Content & Creative Strategy Work
When developing content and concepts, I’ll ask questions like:
Who is the target audience, and what kind of content are they drawn to?
How will they find it? Does the content have relevance, purpose, meaning, and utility?
Where do all the different pieces sit? And how do they complement each other?
Does the idea meet the brand/client’s values and objectives?
When and how will performance and success be measured?
CREATE (CNN INTERNATIONAL’S BRAND STUDIO)
As the Content Strategy Lead (EMEA) at CNN’s in house agency / brand studio ‘Create’. I was responsible for branded content concept development - resulting in many successful pitches, and first time clients wins across B2B and B2C sectors.
Other projects included a system for integrating data to direct creative ideas, designing a KPI framework to focus content objectives, managing an SEO assessment, and starting style guidelines for branded content articles.
During Covid-19 I developed a ‘stop gap solution’ for film and digital projects, advising on how content could pivot to accommodate the new production climate.
I also led the development of a promo reel for CNN Arabic, and a thought leadership strategy for the studio, to create a B2B voice and content across social channels.
Some case studies include:
Ralph Lauren, who were a first time client. To find out more click here
DHL, who celebrated a landmark anniversary. Learn more here
Additional clients I led strategy for included: ANA, Afreximbank, Audemars Piguet, BMW, BP, Dangote, Dubai Tourism, GE Healthcare, Incredible India, LG, Saudi Tourism, Samsung Electronics.
ADVOCACY ASSEMBLY
Working as the Senior Programme Manager, I managed a multilingual e-learning website, securing new educational partners for online courses in areas like data visualisation, cybersecurity and podcasting.
The target audience were journalists and campaigners in conflict zones and developing nations.
Through UX research, assessing audience needs, evaluating analytics, and increasing social content; the number of courses and users worldwide increased.
For a project case study click here
New Partnerships: APC, Greenpeace, Infotimes, IWPR, Privacy International, Security First, SMEX, Sowt, WITNESS.
THE ECONOMIST
In a new role in The EIU’s Content Solutions team (now Economist Impact), I advised Editors on producing videos like interviews and animations, dataviz and infographic content to complement white papers and sponsored B2B campaigns.
Transformative work included creating brand guidelines for sponsored projects, where I established rules around logo placements and information hierarchy across all digital and video content.
For a Deutsche Bank case study click here
Clients included: Columbia Threadneedle, Dubai Tourism, Grant Thornton, Swiss Life, Phillips, and others.
THE BBC
I held various roles at the BBC: Broadcast and Online Support for BBC Learning English at the World Service, Content Research at Bitesize, and managing content syndication for apps and new formats with BBC World Service Business Development.
At BBC Music, I held a unique role working across the popular music stations Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network, I focused on metadata, training producers on SEO and programme writing.
As BBC iPlayer Radio (the predecessor to BBC Sounds) was being developed, and UK Radioplayer launched, I optimised audience facing content across social handles and BBC platforms to include over 1000 new artist links, images, tracklistings and contextually relevant copy to attract and retain audiences. My goal was focusing on artists from ‘specialist’ genres, diversifying talent representation, and promoting music from different communities.
CNN
I was the first Digital Project Manager in the London bureau, managing the launch of websites and bespoke interactive module builds for the sponsored features team; launching websites and new forms of digital storytelling on CNN.com. (for Special Features).
I championed formats such as infographics, timelines, scrolling interactives and long form narratives to journalists and editors on sponsored content teams. Often, sketching draft concepts before taking them to designers and developers.
And advised on layout, accessibility, navigation and interaction, hosting workshops for journalists in features, sports and news on best practice for developing bespoke interactive modules.
Key projects included: African Voices, CNN Style (launch), Comic Book Heroes (sponsored by Nokia), Davos, Inside the Middle East, Leading Women (sponsored by Omega), Make Create Innovate, Marketplace Africa, and many more.
THE GUARDIAN
As a Digital Producer and project lead, at the Guardian’s in Digital Agency (which became Guardian Labs), I managed the research and development of an R&D SVOD app, which was for the discovery of music, film and news across mobile, tablets and Google TV (this was way before Netflix existed). Responsible for project management, I led user research sessions, conducted storyboarded user journeys and advised on final designs for a basic prototype. The idea was essentially a content discovery streaming service.