Econsultancy spoke to him about how he came to lead CvE’s European operation, what a typical day looks like, and his advice for marketers who want to work in agency land.
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Hi, Paul. Please describe your job: What do you do?
Paul Frampton: I am the President of Europe for a marketing services business called CvE (Control v Exposed) which blends the best of a consultancy, agency and tech company to serve marketers’ needs today.
Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to?
Paul Frampton: I have joined to lead and build out the European business, starting in London. I report in to Brody O’Harran and Jay Friedman on the leadership team for Goodway Group in the US, of which CvE is a division.
What kind of skills do you need to be effective in your role?
Paul Frampton: Previously I was the CEO of Havas Media Group and then CEO of a hospitality tech scale-up business, so I am combining my big-company experience with my scale-up experience.
As CvE is brand new in Europe, the skills required range from storytelling and marketing through to business development/sales, talent identification and hiring, customer partnering and of course leadership and culture, which is a critical element when creating a new business.
Tell us about a typical working day…
Paul Frampton: Right now, no day really is the same. My days are filled with planning for the future, meeting prospects, liaising with colleagues across the US, speaking at conferences etc.
It truly is a startup, so I am covering everything through from thought leadership and go to market strategy through to working with the team on consulting proposals.
What do you love about your job? What sucks?
Paul Frampton: Goodway Group is an entirely virtual company, so all 400 employees work from home. This means that everyone has much better work/life balance and avoids lengthy commutes, and has led to a workforce that is 70% female with a multitude of working mums in senior positions. So far, I can genuinely say nothing sucks.
What kind of goals do you have? What are the most useful metrics and KPIs for measuring success?
Paul Frampton: As we are starting from scratch in Europe, we must start by creating awareness and consideration of our new model at the top of the funnel, but it’s then about following that through to new customer relationships and ultimately about building advocacy which in my experience is what creates the multiplier effect.
What are your favourite tools to help you to get the job done?
Paul Frampton: I am a big fan of Zoom, Microsoft Teams (similar to Slack) and WhatsApp. I love to work at a fast pace so being able to keep in touch and check in on progress when remote is hugely valuable.
How did you end up at Control v Exposed, and where might you go from here?
Paul Frampton: After running a large ad holding group, I became frustrated with the pace of change and speed to market with new product and services. I therefore joined a B2B2C scale-up tech business in the travel space, where I had real proximity to product and experienced first-hand what real agility is.
Having experienced the startup world, I was keen to return to marketing, but to a business which was undermined by its own technology and behaved like a startup. CvE was that business, and I am excited about building out a next generation agency model which helps elevate the role of marketing and aids in bridging marketing and technology.
Which brands/campaigns have impressed you lately?
Paul Frampton: More than campaigns, what has impressed me is how the new DTC brands have created a different marketing model starting with digital – one which is very data-driven, where attribution is a core capability in-house to judge what combination of media mix helps grow the business.
Do you have any advice for people who want to work in agency land?
Paul Frampton: The world is shifting ever faster towards a data-driven, tech-enabled model, so I would encourage all agency folk to be deeply curious about the possibilities of new technology and to adopt the same problem-solving mentality which tech companies do.
Companies that employ artificial intelligence are twice as likely to be high performers, so those in agency land should start doing their homework on the differences between AI, machine learning and deep learning.
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