Inside JLR’s Power of Marketing Day: The ideas that changed how I work

When did you join JLR and what is your job role?

I joined the business in September 2023 as a Business Commercial and Strategy Graduate after doing a complete career U-turn. After some insightful and interesting rotations through our brands, markets and with our centres of excellence, I have been lucky enough to join a fantastic team in the Market & Business Operations function, specifically within the Growth Skills & Development Team, whereby I have a really varied role, but it’s main focus is the Accelerator, which is Growth’s learning platform that gives me a great opportunity to directly impact our people and what they know and do.

Tell us about the 'Power of Marketing Day' that you attended recently.

What a fantastic day! I genuinely didn’t know what to expect, but the guests were phenomenal and the whole day from start to finish was really slick. We kicked things off with Johnny Hornby, from WPP and whilst I'm not necessarily using any generative AI in my day-to-day role, I certainly will be trying my best to use so much more after hearing what Johnny said and shared about the impact it can have. Johnny used some of his real-world experience in generative AI and marketing through the lens of his ‘side-hustle’ as Jeremy Clarkson’s business partner in the infamous Farmer’s Dog pub of Clarkson’s Farm fame and their beer start-up, Hawkstone. To see how big of an effect a small team can have on sales and engagement so quickly using just one AI video in multiple languages and fundamentally with input that is so much more efficient and quicker and easier to action, was extraordinary. To consider tthe impact that can have at JLR is mind-blowing and it certainly had my cogs whirring about what I can do to support me in my role! Next up was Rory Sutherland and whilst I knew a little about him and his work through various Instagram clips (I think I’ve slightly missed the boat on Tik-Tok, so I’ll stick to Insta), it was fascinating to see him in action. He has a real knack for explaining things in such a uniquely brilliant way, utilising his knowledge of the marketing world, examples from JLR and examples from lots of other industries to change your perspective and the way you think about, and tackle, problems. Noel Mack from Gymshark probably had the hardest job of the day, because how could you follow Rory Sutherland?! But follow him he did, with a whistlestop tour of how and why Gymshark are doing things differently. Noel’s passion for the business is pretty obvious and I think we can all learn a thing or two from Gymshark’s ‘have a go’ and ‘take a risk’ attitudes, because why would you not want to pay for a big screen in Times Square just when the world is staying locked up because of COVID? But how they make the best of all sorts of situations through the power of community and how they engage with their audience is a really clear marker for how we can do this so much better too. One of the biggest things I took away from the day was Noel’s quote that he kept coming back too, on how Gymshark manage to ‘get their towel down first’ when something seems like it’s about to take off which means they get to really establish themselves in a new innovative space really quickly. Worry less and try it is definitely a mantra I’m going to be adopting! We wrapped up with a fireside chat and some really great insights more specific to JLR which was a huge plus on how we can implement it into our work!

What is something you learnt from the day?

A huge nugget of marketing gold that I took away from the day was all around how we can look to use and interpret data, specifically when Rory shared an example about how EV manufacturers tackled range anxiety. He explained that the most obvious way to tackle range anxiety and, indeed the way that most EV manufacturers have done this, is to simply add range, but depending on where you live, what you use the vehicle for etc… this might not solve your problem. So one perspective he took was that nobody has really tacked the anxiety, if you can take that away, then the problem for the customer also goes away. So he suggested removing the need for a battery indicator to drop by 1% every time and instead just have ‘full’, ‘fine’ and ‘low’ as alternatives. Whilst this may be a slightly basic approach, it really helped me to see that on occasion I can be quite blinkered about how I approach a problem or a task and in fact I really should take a much wider view at the start and ensure that I am tackling a problem in the most efficient and effective way to deliver the best outcome.  

How does your job relate to the customer and their experience?

I think for my role specifically, it's definitely once removed, but in no way any less important. The Accelerator is essentially the hub for our learning and development across commercial and allows our people to improve themselves as individuals by improving their digital skills. What this enables us to do is to elevate the digital offering and interactions that our people can have with our customers. We can provide them with all of the tools and insight to deliver a Modern Luxury customer experience at every digital touchpoint which for luxury brands like ours is a basic hygiene factor for many of our clients. So, in short, we are absolutely related to the customer, and we play a pivotal part, if maybe not a direct one!

What skills have helped you succeed in your role? 

This is a really tricky question because I think that any and all skills that you can learn or take onboard will be a massive help, nobody’s ever failed at something for knowing too much right?! I think if I was to break it down into a couple though I would probably start with communication. It’s such an important skill, from the basics of being able to establish relationships with your peers, teams, stakeholders and our clients to being able to represent yourself effectively when trying to influence others or help them understand where you sit on a certain topic, it plays such an integral role in our everyday working lives. So I would say that any opportunity you get to improve your communication skills, whether that be through feedback, a course, or quite simply, and this is what works best for me, just having a go at working with new groups or colleagues with varying levels of seniority, then you should absolutely take it! I think maybe more specifically to JLR, another skill I’ve definitely made a conscious effort to improve and use more is considering each and every task trough the relevant brand lens. We are all about our brands and recent organisation changes show we are taking an ever firmer stance on our House of Brands model, so being able to look at my task, be clear on where it impacts each of our brands and then complete it through the relevant brand lens is definitely challenging but certainly improves what you can produce in terms of quality.

What advice would you give someone considering a career in commercial at JLR?

Do it! I’ve been lucky enough to meet and work with colleagues from all over the business, and the work that each and every one of them do is incredibly important, but they are always quite envious of what we get to do in Commercial. We get access to pretty much every facet of the business, from the strategy that underpins our famous brands to how we can alter the journey on our websites to encourage higher conversion rates and everything in between. I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer! I left behind a career that I’d worked hard on over a number of years but needed a change from and I absolutely wouldn’t change a thing! When you do take the plunge and join one of our teams, I would say that you just need to say ‘yes’ to as much as you possibly can, even when you might be a little apprehensive or when it isn’t quite what you originally had in mind. We have so many experts and leaders in their fields within Commercial, and a lot of their journeys started out with them simply saying yes to something and then learning and growing at pace from there!