Europe - Jonathan
T: +44 2088 109 811
E: jonathan.turner@oxfordsm.com
US - Andrew
T: +1 908 464 0026
E: andrew.watson@oxfordsm.com
Sales Practice - Richard
T: +44 7584 906 029
E: richard.saunders@oxfordsm.com
Capability Practice - Peter
T: +44 7810 815 051
E: peter.kirkby@oxfordsm.com
Innovation Practice - Sarah
T: +44 7825 145 729
E: sarah.langan@oxfordsm.com
Financial Controller - Liz King
E: liz.king@oxfordsm.com
UK Office
T: +44 1483 719 070
US Office
T: +1 908 464 0026
Category and brand planning that's clear, bold and makes a real difference. We will:
Reveal the deep insights really driving both your category and brand
Create a competitive growth strategy and show it on a single page - simplicity sticks and helps get things done
Bridge the gap between sales and marketing - working in harmony, these teams can deliver powerful solutions that drive growth
Match the best channel choices to each stage of the customer journey - the right message at the right time to the right people for an inspiring brand experience
Strategy case studiesBringing ideas to life through deep insight, immersive workshops and the latest technology. We will:
Inspire with a brave ambition for your project, based on a deep understanding of the consumer and the latest trends
Create powerful ideas by pulling concepts off the page and into life - our innovative and immersive workshops challenge
set approaches
Build real-world prototypes and test their impact with feedback from team members and consumers
Launch by inspiring and equipping teams to get ready for market. Track performance and tweak strategy based on outcomes
Innovation case studiesImproving what people do, not just what they know. We will:
Diagnose by using experience and insight to uncover the areas where we can make the biggest impact - individuals, teams, across the business
Define simple but powerful 'ways' of operating and acting – and hardwire them to the day job
Develop a range of effective tools: curriculums, videos, eLearning, virtual classrooms, workshops
and masterclasses
Deploy and measure the impact of our programmes with the latest analytics
and tracking
To make this growth last, you also need a clear sense of brand purpose and a seamless journey for people, from wanting to buying. When it comes to helping teams do this day-to-day, we don't believe in starting with a competency framework and course. Instead we focus squarely on the job teams need to do, then give them the support and resources they need to do it brilliantly.
To make this growth last, you also need a clear sense of brand purpose and a seamless journey for people, from wanting to buying. When it comes to helping teams do this day-to-day, we don't believe in starting with a competency framework and course. Instead we focus squarely on the job teams need to do, then give them the support and resources they need to do it brilliantly.
Our clients are from a broad range of industries and sectors. Over the years we've built longstanding relationships, so we understand their challenges and make a real difference to their businesses.
We're headquartered in the UK and US and work all over the world.
Our clients are from a broad range of industries and sectors. Over the years we've built longstanding relationships, so we understand their challenges and make a real difference to their businesses.
We're headquartered in the UK and US and work all over the world.
We're extremely proud of the work we've
done with our clients. As we respect their
confidentiality, we don't mention them
by
name.
But plenty are happy to talk about the
difference we've made, so let us know if
you'd like to have a conversation.
Here are examples of the difference
we've made to some of the world's
biggest companies.
Building trust and listening to values:
the right way to drive growth
More...
Building a billion pound brand in just
five years
More...
Starting with the story: inspiring change and driving sales with a compelling
brand vision
More...
Finding the sweet spot: using data the smart way to create maximum growth
More...
Cutting through the clutter: creating an award-winning marketing academy
More...
Driving change across a global organisation: simple, effective strategies for outsized results
More...
Changing behaviour around the world: building an award-winning virtual
learning environment
More...
Finding a higher purpose: weaving sustainability into every day operations
More...
Building trust and listening to values: the right way to create growth
We helped a major healthcare company target the right customers in the right way, and with messages that really hit home.
And we did this by creating a new approach to
targeted selling: segmenting healthcare
professionals based on their values and
attitudes, rather than
sales volume.
We then created selling propositions and communication plans based on these values that accelerated growth for the commercial teams.
Building a billion pound brand in just five years
A well-known hotel brand wanted a new business model that would help improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. So we worked with the board to create a customer service improvement plan that could be adopted by every staff member.
We targeted eight critical changes that employees could make to bring about real improvements. We created training teams to deliver this programme to everyone in just three months. And then we tracked progress with a specifically designed KPI.
