Brand Manager of the Week: Joanna Williams

Describe yourself in three words.

Live, love, laugh.

How would you define marketing?

Perception, intuition, and data.

What advice would you give someone starting their marketing career?

Condense the data, trust your instinct.

What attracted you to your current job?

The task of taking a manufacturing brand, remembered only for sponsoring Manchester City FC, into the 21st century as a leading print technology and solutions brand.

What was your finest hour?

Investing half of my budget in a brand campaign.

What's your greatest ambition?

To play the lead in Chicago on Broadway.

If you were a brand, what would you be and why?

Abel & Cole: straight-talking and customer-centric.

What is your all-time favourite slogan?

Cheese brand Boursin's 'Du pain, du vin, du Boursin'.

Do you have a marketing mentor?

Zack, my three-year-old nephew, for his simplicity, pragmatism and humour.

What marketing trend is dominating your job?

More for less.

What hobbies do you have?

Dancing. I blame it on the boogie.

If you weren't you, who would you be?

Rita Hayworth or Miss Moneypenny.

What makes you angry?

Complacency.

What's your favourite holiday destination?

Route 66 in the US.

If you could get tickets for any event, what would it be?

An 'unplugged' session with Sam Cooke. I know that's impossible, but you did say 'any'.

If you had three wishes, what would they be?

An endless marketing budget, no stakeholders and a three-day week.

What have been your best and worst freebies?

The worst has to be out-of-date crumpets.

What headline would you most like to read in Marketing?

'Big banks fund UK charities' ad campaigns.'

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk