Fiona Wylie
With over two decades of professional experience, Fiona has cultivated a wealth of expertise collaborating with renowned household brands such as British Airways, Nestle and Pfizer. Recognised as a ‘Rising Star’ by Marketing Week early in her career, Fiona has been honoured with multiple innovation awards.
In 2018 Fiona identified a unique opportunity to leverage her skills and knowledge to establish an agency that could seamlessly support both agencies and clients. This vision materialised into Brand Champions, a dynamic business specialising in Strategy, SOS and Skills. Brand Champions is dedicated to assisting clients with significant strategic initiatives, addressing short-term resource challenges, and fostering in-house learning and development. In her current role, Fiona is committed to helping others to build champion brands through the comprehensive services offered by Brand Champions.
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
Brand Champions is a dynamic and adaptable marketing consultancy, founded by Fiona Wylie, who recognised the need for flexibility in the workplace after her own journey returning to work after maternity leave. With over four years of operational excellence and a diverse team boasting a cumulative 200 years of client-side experience within the Travel and Pharmaceutical sectors, Brand Champions is uniquely positioned to tackle complex marketing challenges
Renowned for their “SOS” support, Brand Champions offers flexible marketing assistance with a quick turnaround, precisely tailored to the evolving needs of their clients. They have a strong focus on developing effective marketing strategies, dedicated to elevating brands, building trust and driving growth.
2. How did you get into the industry?
I always wanted to be in this industry from a young girl obsessed with watching tv ads so when I chose my options at uni Advertising felt like the only choice for me, despite at the time it being quite an unusual route. I then landed my first grad job in advertising and I think everyone, myself included, was shocked I got the dream job I had always wanted to do!
3. What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
The biggest challenges in the SOS marketing industry include:
- Rapidly understanding a new company’s market and goals.
- Creating effective strategies under tight deadlines.
- Integrating with existing teams.
Opportunities lie in leveraging innovative marketing technologies, providing tailored solutions that can quickly adapt to market changes, and establishing long-term relationships by demonstrating immediate value.
4. How would you describe your leadership style?
Fair and understanding with high expectations.
5. How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
Help them as much as you can. Be as flexible as you can. I have a family first ethos, and I mean this. We work around the team, the team doesn’t work around the work. This creates a team who want to work together, and work hard, because they’re valued.
6. What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Knowing your numbers, having a team that’s taken care of, having a team that wants to work hard and together
7. How has the past 12 months been for you?
The past 12 months have been amazing, we’ve seen a huge uptake in our SOS service where we parachute in to help businesses who need an extra helping hand with resources – we’ve had such a lovely mix of clients and projects that we are so grateful for.
8. What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
It’s exciting to see where we’re going – we’ve got more long term contracts than we’ve ever had – we continue to work in embarrassing conditions trying to smash stigmas, something we’re super passionate about and we have an exciting new insight tool coming so watch this space.
9. What are the highlights of your career so far?
Too many – I often have these pinch myself moments and I’m grateful for all of them I don’t take any for granted. Highlights for me are always the amazing people I get to work with, I’m lucky to work in the travel industry on some fantastic campaigns and sponsorships but equally working on the launch of the first menopause product for sale felt so brilliant to be a part of and help to change the women’s health agenda.
10. What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
Trust your gut – don’t work with people that don’t share your values. I’ve tried to ignore it a few times and I’m a pretty good judge of character so now new clients have to make the cut with me just as much as the other way round.
11. What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
Understand your numbers inside out – they can make or break you.
