For the “Through the Eyes of”- series, we have asked our team to tell us a bit how they experienced working at Forward And Thinking, how they have developed and what they think of the agency. We can tell you so much about how amazing the team is, but we thought it’s better to hear it from themselves!
Name: Marina Gaines
Job Title: Marketing Manager
Why do you like working at Forward And Thinking?
There are several reasons I love working at Forward And Thinking.
Trust – In my role, I have a great degree of freedom in making decisions. I know that I have this because the founders and Directors trust me and my expertise. This is something I don’t take for granted. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and strive to give my best every day.
Making a difference – it’s sounds so cheesy but working at Forward And Thinking makes me feel like I am making a difference. On a small level in that everyone is striving to put their best self forward, create the best work possible and end the day on a high. As for our clients, this is why we’re doing it all! Everything we do is with our clients in mind and how we can deliver a better service to them.
Last but not least, the team. I haven’t experienced such degree of team spirit across departments before. With Covid-19 changing all of our lives, the team have shown how resilient and adaptable we are. That’s not due to something that’s written down in a brochure but to the people who create and live by our shared values every day.
What has been your greatest achievement?
Building a marketing team that is shaping the brand and content of the organisation delivering actual results. Having Georgia join my team from being our marketing apprentice to becoming a Junior Creative has been fantastic. That’s, of course, her achievement, not mine!
We have a supberb intern with Lydia as well. She joined the team during the lockdown and has been on-boarded and working remotely. She’s doing a fantastic job.
There’s been a lot of other great things I am grateful to have been able to work on. There are some pretty exciting things in the pipeline that will be revealed in a couple months’ time.
Have you learnt a lot whilst being at Forward And Thinking? What Training / development have you enjoyed the most?
Despite being in the comms industry for quite some time now, I have learned so much about the media buying and digital advertising side of things now. Everyone is so helpful and willing to share their knowledge.
I am a big believer in the value of transferable skills and knowledge, so I value our Monday Morning Knowledge Shares with the whole team.
Last week I learned about different sales approaches and personality types from our BD executive Lisa. Before that I learned about podcast advertising from Emily, our Senior Media Planner. It’s impressive that we have so many experts and that people are constantly striving to learn and share more.
Tell us about your team?
Team Marketing is ace. In less than a years’ time we’ve built a marketing team that is shaping the brand and content of the organisation delivering actual results.
I completely trust our junior creative Georgia. She repeatedly wows me with her creativity and commitment. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her utter a negative word and her level of tidiness puts me to shame! For someone who this is their first job, I am absolutely impressed by her and am sure she’ll go far in this industry.
We’ve on-boarded our intern Lydia during Covid-19 lockdown and she has fitted into the team seamlessly. She’s super productive and putting her own stance on a lot of content we put out there.
Tell us about a recent project you worked on or a nice encounter you had with a co-worker.
A recent project is the big secret that will be revealed in the summer time. While I cannot talk about the details now, I am wowed by several things:
The trust and openness our founders and Directors have put towards the marketing team and its expertise. Our input and insights have been valued and taken on board. Having worked in the comms industry for eight years, I know this is not to be taken for granted.
The level of commitment and can-do attitude from my team. Georgia has been confronted with a lot of challenging briefs and projects. She’s taking it all in and applying her very calm and organised process. I couldn’t wish for a better teammate.
The sheer loveliness of someone like Katie Jones, who sends me a “you go, girl” message after the morning catch-up. This was to cheer me up after I revealed that I’ve been struggling juggling work and a teething little one in the past week.
Our founders Alison and Andrew always put a smile on my face. They somehow perfectly manage the balance of giving us enough freedom but at the same time checking in at the right time to see whether we are ok.
Explain Forward And Thinking in three words?
Listen
Care
Deliver
Thanks for this, Marina! We cannot wait for the big reveal in the summer… 😉
