Nick James Laffan's profile Styled comma

Nick James Laffan

A CMO marketing leader and creator of award winning global marketing programs, brands & strategy and in the last three years, building Shell's global ‘creative services’ in-housing business to deliver lower overall costs through offshoring talent whilst delivering clutter smashing content and awards with Cannes Lions and Global Employer Brand Awards 2020: Dimensions OPEX $21mln $95mln production.

About Me

A creative and authentic global marketing leader; both gregarious and thoughtful, fueled with a passion for people, brands, advertising and, above all, the creation and execution of winning, integrated marketing ideas. A leader who blends vision and strategy with a ‘superpower’ in ideation and reframing to identifying opportunity, turning strategy into award winning activation with brand leader Shell.

A nimble and articulate leading large teams in complex matrix organisations and competent at organisational change across the marketing spectrum (B2C/B2B). I have grown, nurtured and coached teams to new heights in the creation and delivery of commercially successful creative businesses, marketing strategies and growth-oriented programs.

Career Accomplishments:

- Created Shell’s internal ‘Creative Services’ global business for brand and creative content development in 18 months that realized cost neutrality and recouped its $21mln operational budget

- Leading and set up of Shell’s in-house communications agency: Responsibility for a team of 120+ communications specialists located across nine countries, a USD $21 mln operational budget and content creation, integrated campaigns, film, experiential and sponsorship activations totaling USD $95 mln

- Leader in Business development and optimization driving expansion to offshore, low-cost hubs to complement traditional creative strongholds in Asia and Eastern Europe delivering +45% savings

- Drove Shell Retail’s new Global communications purpose proposition, ‘Go Well’, re-engineering a legacy brand including the strategy evolution, creative platform ideation and integrated communications programs. Launched in 12 markets, delivered 6% uplift in positive sentiment towards Shell

- Led Global premium fuels brand management including brand planning, product development, customer experience innovation, premium partner leverage: three years of turnaround growth, brand share +4 points, margin increase $350 mln globally(Yr1)

- Award winning creative output, particularly for our film production unit with a gold win at Cannes Lions Festival Corporate Awards 2020; Two Golds - Global Employer Brand Awards Advertising


Experience

GM Creative Solutions (Services) Shell’s In-House Creative Hub at Shell International Plc

Nov 2017 — May 2021

Director of Global Customer Communications for Retail and B2B Commercial at Shell

Dec 2014 — Nov 2017

London, UK

Head of Global Customer Communications at Shell Retail

Apr 2012 — Dec 2014

London, UK

Global Retail Advertising, Digital and Shopper Marketing and Promotions Manager at Shell Retail

Mar 2009 — Mar 2012

London, UK

Global Media Manager at Shell Retail

Feb 2007 — Mar 2009

London, UK

Global Senior Brand Manager at Shell V-Power & Shell FuelSave

Apr 2004 — Feb 2007

London, UK

European Marketing Manager at GeoStar

Mar 2002 — Apr 2003

London/Hamburg, UK

Marketing Manager, Tesco at Tesco (incl Tesco.com)

Sep 1995 — Jan 2002

Cheshunt, UK


Operator can advise on

In-housing of Creative Services across Brand, Comms, Digital, Film, Experiential for ‘Shell Global’

Sharing the journey, learnings and experience from building Shell’s in-house ‘creative services’ offering of 140+ people across nine global locations. Tasked and empowered to deliver high quality and lower cost output for the Group across strategy, brand, design, film, photography, experiential and sponsorship. A $21 mln OPEX business with a $95 mln production spend in 2019/20.

Personal mentorship, coaching and helping managers succeed in getting the best from their teams

Providing guidance, knowledge, learnings and connections to aid in advancing your career.

Business/ product/ brand strategy

Helping determine the direction of your business and what you want it to look like in the future as well as defining what you hope to accomplish with your product, and how to plan to do so.

Creativity; Design; Customer Experience

Advice, consulting, assessment of Creative ideation or the process to get to winning creative ideas within a business to drive required outcomes.

Why book a 1:1 meeting?

Operator is a platform that enables anyone or any brand seeking advice, support or feedback to connect one-on-one with a curated group of leading marketers and communications specialists via video consultations. Operators are seasoned leaders with years of experience in marketing and communications across all industries. The Operator service removes barriers that have historically existed between top experts in the field and individuals looking for seeking guidance for project guidance, advice, inspiration and so much more. Individuals can browse Operators profiles, which include their bio, meeting rate and calendar availability, and can book and pay for a 60 minute meeting. Once the booking is confirmed, a calendar invite and meeting video link are automatically sent to meeting participants.

FAQ

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Operator is a platform that enables anyone or any brand seeking advice, support or feedback to connect one-on-one with a curated group of global leaders, one video call at a time.

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