In five years, the brand has seen a 50% increase in revenues and profit and in 2014 broke the $1bn sales barrier.
Starting with the story: inspiring
change and driving sales with a compelling brand vision
We worked with a consumer goods company to develop its brand portfolio and create growth in specific categories. We helped them create and tell a powerful brand story to underpin their strategy and to motivate and excite their retail partners.
As well as helping our client sell their new strategy to retailers, we helped them create more ways to innovate. The program was so successful that one of their retail partners hired us to engage their suppliers in their category vision and help identify the best ways to deliver it in store.
Finding the sweet spot: using data the smart way to create maximum growth
Our work with this confectionary company led to a 13% growth in sales – 5% ahead of the market average. Together with their commercial and finance teams, we built a new data model for the category. Our approach was both robust and, crucially, easy to use for non-finance teams. We also used the model to accurately evaluate the competition and help build stronger commercial strategies.
Teamwork and creativity leading
radical change
We developed a radical new approach to creating ideas for a global technology company that galvanised teams throughout the organisation.
We used a human-centred method to look at consumers from both an emotional and a rational perspective.
In total, we created and ran a series of 15 workshops across the world, helping brand and category teams develop breakthrough concepts for B2C and B2B markets
A new culture of innovation:
engaging and energising local teams
We worked with a major consumer goods company to help their local market teams improve how they launched innovations.
In total, we delivered 76 Launch Readiness workshops across the world over five years, and transformed the way innovations were launched locally.
We improved the planning process, and gave local teams more freedom to stretch their thinking.
This helped unlock potential at the local level, and reduced the number of delayed or unsuccessful launches.
From bricks and mortar to clicks and mortar: launching a leading online
retail operation
We created a new online business for a leading department store. This involved shaping the proposition, designing the business model and planning the
customer experience.
After a successful launch, the brand quickly became the leader in their category, achieving over 40% market share of a £20bn category in just
three years.
Leading the fight against obesity: changing the habits of a nation
We partnered with the UK government's Central Office of Information to help understand the underlying causes of obesity, and to help people make lasting lifestyle changes.
Focusing on eight behaviours to improve health, we developed activity campaigns to drive these changes.
Campaign awareness stands at 98%, almost 600,000 people have been recruited, the rising trend of childhood obesity has been slowed, making it the most successful programme of its kind in the world.
Cutting through the clutter: creating an award-winning marketing academy
We worked with a global telecoms company to
create and deliver an end-to-end blended Marketing Academy.
We also turned their marketing outputs (typically 60 - slide marketing presentations) into three simple one - pagers.
Combine this completely changed the way the company
does marketing and helped break
down silos.
The programme has reached 6,500+ users, with 90%+ NPS scores.
It's won two international awards and is the
opening case study in Clive Shepherd's book, 'Beyond Blended Learning'.
Driving change across a global organisation: simple, effective strategies for outsized results
We partnered with a global drinks giant to create a capability programme that would engage their entire sales force.
And we helped 25,000 sales people across 170 markets become more effective at managing key customer accounts.
The board and the CEO have already recognised the powerful impact our programme has had on the bottom line.
Changing behaviour around the world: building an award-winning virtual learning environment
Our goal was to bring new ways of operating and learning into a global healthcare company. So we created six joined-up virtual classrooms as well as a range of online resources for senior leaders and their teams.
This framework has quickly become the way the company thinks and works. The programme has an 89% recommendation rate and has won an international award as a result of its effectiveness.
Finding a higher purpose: weaving sustainability into every day operations
One of the world's largest consumer goods firms came to us with an ambitious plan to place sustainability at the heart of
its operations.
We started by finding the barriers that were stopping the vision from becoming a reality. We showed how sustainability could be woven into the way people think and work every day. We then gave everyone the support and resources to make these changes a reality.
The company is now living its values every single day, and is seen by its peers as a leader in sustainability.
We've all led marketing and sales teams at the biggest companies. This means we act as partners, not consultants, and we don't stop until we get the right answers for your business. We passionately believe in our approach, which comes from years of experience at the highest levels. Our ideas and insight have a real impact.
We've all led marketing and sales teams at the biggest companies. This means we act as partners, not consultants, and we don't stop until we get the right answers for your business. We passionately believe in our approach, which comes from years of experience at the highest levels. Our ideas and insight have a real impact.
We like to let our clients speak for themselves. Here are some of the lovely things they've said about us over the years.
We each have at least ten years' experience at the highest levels. Our ideas don't just look good on paper; they get things done.
Everyone here works on strategy, innovation and capability. This means whatever the challenge, we have the experience and knowledge to meet it head-on. Our spread is global, and we pull in the best people for each project.
We have no juniors. We're a team of peers with different backgrounds, but we're all equally valuable to the work we do.


Andrew Watson
Carol Garbutt
Caroline Bottomley
Dave Elledge
Ellen Howse
Jonathan Turner
Jon Plant
Joyce Green
Julian Thomas
Laurie Morgan
Lesia Harrod
Linda Nash
Martin Johnson
Pascale Muylaert
Paul Lindsay
Peter Kirkby
Richard Saunders
Sarah Langan
Sharon Wible
Simon Lambert
Simon Moore
Sophia Smith
Tom Dalton
Vanessa Andrews
Vicki Belcher
Claire Price
Caroline Cook
Adam Price
Lisa Davies
Liz King
Marina Foxlee
Victoria Buckingham
Andrew Watson
President of OxfordSM Inc. I have worked in marketing and sales for over 20 years, first with Unilever managing brands including Persil, OMO and Dove before joining OxfordSM 10 years ago. I have consulted a wide range of companies including GSK, Unilever, Novartis, Vodafone and Marks & Spencer on subjects ranging from organizational capability development to innovation, brand strategy and launch excellence.
Carol Garbutt
I spent 17 years at Unilever and PepsiCo. Most exciting line role? Marketing Director Asia – the speed of business was breath-taking. Funniest moments? Managing celebs in those Walkers ads! Any tears? When we finally got agreement to invest in India (looks obvious now – it wasn't then!). Why you love consulting? Tackling knotty challenges and finding beautifully simple solutions that transform people and businesses
Caroline Bottomley
Like most girls, I'm a bit of a beauty product addict and have loved spending more than 13 years helping consumers look and feel good about their appearance in Senior Marketing roles at L'Oreal (Garnier, Maybelline) and Reckitt Benckiser (Scholl, E45, Dermocosmetics).
Having worked in both Global Strategy and Innovation roles and local marketing activation roles, I have “end-to-end” Marketing Experience.
Dave Elledge
I run the sales consulting practice. I learnt my trade at Unilever driving category growth through joint business planning with Tesco. I now drive growth by focusing on changing what people do. This means changing what sales people do in their day job or understanding what shoppers need to do differently to buy your brands.
Ellen Howse
My passion and expertise is in finding the sweet spots for platform development which leverage consumer insight, category trends and company operations. I have developed and launched multi-million dollar product lines in categories from OTC and wellness to soft drinks and confections at P&G, Cadbury-Schweppes and Nabisco Foods. I'm also a long-serving Leukemia & Lymphoma Society board member.
Jonathan Turner
One of the company founders and Managing Consultant. I've helped businesses across 3 economic cycles on brands such as BA, Lloyds, and Cadbury, and worked with companies like Pfizer to create new business models to address the challenges of the digital age. Cut my teeth with GSK when they were setting the rules of brand building for the likes of Brylcreem and Aquafresh
Jon Plant
My experience across Marketing and Sales has covered many years (more than 10), lots of different roles (from Regional Marketing to local Shopper Marketing) a variety of body parts (faces for Olay through to bottoms for Pampers) but I'm most proud of the difference I was able to make in helping create the Pampers/UNICEF partnership that, 8 years later, is still going strong
Joyce Green
I have over 15 year's client marketing experience in pharma and consumer healthcare. Before joining OxfordSM, I was Global Brand Leader for Roche Consumer Health. I have been consulting with OxfordSM for over 10 years. I am passionate about the changing role of technology to gather knowledge, drive learning and build capability.
Julian Thomas
With the company virtually since the start, after 8 years learning the Marketing ropes at P&G on brands such as Ariel and Pampers. I played a leading role in the early days in establishing our Capability practice, and until recently headed up consulting for our Healthcare clients, both OTC and Rx.
Laurie Morgan
I've spent 20 years loving Marketing the fun that don't stop (Pringles) Happy-er Meals (McDonalds) Italian Cappuccinos (Costa) Stuffed Crusts ( Pizza Hut) and Steak and Ale (Pub start-up). In my 8 OxfordSM years, I've supported clients to get Power to You (Vodafone) win with beer (SAB Miller) spread joy (Krispy Kreme) and more.
Lesia Harrod
In my 20 years of Marketing and Sales line management experience I have been fortunate to work for some world class companies on fantastic brands and at times in some challenging international markets! A consultant at OxfordSM since 2004 I specialize in capability building and in helping our service clients deliver exceptional customer experiences
Linda Nash
I grew up in brand marketing at Unilever, 14 years, on personal care brands and innovation… followed by VP Marketing positions at Redmond Products and Clairol. As an OxfordSM consultant I've worked on live action strategy and business planning, innovation and launch preparation and capabilities training for Unilever, Pepsi, Newell Rubbermaid, Heineken, GSK and Shire and several B2B businesses
Martin Johnson
I've worked in consumer and business sectors for nearly thirty years so I've seen a lot of things. But when I get a new project brief I think, they've probably tried the usual methods and it hasn't worked – why don't we solve this using an approach they haven't seen before? Are you ready to innovate?
Pascale Muylaert
Working with marketers everywhere confirms nothing is impossible. After P&G Europe, Johnnie Walker took me around the world. I was marketing director Diageo Spain & Mc Vities UK, and CMO for Getty images and Electrocomponents/RS/Allied in B2B. I can handle 6 languages and still think the world is my oyster.
Paul Lindsay
I started my career on the agency side, and then spent c. 15 years in line marketing at GSK. The best part for me was helping build the skills of others. Adding 12 years with OxfordSM, I've had the good fortune to continue capability development on live business issues, across a variety of categories, marketing disciplines, and in nearly 40 countries.
Peter Kirkby
I look after our capability practice. I've spent about 17 years in capability on both the client and consulting sides, and have made most of the mistakes in the book so others don't have to! Started with P&G, and joined OxfordSM 3 years ago from GSK where I was VP for Global Marketing Excellence
Richard Saunders
19 years CPG Customer Marketing, Sales and Buying experience with Heineken, Reckitt Benckiser and Boots The Chemists, working across both retail and manufacturer sectors. A Consultant with OxfordSM since 2013, I have a real passion for helping clients to deliver on shopper and customer needs.
Sarah Langan
At OxfordSM I lead both our pharma division and client service for a global snacking powerhouse. I have 25 years line management experience across service, consumer and pharma sectors working on some fabulous brands in global strategic marketing, insight and innovation. My most recent client role was as Global Director of Creative Innovation at AstraZeneca.
Sharon Wible
I have spent over 22 years leading marketing , advertising, strategy, innovation, operations and product launches. My career started in sales and marketing with Procter & Gamble, followed by a long tenure with GlaxoSmithKline building brands in their Consumer Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals divisions. I joined OxfordSM two years ago with the desire to help others build their marketing prowess and tackle their business challenges.
Simon Lambert
I spent 20 years in marketing, sales and operational management, with small, medium and very large organisations in consumer, retail and business-to-business. Now as a consultant specialising in capability development I've never agreed more with the old adage “you learn something every day”. It's transformational. And what makes me tick.
Simon Moore
I look after our FMCG business, with 25+ years experience on both the client and consulting side. I started with P&G, joining OxfordSM 14 years ago. I've covered most angles of most businesses, helping teams grow and win across both Marketing and Sales, consumer, service marketing, healthcare and business to business
Sophia Smith
I've been a Consultant for OxfordSM for over 10yrs across a variety of sectors and geographies, developing and delivering strategy and capability projects to crack client issues. My passion for building brands started when I worked at Cadburys and it continued with Reckitts and finally running a global business at Roche Consumer Health in Switzerland.
Tom Dalton
I've been here since 2010, principally working with some of the world’s largest Pharma organisations to build commercial capability. A former Head of Marketing in soft drinks, I'm equally at home in the world of consumer, customer or patient, ideally drawing on each to find new ways to succeed (but what I really enjoy is seeing the difference we make in front of a workshop).
Vanessa Andrews
After 15 years in food marketing (M&S, Mars, Danone, UB) , I've worked with government and global organisations across Health and Food – from Change4Life to chocolate, drink driving to painkillers, dairy cream to skincare - finding parallels and critical learnings by joining dots others can't see, and delivering important change across audiences and issues.
