Chris Guest

Current

• Senior Account Director at AKQA

Past

• Account Director at Syzygy UK
• New Media Account Manager at Transition Computing Ltd
• Web Designer at Transition Computing Ltd

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Education

• Southampton Solent University

Recommended

3 people have recommended Chris

Connections

158 connections

Industry

Marketing and Advertising

Websites

• My Blog
• My Company
• Twitter

Chris Guest’s Summary

Digital Account Director with experience of all aspects of online marketing including:
- Web design and build, online advertising, Video, SEM, UGM and marketing strategy
- Industries including Automotive, Pharmaceutical, Media, FMCG, Public Sector & Finance
- Projects ranging from short agile campaigns to year-long Pan-European implementation
- Working both as fully-retained AD on one account and as senior across multiple accounts
- Working as part of multi-agency integrated teams
- Advising clients on how to use the web to achieve their business objectives, integrating with offline strategies and increasing online investment

Chris Guest’s Specialties:

- Bedding-in new clients: getting through “new-client pain”, stakeholder management, forming relationships, establishing processes and defining account strategy
- Knowledge sharing: leading agency into new markets and educating clients and colleagues in new Internet trends and technologies
- Sales: Competitive pitching, networking, farming opportunities, writing proposals
- Account Strategy: writing client development strategies for long-term growth of account

Chris Guest’s Experience

• Senior Account Director

  AKQA

  (Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  September 2007 — Present (2 years 7 months)

  (Feb 09 - Present): FIAT
  
  (Sept 07-Feb 09): Sainsbury's
  - Led overhaul of Sainsburys.co.uk including move into online transactional non-food
  - Led engagement with inter-agency National Advertising team
  - Led eCRM, strategy and production work for Sainsbury's Online Groceries

• Account Director

  Syzygy UK

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  November 2004 — September 2007 (2 years 11 months)

  Clients: Channel 4, Mercedes-Benz, Rolls-Royce, Pringles (P&G), Design Council, London 2012, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
  
  Highlights:
  - Led and won 4-way pitch for redesign of Channel4.com
  - Led design & build of Channel 4 News, Dispatches and Blogs
  - Increased online share of Mercedes-Benz Passenger Car marketing budget
  - Led Syzygy’s first engagements in several new clients and industries including Wyeth (Pharma), Pringles (FMCG) and Channel 4 (Media)
  - Created digital strategies for clients including London 2012, Design Council, Wyeth and Mercedes-Benz World
  - Defined and implemented an account management process for Syzygy
  - Developed and implemented improved account revenue forecasting tools and processes for Syzygy
  - Developed a suite of internal communication and knowledge sharing tools and processes for Syzygy

• New Media Account Manager

  Transition Computing Ltd

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

  January 2003 — November 2004 (1 year 11 months)

  Clients: Mercedes-Benz CharterWay, MITIE PLC, Private & Commercial Finance, Zimmer, One Brand Group
  
  Highlights:
  - Won backing from board and created new brand, products & services
  - Won website redesign pitch for Mercedes-Benz CharterWay in 4-way pitch that included the incumbent agency and Syzygy UK
  - Developed revenue from several accounts, link-selling complimentary services such as web analytics and marketing strategy
  - Developed initial project with One Brand Group & MITIE PLC into ongoing strategic account
  - Sustained overall revenue growth and employed additional design resource

• Web Designer

  Transition Computing Ltd

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

  August 2000 — December 2002 (2 years 5 months)

  Clients: Dell Finance, Lombard GATX, Guinness/Diageo, Scania Finance, Argos
  
  Summary:
  - Website, web application and multimedia design, using HTML, CSS, JSP, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Photoshop and 3D Studio MAX
  - Specification and interface design for custom build content management system
  - Information Architecture, design and interface development of web applications

Chris Guest’s Education

• Southampton Solent University

  BA (Hons) , Product Design with Marketing , 1996 — 2000

  I selected the above course for its uniqueness. It was the only course in the UK to offer Product Design combined with a study of Marketing. This is important as an understanding of a product’s target market potential at all stages of the design process is central to the success of that product. My particular interest and aptitude for marketing is always reflected in the nature of my designs and the skills I acquired are still relevant to my work today.

  Activities and Societies:

  Student Representative for course/year

Additional Information

Chris Guest’s Websites:

• My Blog
• My Company
• Twitter

Chris Guest’s Honors:

Commended by President of UANL Communications Faculty (Universidad Autonoma de Nueva Leon, Monterrey, Mexico) - for giving of lecture and workshop about automotive advertising at Escenarios 2006.

Chris Guest’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch