Head of Airline Marketing for Manchester Airports Group
Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, interviews Bev Ridyard, Head of Airline Marketing for Manchester Airports Group and Marketing Academy 2010 alumni.
Bev has been working in marketing for over seven years. She has always been passionate about challenging marketing roles – either partnership marketing, marketing someone else’s product or marketing products which are perceived by some as less glamorous. She has worked her way up from Marketing Executive at Halifax/Bank of Scotland to Marketing Manager at Bupa Care Homes, then onto marketing car parks for Manchester Airport (yes car parks!) to now being responsible for all airline marketing across three UK airports. She has been exceptionally honoured to have been in the inaugural year of The Marketing Academy which has transformed her life both professionally and personally.
Bev Ridyard: As soon as I went through my marketing module for A Level Business Studies, I just knew it was for me! The mix of creative, analytical and commercial sides appealed to me.
Bev Ridyard: Three things:
Bev Ridyard: Gosh, that is a tough one! I have met so many amazing people through The Marketing Academy in particular it is hard to pick one. If I had to I would say Amanda Mackenzie. She is truly, truly authentic, inspires and supports, drives change and is a genuinely nice person.
Bev Ridyard: It has to be showing commercial value, linked to changing (some peoples) perception of marketing. If I was given a pound for every time someone said I worked in the colouring in department….
Bev Ridyard: I push myself personally to read something new every day. Whether it be a magazine, blog, book, email I take the best bits and see how I can also take this back into the business and see how we could learn from it.
Bev Ridyard: I see agencies as being an extension of a marketers team. I always hope that agencies can tell me things I don’t know so that we can raise our game collectively.
Bev Ridyard: We produce exceptionally great work – not just nice to look at but brings the results too.
Bev Ridyard: At Manchester Airport, the team has launched a multi channel, multi product campaign called ‘Fly Manchester’ which many team members have been a part of. I am proud of how we used insight to drive the campaign, the innovation that inspired ideas and also how the team pulled ‘part one’ off so quickly!
Bev Ridyard: Simple. Show the real impact of what marketing does to the business.
Bev Ridyard: I’m a generalist by choice. I never wanted to become an expert in a certain area. We do need both though, depends on the requirements.
creativebrief partner the Marketing Academy is a non-profit organisation which provides a unique forum for industry leaders, marketing gurus, entrepreneurs and inspirational people volunteer their time to inspire, develop and coach the next generation of future leaders. The Marketing Academy gift a maximum of 30 ‘Scholarships’ each year to the fastest rising stars in the marketing, advertising and communications industries. A team of high profile mentors and coaches develop these stars through a process of mentoring, coaching, networking and personalised learning. 86 mentors, 30 Coaches, 20 Judges, 36 companies and an owl called Merlin all provide their time, resources and knowledge to assist in shaping the minds of our future leaders. Furthermore as a vital part of their curriculum all Scholars volunteer at least one day per year through our Donate28 initiative to work with charities who need bright young marketing minds. For a full list of the individuals involved, see the Sherilyn Shackell interview.
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