brand selling an ostensibly physical, tangible product—which suffered a steady decline through the 90s, before reinventing itself in the early 2000s via films, games, and applications.

Even so, looking at the FMCG sphere, in particular, we must recognise that many newer companies launch with eCommerce factored into their business plans from Day 1. This makes it particularly hard for established retailers (like Crabtree & Evelyn) to shift their focus to eCommerce and thrive–there’s just too much-established competition. Not only is a huge investment needed, but there’s also a ton of risk involved too. It’s not just as simple as adding an online shopping option to your current set-up.

(Related: See what exciting eCom and Digital opportunities we have at Vertical Advantage now)

Debenhams and House of Fraser know this only too well. Despite both being big-name department stores, their lack of eCommerce strategy has proved to be a real Achilles Heel. The result? Store closures left, right, and centre across the country.

On the other hand, Ugly Drink is an especially good example of a company that hit the ground running with eCommerce built-in and they’re now branching out into subscription services which is great for offices. However, imagine if Coke tried to make such a move! They might have (metaphorical) money to burn, but even so, it would be a risky decision to suddenly shift focus to eCommerce.

Yet Unilever is (sort of) doing just that, aiming to double their direct-to-consumer sales which currently account for just 5% of revenue. And they’re taking inspiration from existing, established subscription models to do so. Time will tell whether their move pays off, but it certainly has for both Dove and Maille, two big companies that have successfully segued into the eCommerce market. Maille, in particular, has taken the whole ‘sell the experience’ aspect of eCommerce to heart, leading with gifting ideas and recipe suggestions for the curious consumer.

But for a flagging Crabtree & Evelyn to survive and thrive in the digital sphere, specialising may be the way to go. Some have suggested they should follow the L’Occitane business model, hyping up product provenance, while data indicates they might need to hone in on beauty or skincare, rather than trying to do it all (who buys fragrance online, anyway?). Most of all, they’ll need to shift focus onto Millennials and Gen Z consumers, who tend to shop online more than their older counterparts.

They’ll also have to ensure their logistics are seamless. In a world where Amazon dominates, uh, pretty much every market, Prime delivery and next-day postage options which cost almost nothing, customers are no longer willing to wait 3-5 working days for their deliveries. (Customers have already complained about Crabtree & Evelyn’s poor online delivery logistics.)

In short: Crabtree & Evelyn need to rebrand and reposition themselves as a brand for Generation Z and Millennial consumers alike, steering away from their Baby Boomer past.

Could concept stores help bridge the physical-digital gap?
Crabtree & Evelyn’s decision to forge ahead with a concept store in Islington, London could be the silver lining of this entire debacle though.

And they’re not the only ones to go big or go home about the concept of, well… concept stores in recent months. Big-name British drugstore Boots has also announced plans for a London concept store, which will include Instagram zones and YouTube studios.

By allowing customers to interact with products in person, in a new and revitalised way, concept stores could prove the gap-bridger that retailers, especially a brand like Crabtree & Evelyn, need as they migrate their business online-only. The saviours of bricks-and-mortar retail?

So is digital-only retail the future?
Signs point to possibly, but only if you’re selling something customers have bought before and are familiar with (a.k.a. repeat purchases). However, hooking the customer with your brand still depends on a high street presence. So, for companies looking to rid themselves of high street overheads, a combination of physical concept stores and a strong online presence may be the way forward. Only time will tell.

Brand Managers are essential for companies nowadays.

If they do their job right, they help your business (and brand) stand out.

They develop a unique concept for the company, which then drives the marketing and promotion efforts.

They liaise with both media and clients, keeping everyone happy simultaneously.

They must be, on some levels, extroverted, keen to work both independently and as part of a team.

And yet, at the same time as having a creative vision, a good brand manager must also be an excellent analyst, capable of consuming and applying data to their designs.

In short, it’s no mean feat. And neither is hiring a good one.

