Brand Manager of the Week: Amy Holdsworth

Describe yourself in three words.

Challenging, energetic, pragmatic.

How would you define marketing?

Making people want your stuff more than they want other stuff.

What would you be if you weren't a marketer?

A detective or criminal psychologist.

What attracted you to your current job?

The opportunity to learn, with more guardianship of a brand than I had agency-side.

What have been your best and worst freebies?

The economic climate appears to have taken its toll on my freebie count, but I have more Tetley Tea than I can possibly drink in a lifetime.

What marketing trend is dominating your job at the moment?

Harnessing the influence of social networks and digital to benefit the business in a tangible (financial) way; or co-creation/crowdsourcing, and finding its role in the innovation process.

What was your first job?

Being a promotional 6ft furry parrot, handing out sweets and badges outside Pet City Superstores. In my first proper job, I started as secretary and snuck across into account management in an ad agency.

If you were a brand, what you be and why?

AGA - warm, always 'on', excellent at multi-tasking, happiest cooking up a feast.

What's your greatest ambition?

Whupping the competition on Come Dine with Me.

What's your all time favourite slogan?

'Be the best' – aspirational and inspirational for those in the Army and outside it, and a genuine truth.

What headline would you most like to read in Marketing?

'Government U-turn on food marketing to children places responsibility back at parents' doors'. I'm fed up of the marketing industry being a scapegoat for all the nation's ills.

What advice would you give someone starting their marketing career today?

Have an opinion. If it does not feel right, it probably isn't – and don't end up drowning in the data.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk