What brought you to choose the South West for your home and career in marketing?
This post relates to our series of 'Discussion Topics' that we post every month in our CIM South West Community Group on LinkedIn. This topic was initiated by CIM Board Member and Tourism Ambassador Adam Jones as we'd like to put the "South West" back into the CIM South West Community.
We thought this would be a great discussion topic to focus on our love of the South West as well as continuing to get to know other members better.
Read what our members have shared:
For me it was an engineering degree at Bristol University that brought me down to the South West from the North West. As it turned out, I was a pretty bad engineer... so via a slightly convoluted path, I ended up in marketing. Of course, I love working in marketing now, so I'm pleased with how things worked out. And hopefully I'm a better marketer than I was an engineer...
Brian Doidge (Chair of CIM South West Board)
I was born and raised in the south west, but in my early twenties my career opportunities meant that I could move out of the region. In fairness it was an enjoyable time and allowed me to develop both personally and professionally. However there is much to commend our region and I was delighted to move back again. However this did not confine my career to the fringes. In fact quite the opposite. The south west is an opportunity unto itself , but is also a good base. It's straightforward enough to get to London, even for a day and other conurbations are also accessible. The quality of life here is a real plus and I definitely feel very fortunate to live here. The range of business types can come as a surprise to some. With this comes opportunity and for marketers this is good news and has definitely been good news for me. I really can't imagine living anywhere else now.
I grew up in Devon but moved away to London in my early 20s and began my marketing career there. I had no intention to move back but I met my husband when I was in Devon on one of my visits and the rest is history! I can think of no better place to raise my family and I feel very lucky to live here. As for marketing, my sector focus is on Professional Services and there are a number of PS firms in the region so it's good from that point of view but there are a diverse range of other businesses too which is exciting. Business doesn't stop at Bristol!!
I'm originally from Berkshire, but saw a lot of Devon in the 1970's as my parents had a holiday home in Tavistock. After an Economics degree in Bristol, I found myself in London in a couple of Global Advertising Agencies. I married a lady who's family lived and farmed on Dartmoor. I fell in love with the place and Country life and aged 30 was determined to move down. I thought it would take many years but I found an established Advertising Agency, RH back in 2000! I became MD and shareholder back in 2007 and am still in that role now. As a £5m turnover business we used to generate 80% of income from the SW region a decade ago, now that would be under 40%! But our location and move into digital marketing does not stop us working with major clients as far away as the North East.
I ended up here purely by accident because of a social invite from an old colleague. It goes without saying I quickly fell in love with the region and I have now been here for over sixteen years.
To echo Brian’s thoughts, we have such a breadth of talent and organisations in the region of which I am sure we are all proud of.
Simply personal reasons - my now husband lived in Wiltshire and I moved to be with him as there were more job opportunities in Wiltshire than in Wales where I was living at the time.
After studying in Oxford for my MSc, my first job was in Gloucestershire working in the Sales & Marketing Dept. for a multinational operating in the Wire & Cable industry. Over the years, I moved to different Companies but always within the South West and I feel fortunate to now work as an International Trade Adviser for the DIT in this region. I can now pass my experience in international marketing to SMEs that want to enter/expand overseas.
We took the decision to leave London since my husband was then working in Swindon and commuting. I got a marketing job in Cardiff so Bristol was a sensible midway-ish point to live. My parents were both from Bristol and my aunt still lived here at the time so there was also a family connection.
I live in Wales but the energy and diversity of Gloucestershire has made it an excellent work-base and a springboard for future business growth!
I fell in love with the SW after spending 5 years at RNAS Culdrose. On leaving the forces, I went back to Glasgow to study, always with the intention of coming back down here to live. After a brief spell in Hampshire, I made it down to Plymouth. After 12 great years, I found myself back in Hampshire but my wife and I decided that we wanted to bring our children up where they had easy access to the sea and the moors and finally ended up in Brixham. I definitely don't miss those commutes down the M3 and around the M25.
That was a good nudge Kath. I came from working at Winchester College in Audio Visual to Frenchay Hospital. I had gone for an interview, met the Senior Medical Photographer, fell in love. Thought I must get this job, which I did and wedding bells a year later. Only got into marketing because the MD of a communications group thought I would be good at it. Combined video, events and marketing. We live in an old cottage near where the Cotswold Hills come into Bath. Enjoy walking so this is has worked well.
We moved to Cheltenham almost twenty years ago for work related reasons and never looked back. A great place to work and live and bring up a family. Fantastic business environment and lots going on.
I moved to Devon from the Midlands with my then fiancee whose family had bought a nursery (plant) business. Having done a degree in Languages and Business Studies, I was looking for a job where I could use my languages - didn't find many down here - ended up temping - then got a role in Marketing for a large financial services company and ended up staying there 16 years in various management roles before becoming a Consultant.....
I moved to Devon from Cambridge 18 years ago and haven't looked back. I knew I was going to be made redundant from my marketing role and knew what a lovely place it would be to raise our son who was then 4. I have no idea where those years have gone! I applied for many roles and ended up working for the NHS and I'm still at DPT today. It's been great to be involved in shaping communications and marketing in the organisation and learning new skills and gaining new qualifications along the way.
I followed a boy to the South West after graduating and had one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had at Exeter University. I left to move to Florida for 2 years and when I came back I settled in Bristol. I love the balance of work and family life in the South West - its great to be able to get to a beach, have great weather, easy access to Bristol and Bath and the diversity and opportunities in Bristol are such there are no reasons to want to be anywhere else!
Thank You
Thank you to all the members above who took the time to share their views. We look forward to generating more engagement through discussion topics in the future.
How to take part in future Discussion Topics
Make sure that you are a member of the CIM South West Community Group on Linkedin and look out for future Discussion Topics. We plan to publish members answers here on our blog which are promoted to our readership via the newsletter.