So, the next time you’re interviewing for your latest multitasking, multitalented Brand Manager, here are some atypical red flags to watch out for.

1. They can’t explain their ROI
Anyone who’s hired a Brand Manager before will tell you that they love to talk about their impressive ROI figures.

“Oh, you increased sales of your last brand by 10%? Nice.”

However, don’t just skirt past the fact and take it for granted. Ask them exactly how they did it.

If they’re a competent Brand Manager (who’s not fudging the numbers, that is) they should be able to tell you.

However, if they’re bluffing, getting them to explain exactly how they managed to bump those sales by 10% will leave them flustered.

2. They’re safer than a Trojan condom
The last thing you want is a Brand Manager who plays by the rules. Of course, you want someone who can follow the rules. But you still want them to toe the line every once in a while when it comes to innovative campaigns and ideas.

If you interview a potential candidate who’s worked for big-name brands but hasn’t done a single thing to innovate their strategy or make a difference at the company, then they might not bring too much to your team either.

3. They rely too much on their team
Teamwork is a CV staple and with good reason.

However, when you’re looking to hire a Brand Manager, you want someone who can take initiative, not someone who relies on their team to do all the heavy lifting.

Similarly, if they seem afraid to take charge or work autonomously, that’s a huge red flag.

Your Brand Manager isn’t there to be babied.

(Related: See what exciting Brand Manager roles we have at Vertical Advantage now)

4. They’re trapped ‘inside the box’
When you hire a Brand Manager, you’re looking for a person with a demonstrable ability to do more than just sail along and manage a brand. They need to surpass their title and develop and build.

When taking a brand to the next level, innovation is essential in a world where it can sometimes look like your branding strategy was created by a cookie cutter.

Rather than just copying trends, thinking outside the box and starting their own movement is truly what makes a fantastic Brand Manager.

5. Lacking collaboration
For most positions, longevity is a virtue. It shows loyalty and probable talent (hey, they didn’t get fired!).

But for a Brand Manager, such an illustrious (but steady) career can be a sign that they lack a certain je ne sais quoi.

Maybe they’re not quite as collaborative as they need to be, or perhaps they only look out for number one.

Maybe they simply play it safe or are more focused on preserving and protecting their own career than considering the needs of the business and the team.

While loyalty to a role isn’t a bad thing, then, you should be wary of the why.

6. They’re blacklisted by agencies
I mean…this one speaks for itself but let me elaborate. If your Brand Manager is blacklisted from other agencies, it tells you several things:

a) They’re probably not that good at their job.
b) They’ve pushed their luck one too many times… and not in a cute way.
c) Associating yourself with them probably won’t be a good look for your company.

Even if the candidate you’re considering hasn’t quite been blacklisted, but still has a bad relationship with other agencies, consider why that is. Maybe make some phone calls if you’re still interested in hiring them.

Basically, get to the bottom of the story, because you certainly won’t be hearing the full version from just one of the parties involved.

(Related: See what exiting Brand Manager roles we have at Vertical Advantage)

7. They always go with their gut
Having an opinionated Brand Manager can be a good thing. You want someone who will take initiative and risks in order to push your brand and company forward. But you want those risks to be very carefully calculated and well thought through.

What you don’t want is someone incapable of looking at things logically and taking the data into account. Being a good Brand Manager means using consumer-driven insight when and where possible.

So, make sure you hire someone who knows how to strike the right balance between Don Draper-esque genius and Iron Man analysis.

Have you hired a Brand Manager before? Are there any red flags we missed? If you want to discuss further get in contact via siobhan@vertical-advantage.com

There’s an age-old debate in the marketing world, one which has been pro-ed and con-ed to death in recent years. It goes a little like this:

“Should we bring onboard an experienced in-house marketer or try something new and hire someone with an agency background?”

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each, of course. The former will be familiar with traditional in-house business model strategies, while the latter may be able to bring a fresh perspective.

