Mark Schulz Email & Phone Number

London

The UK's leading brand language consultancy.So, what's our secret?When I began running brand guardianship at O2, a strange thing happened. It was during my very first guardianship 'clinic'. These were weekly sessions in which roster agencies would share work-in-progress and come for help with issues around using O2's brand assets.The first agenda item was brought up. A print ad about O2 Business. Our design agency's creative director ran through his checklist. Correct… Show more The UK's leading brand language consultancy.So, what's our secret?When I began running brand guardianship at O2, a strange thing happened. It was during my very first guardianship 'clinic'. These were weekly sessions in which roster agencies would share work-in-progress and come for help with issues around using O2's brand assets.The first agenda item was brought up. A print ad about O2 Business. Our design agency's creative director ran through his checklist. Correct use of Frutiger? Check. Blue gradated background? Check. IP-protected bubbles? Check. Approved logo, tagline and exclusion zone? Check. Check. Check.And then they moved on to the next agenda item."Hold on," I said. "Aren't we going to read what it says?"Remarkably, up to that moment, brand guardianship was almost wholly visual. No-one was thinking about brand language: the 'what' we were saying, and 'how'. But from then on, we made sure to read every syllable. And it fast became clear that although the words in 'big ticket' comms I'd previously worked on - the TV scripts, and the 96-sheet posters - had been pored over by everyone from the account exec to the marketing director (and sometimes, the CEO), there was a 'long tail' of communication activity which no-one was reading with brand language in mind. Yet which was nonetheless going live.I made it my mission to embed O2's brand voice in everything. We carried out a massive 'words audit'. We rewrote thousands of existing materials. And made sure training in brand voice was part of the Week One induction for everyone in head office.After I while, I thought: "This is incredible. A brand like O2 – regarded as a gold-standard in communications' consistency – has been overlooking most of its outpu. If this can happen here, how bad must the problem be elsewhere?"And having seen a clear gap (and need) in the market, I resigned from my job and launched True & Good. A week later, we won our first client. Show less

Sometimes True & Good's clients ask if we can recommend a talented design, advertising or brand identity agency. We can – and are always happy to share our connections. But when the projects are a particularly good fit for our skill-set, we're happy to take them on, too. That's how Delta Design came about: as a way to serve organisations like JJCL, Helvar and Trinity College, Oxford with brand identity and broader marketing goals. It's a bit of a 'side-hustle' really – but a great way to stay… Show more Sometimes True & Good's clients ask if we can recommend a talented design, advertising or brand identity agency. We can – and are always happy to share our connections. But when the projects are a particularly good fit for our skill-set, we're happy to take them on, too. That's how Delta Design came about: as a way to serve organisations like JJCL, Helvar and Trinity College, Oxford with brand identity and broader marketing goals. It's a bit of a 'side-hustle' really – but a great way to stay on top of new communication and marketing developments. Show less

London, United Kingdom

This was a newly created role, with a broad and free-ranging remit to make sure the O2 brand experience was correctly applied at all touchpoints – from product design and user experience, through to advertising, internal communication and HR.With over 40 comms agencies on the roster – from the UK's biggest, VCCP, all the way through to 'one-man-band' legacy shops from the days when O2 was still 'BT Cellnet' – there was an enormous amount of communication output to manage. With help from… Show more This was a newly created role, with a broad and free-ranging remit to make sure the O2 brand experience was correctly applied at all touchpoints – from product design and user experience, through to advertising, internal communication and HR.With over 40 comms agencies on the roster – from the UK's biggest, VCCP, all the way through to 'one-man-band' legacy shops from the days when O2 was still 'BT Cellnet' – there was an enormous amount of communication output to manage. With help from the team at our lead branding agency, Lambie-Nairn, I ran twice-weekly Brand Guardianship workshops, guiding account teams and creative directors to make sure that O2 was always on-brand. Because as it says in the title of O2's 2004 IPA Gold Grand Prix-winning effectiveness paper, "It only works if it all works". Show less

London Area, United Kingdom

After far too many Friday nights at my desk past 9pm, living on takeaway pizza, I wondered if there might be an existence beyond agency life... M&C Saatchi got in touch about an Advertising Manager role their client, British Airways, were looking to fill near Heathrow. This became my first venture 'client side', running the FIRST and Club World sub-brands.I really enjoyed my time at BA. A smart, talented team. Properly organised processes. And – compared to agency life – hardly any… Show more After far too many Friday nights at my desk past 9pm, living on takeaway pizza, I wondered if there might be an existence beyond agency life... M&C Saatchi got in touch about an Advertising Manager role their client, British Airways, were looking to fill near Heathrow. This became my first venture 'client side', running the FIRST and Club World sub-brands.I really enjoyed my time at BA. A smart, talented team. Properly organised processes. And – compared to agency life – hardly any swearing. Show less

I ran the launch campaign for Sainsbury's "Be Good To Yourself" range. We filmed the ad in Jamie's parents' back garden: Jamie's dad even had a few lines in the script. A true gent: at one point, as the Essex weather got particularly drizzly, he brought out a few trays of bacon sandwiches to keep us all going (I'm not sure where the production company's catering truck was...). Jamie made the producers nervous by rope-swinging over a pond – not in the storyboard, but a great shot in the film… Show more I ran the launch campaign for Sainsbury's "Be Good To Yourself" range. We filmed the ad in Jamie's parents' back garden: Jamie's dad even had a few lines in the script. A true gent: at one point, as the Essex weather got particularly drizzly, he brought out a few trays of bacon sandwiches to keep us all going (I'm not sure where the production company's catering truck was...). Jamie made the producers nervous by rope-swinging over a pond – not in the storyboard, but a great shot in the film. And he made me nervous by going off-script... It worked out though, and his ad-libbed line, "None of that lower-fat malarkey" brought a touch of Jamie-lingo to the world.Frustratingly, the ad seems to have vanished from the face of YouTube. So here's another from the same team and the same time – featuring another of Jamie's immortal ad libs: "Oh no, I got it in me helmet."I was also the account manager on AMV's successful pitch for the prestigious BBC account – a seven-month-long process with an original longlist of 40 agencies. We made it to the last three, before finally knocking out TBWA and Publicis. Show less

One of three graduate trainees, chosen from over 900 applicants. I was appointed to the agency's founding and flagship account, BMW, before also working on Bupa and Orange.

Ma, English Language & Literature

Ma (Oxon) English Language & Literature