CAREERS: Job interview

Name Simon Cope

Job Marketing manager, dotmusic

Age 28

How did you get into marketing?

At university I looked to work for companies with big brands or agencies working on behalf of them - I got accepted by some and rejected by others.

Fortunately, I ended up working for an excellent brand-led company - Britvic Soft Drinks - where I was on the Pepsi account.

What was your motivation for leaving Pepsi to join dotmusic?

It was the opportunity to develop a new brand proposition and to launch a major marketing campaign within a growing online business.

Having seen the opportunity of the dotmusic product, United News & Media, the parent company, began investing heavily in all departments, including marketing, which was a great time for me to join.

What is the greatest challenge the marketing industry faces?

As the industry spend on marketing increases and the consumer is hit with more and more ads, there is the need to develop more effective return on investment models to justify spend.

How are you going to distinguish dotmusic in its marketplace?

Personal music taste is key for our target audience in defining and exploring their individuality. Dotmusic has positioned itself in that space - building on an emotional resonance with our audience with which genre-specific brands cannot compete.

We will continue to drive this message in our marketing as we have done this year under the strapline of 'What's Your Sound'.

What do you enjoy most/least about your working environment?

The constant music blaring out of the stereo - answer applies to both.

What individual has influenced you most in your career?

Steven Spielberg - he is so in tune with what consumers' wants are and how to deliver these in a commercially lucrative way. He has constantly broken boundaries both creatively and in execution - something I always look to do in the campaigns I work on.

Where do you see yourself in ten years' time?

I would love to work for the Football Association - preferably in Adam Crozier's job as chief executive of the FA. Crozier moved to this position after working in marketing, so there is definitely hope. I would like to develop a system that did not mean the same couple of clubs were always at the top of the premiership (I support Leicester).

What characteristics do you look for in the people you do business with?

Those people with truly good ideas, supported by strong insight, who deliver win-win solutions. Too many people that come to us with ideas do not think why it would be good for our business, only their own.

What would be the one piece of career advice you would give?

Take chances, have fun and work to live - not the other way round.

What has been your biggest mistake?

Crashing and writing off my company car - I wasn't supposed to have one and was keeping this fact fairly quiet until ...

What has been your biggest achievement?

The launch of the dotmusic campaign on TV. Doubling our users and generating a mass interest in the brand. We completed this in a short time and made the whole advertising campaign - TV, outdoor and press - demonstrate the benefits of the brand to a different consumer base in each medium.

What do you do to unwind?

Eat curries and watch films.

CV

1994-1995 Card marketing executive, Mobil Oil

1996-2000 Brand manager, Pepsi, Britvic Soft Drinks

2000 Marketing manager, dotmusic.

This article was first published on Marketing