Yet for all the potential advantages that hiring someone with an agency background brings, many clients remain reluctant to consider them for in-house positions.

But…why?

As an advocate of hiring marketing execs with an agency background, let me dispel some of the most persistent myths and, while I’m at it, explain why people with agency experience might be exactly what your company and clients need.

They’re often talented multitaskers
One of the biggest misconceptions about former-agency hires is that they’ll shrivel up with boredom after two days on the job in-house.

I mean, why wouldn’t they? Aren’t they used to working on a variety of projects at once?

Of course, they are.

But that doesn’t mean that working on one project will automatically equal boredom.

They might, like most people, just want a change of pace. Or maybe they prefer the idea of focusing on and dedicating themselves to one brand after honing their talents in a fast-paced agency.

Besides, working in-house doesn’t mean your job narrows its focus that much. From experience, you still have to handle lots of things at once, so it’s not like former-agency hires are going from all to nothing by working in-house.

In fact, their fingers-in-many-pies, multi-tasking past will work in your company’s favour, as they’ll likely be highly efficient and capable of tackling all those things at once!

This is especially valuable if your marketing team is on the smaller side, you can only afford to bring onboard one member of marketing staff for the time being, or you’re trying to get a fledgeling company off the ground.

(Just remember that making one marketing person do everything is not a sustainable model in the long run, though!)

They’re adaptable
Many companies think that one-time marketing agency employees won’t be able to adapt to that in-house marketing life.

But, remember, these are people used to dealing with totally different campaigns from two completely contrasting industries. So if you can handle an 8am meeting with P&G and a 2pm conference call with Shell in just one day, you’ll certainly have the flexibility for in-house marketing.

On the other hand, marketers used to working in-house have likely been moulded and shaped in their former roles.

So, hiring someone from a marketing agency background allows you the chance to shape them to your in-house way of doing things, precisely because they’re not another stuck-in-their-ways marketer used to working in-house.

They’re malleable and, as a result, adaptable, meaning they’ll slot into your marketing team in no time.

They have specialised knowledge and skills
Hiring a marketing exec with years of in-house experience is all well and good. What people assume is they’ve probably got used to the way things work (sometimes a little too used to the way things work–see above!) and they likely have deep and specialised knowledge of their particular industry.

On the flip side, people assume exactly the opposite of former-agency marketers. They assume that they don’t have deeply specialised knowledge.

However, if they come from an agency which focused on, for example, SEO or PR or even data, they absolutely do have more in-depth knowledge and insight into that particular industry. Why? Because they’ll have worked with a range of clients to give detailed business strategies backed up by data.

Furthermore, people with agency backgrounds have to find solutions to business problems that don’t necessarily arise all the time in-house.

This talent for working well under pressure can (obviously) be a huge asset to a business because former-agency marketers will probably approach problems in a distinct way and generally just introduce fresh ideas.

They’ll be an asset when you start working with agencies
A good marketing department should eventually aim to have in-house marketers who can outsource some of the more specialised tasks to an agency. It streamlines the whole process and frees up the in-housers to focus on bigger picture stuff.

So, hiring a former agency marketer can pay dividends when your company starts working with agencies. After all, they can help smooth and improve communication, because they know and understand how agencies work.

This is unlike those used to working only in-house, who typically don’t get truly understand the complexity of the challenges that agencies face.

So, having someone with this background can bridge the gap, improve the relationship and ultimately enhance the quality of work with external agencies, providing better transparency and communication. Basically, a former-agency hire can help make the whole process more efficient.

They’ll relish the chance to see projects through to the end
Something that plagues former agency employees in the marketing sphere–specifically those who previously worked at market research agencies–is the assumption that they can’t see a job through.

In short, clients believe that they lack end-to-end ownership.

For example, if you’re working with a data agency they provide lots of information and insight but, ultimately, it’s the company that decides exactly how to run with it. Which is true.

