Founder and Head of New Business – The Beans Group
Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, talks to James Eder, Founder and Head of New Business at The Beans Group and Marketing Academy 2012 alumnus.
James always knew he wanted to do something different. At university, he worked as a brand manager for Yellow Pages, did work placements in the Philippines and Colombia and organised events on campus. All these opportunities lay the foundations for his next steps, he knew he wanted to run his own business and do something that really makes a difference.
He started studentbeans.com back in 2005 when he was 22 and just a few weeks after graduating from the University of Birmingham. He did a business plan as part of his degree where he came up with the idea for studentbeans.com and after graduating it made sense to set it up. He co-founded the business alongside his business partner and brother, Michael.
Now known as The Beans Group, the business has expanded to includemorebeans.com, for life after university, award winning campaign freshersfields.com, the National Online Freshers Fair and Voxburner, an independent brand helping brands and agencies understand the youth market through reports, research and industry events.
As the business grows, his role continues to evolve – he started out going door to door in Birmingham speaking to local businesses and has been involved in all areas including business development, marketing, creating campaigns and much more.
James Eder: From day one of studentbeans.com, we wanted to create a brand. Marketing is about the importance of having a vision, the right messaging and a receptive audience and that is something I always wanted to be a part of. My first experience of marketing was a job doing tele-marketing for Gala Bingo. It taught me a great deal about having the right product and message.
I studied Business at the University of Birmingham and mastered the theoretical side of marketing, as well as creating a business plan in my final year which led me to set up the business a few weeks after graduating.
James Eder: A few different things! Be dynamic, understand your audience and be more externally facing than internal.
James Eder: That’s a hard question as I’ve met so many passionate and inspiring people through The Marketing Academy and over the last 8 years whilst I’ve been in business. That said Carolyn McCall the CEO of easyJet really stands out for me with her passion and high energy. Her commitment to getting things done, being approachable at the same time, tough and firm when needed. When we met, whilst she admitted it is all consuming and she never really switches off, she seems to really care which was refreshing. A typical day could often start at 4am, being at the airport with the first shift before the first flight, checking-in with the teams often flying to one of their bases, meeting local politicians, building relationships with all the different stakeholders as well as keeping a balance for time with her family.
James Eder: Keeping on top of how quickly things change and staying current. From social media networks, to the importance of mobile, marketers need to be agile and stay ahead of the trends. It’s not just about using the right platforms, it’s about using them in the right way and with the right messaging – for example a number of brands have rushed into using Vine without fully understanding its impact.
James Eder: As a company, we are always looking to innovate and do things differently. We work hard to engage students and keep them coming back to studentbeans.com. Part of our strategy has been to grow our advertising inventory through the creation of a number of different products. Seasonal campaigns give a focus to brands at a key point in the student marketing calendar, for example a series of dedicated Summer supplements, a sampling proposition ‘The Bean Book’ and digital platform freshersfields.com, the National Online Freshers Fair.
We often survey our demographic and run focus groups to dig deeper into their attitudes, habits and behaviours. By understanding what our audience wants and how they interact with brands, we can deliver campaigns that offer value to both our student audience and the brands that we work with. Using our access to and understanding of the youth market, we started sharing these insights online and creating events
James Eder: It’s not just agencies, but the brands, charities and university that we work with. We’ve seen that they are receptive to innovation and understand the fast-changing habits of the 18-24 audience.
James Eder: Our campaign freshersfields.com, the National Online Freshers Fair was something that went from just an idea to a fully executed award winning campaign in such a short period to time. We were delighted to win the Performance Marketing Award for Publisher Innovation and be nominated for the Marketing Week Engage Award for Brand Innovator.
James Eder: It’s about demonstrating value and backing that up with data. By coming back with clear metrics, you get buy in from a wider audience who can see that what you are doing is working. You need to have the proof and not just something fluffy.
James Eder: As a founder you get to see all areas of the business and my role has evolved constantly over the past 8 years as we’ve grown the team and brought in specialists in different areas. For me it’s about building the foundations and being able to lead the team to great things.
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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