Claire Price
During my 12 years at P&G, I was lucky enough to work on flagship brands such as Ariel, experience both Brand and Shopper Marketing, and also be part of the ‘Thank you mum' London 2012 campaign. Strategy, insight and enabling brilliant marketing remain my passions since joining OxfordSM
Caroline Cook
Much of my career has been with Kraft Foods, working on brands like Kenco, Milka, Toblerone, Dairylea. I enjoyed a real mix of roles in Marketing, Sales, Innovation and Communications, latterly in capability too as Director of the Marketing Leadership Academy Internationally. Since joining OxfordSM the varied diet continues, I have helped some great clients like Vodafone, Novartis, Unilever and LEGO to build their capability.
Adam Price
Once upon a time I was an academic scientist; 15 years on I delight in developing strategy and capability solutions across a range of industries, from Banking to Pharma. In between I worked with amazing teams, building great brands in sales and marketing roles at Unilever, Boots Healthcare International and Molson Coors; most latterly as Category Development Director.
Lisa Davies
Now based in beautiful Vancouver, I work closely with our West Coast clients, from healthcare to tech to CPG and everything in between. My personal interest is in digging deep to really understand what makes people tick and using that to drive behavior change – it’s not magic, but it’s close.
Marina Foxlee
I joined OxfordSM after 10 years in marketing. Clients value the wide perspective that I bring from having lead 100+ highly successful projects in packaged goods, consumer services, financial services, retail and pharma. My specialisms are strategy development, driving organisational change and helping clients becomes truly customer driven.
We don't blow our own trumpet often. However, we've entered four awards with clients in the last two years and are delighted to have been successful
in each.
Best use of
blended learning
Two awards for the blended learning design and impact of the global marketing academy with Vodafone, covering new joiners through to leaders
Best use of
virtual classrooms
Recognition for our approach to launching and embedding the new Bayer marketing way entirely through virtual classrooms
Learning game
Singled-out for helping people understand a complex subject through an innovative but low budget on-line game, which was woven into a face-to-face workshop
We enjoy a number of partnerships with exceptional companies. These talented people help us deliver the very best solutions for our clients.
Quantum Steps
Experts in understanding people leading the way in behavioural insight and how it applies to commercial settings.
‘OxfordSM bring out the very best in us. They use our work without sacrificing its depth, and fully understand its commercial implications. The client gets better, longer-lasting and richer outcomes. We love working with them!'
Mac AndrewsNeuro-Insight
One of the world's leading neuro-research companies, using a unique technology to measure how the brain responds to different types of communication.
‘OxfordSM provide the framework that help us make sure
our evaluation and research is focused on the factors most likely to make a real
difference.'
Contagious
Experts in making brands braver, and the global authority on the intersection of marketing communications, consumer culture and emerging technology.
‘What makes our partnership really work is the ability to drive thinking on what's needed to be 'fit for the future, now' into what people do day-to-day, so you get real change and impact.'
Simon Wylie, CEOClarabridge
Collect and transform all forms of customer feedback into intelligence, using the industry's most sophisticated customer analytics engine, allowing businesses to activate the voice of the customer across the enterprise.
More...‘We share a commitment to putting the customer first. Our partnership enables companies to improve the customer experience, and drive top and bottom line by prioritising the voice of the customer.'
Jessica Wessinger, PartnerLearning Age Solutions
An award-winning tech company that
designs creative and innovative
blended-learning solutions.
'We share the same practical, forward-thinking ethos and approach to improving peoples' performance. We trust each other's expertise and both play to our strengths in creating exceptional learning experiences. It's a partnership in the
truest sense.'
'Marketers have a major opportunity to lead the management of vision and
values in organisations.'
With this insight, Hugh Davidson co-founded OxfordSM in 1987. He led the consulting team for 10 years as well as writing best-selling business books, including Offensive Marketing and The Committed Enterprise. His approach has always been low on theory and high on actionable insight. In other words: making things happen. His thinking underpins much of what we do.
After selling the business to the current management team, Hugh, with his wife Sandra, invested the proceeds in a charitable trust – this applies these same principles to joint ventures with Oxfam and Save the Children. These innovative projects focus on building the capabilities of very poor women and girls in Asia. Several of these projects have won major global prizes, including the UN Equator Award and the Save the Children Phoenix Award.