But, if you were given the chance to see a project you’d put in motion through to the end, in a more hands-on way, wouldn’t you leap at the opportunity?

So would many former market research agency hires.

Have you hired a one-time agency marketer?

How did it go?

Or, are you still on the fence about doing so?

Let me know via email at alex@vertical-advantage.com or add me on LinkedIn and we can chat!

In my role as a Manager at marketing specialist recruitment firm, Vertical Advantage, I’m always on the look out for outstanding talent in CRM and loyalty for our blue chip client base.

But it’s not always easy.

This means I constantly need rich customer data which can be difficult with rapid ever-changing industry trends that are at the heart of daily discussions.

This got me thinking about how the industry has drastically evolved.

Today almost 46.5 million people, (92% of the adult population) are registered with at least one card-based loyalty programme, and the average shopper is signed up to at least three.

Acquiring new customers is way more expensive than retaining them, so loyalty is an area that should be well developed by companies interested in return business.

This all sounds inspiring, but in reality, is customer loyalty all it’s cracked up to be?

My answer … not right now – but with a little work, it could be!

Loyalty schemes have become the norm – There’s so much choice out there!

The loyalty card itself has become a commodity, younger consumers these days rarely stick with just a handful of providers.

Instead, they go towards the lowest prices, the best service, and the easiest ride – in that exact order.

It is easier than ever for consumers to be disloyal: price comparison sites, social media reviews, and higher levels of price competition thanks to online retailers, are all factors that challenge the concept of loyalty.

Why?

It takes too long to reap real rewards

It’s not that loyalty schemes can’t work – it’ just that most provide so little value.

For example:

You’re loyal to a supermarket for a year, racking up the points.

The just before Christmas you’re rewarded with a voucher worth £6.45.

So, you’re undoubtedly going to ask yourself: is it worth the effort?

Of course not!

So next year you don’t bother, right?

You won’t be the only one!

Almost £6bn-worth of points have gone unclaimed from the top 10 mainstream loyalty schemes out there, with over 20% of loyalty programme users never having redeemed their rewards.

Poor targeting is a turn-off!

To be valuable, loyalty schemes need to be both better-targeted and worth something tangible to the consumer.

Points don’t cut it anymore. People want things, not points. But the thing has to be relevant and personalised.

Case-in-point: As a dog owner I have a Pets at Home loyalty card. I signed up as the owner of a small chihuahua, only to then receive on-going promotions targeting products aimed at larger breeds of dog.

The best loyalty schemes know their customers wants and needs and use this information to target them with relevant deals.

Is Mobile being ignored?

Loyalty schemes offered by your favourite high street retailers are likely to be card based.

How often have you forgotten your loyalty card and missed out on points when shopping in your favourite retailer?

You’re not alone – a third of customers do this.

And if you do want the points you’ll need to go through the hassle of keeping the receipt and then remembering to take it back to customer services (with your card) to get them added on at a later date!

Compare this with the number of times you’ve been shopping and forgotten your mobile phone.

Point taken?

So back to the original question, Is loyalty all it’s cracked up to be!!!

We’re humans, and our shopping habits cannot be analysed by algorithms alone! I believe people are at the heart of how we solve these challenges.

Loyalty schemes manipulate and analyse transactional data on shopping habits to reveal exciting insights into buying habits and motivations.

If, as a business, you really want to make this work, you’ll need professionals who can extrapolate this data to draw out qualitative research insights like customer motivation.

What kind of loyalty professionals does your business need?

If they want to attract the right talent who understand the nation’s loyalty behaviour, recruitment services have to aim for individuals with track records in driving change and innovation in loyalty programmes.

For me, that means professionals who can really dig deep into the data when shaping loyalty campaigns.

Find how where each candidate is within the cycle: how effective have they been? How do they measure that? What was their last great innovation, and why?

Most of all, ask how they believe we should approach the loyalty space because lateral, data-driven thinking is crucial to how well they will succeed in the current climate.