Simon Hodges Email & Phone Number

County Durham, England, United Kingdom

Crafter’s Companion is an award-winning global arts and craft business founded by the entrepreneur and TV personality Sara Davies. In this senior leadership role, I developed fine-art materials as a key business unit, contributing up to 20% of overall group sales.My day to day was varied to say the least, but in the main I led all aspects of brand, commercial and product strategy, to drive both existing and new revenue streams. This involved market insight, trend identification, user profiling, position modelling and development of brand design assets. Plus framing the commercial strategy, preparing detailed business cases, demonstrating ROI, compiling forecasts, mapping stakeholders, defining critical paths and lots more.Key achievements included developing a ground-breaking strategy for licensed product, targeting valuable emerging white-space with a completely unique new concept. Working collaboratively with a top-flight licensing agency, I secured a 3-year deal with Warner Bros. to develop officially endorsed 'Fan-Art' kits aimed at DC and Harry Potter fandoms.Another big highlight was the opportunity to partner with one of YouTube’s biggest art influencers on an exciting product collaboration. This led to intensive dev work on a fully bespoke product, then implementation of a custom web platform to drive seamless click-through and conversion. Over the course of two short campaigns, this partnership drove multi-million-dollar incremental sales and brand reach.

County Durham, England, United Kingdom

In this role, the remit was to effectively grow new business through extensive product innovation and development. In a crowded space, this really required a creative outlook, with the ability to carve out new and interesting points of difference, both technical and conceptual.A high-point was delivering a fully unique and proprietary 3-in-1 marker concept that enabled even absolute beginners to achieve professional artistic results. Through multiple launches and extensions, this line went on to contribute £10m in incremental sales.I also had success with a unique line of targeted themed art kits, designed to promote creativity and drive market expansion. Additionally, I delivered an all-new lifestyle colouring brand, targeting mainstream users through a unique value proposition. Both lines opened multiple new doors within retail while successfully growing the user base.To continually drive core TV and e-Com business, I deployed heavily populated PD roadmaps, implementing all stages through concept, design, commercial planning, promotion and launch. On the more operational side, I worked closely with partner factories in the Far East, negotiating terms, maximising production and purchasing efficiencies, and maintaining all aspects of regulatory compliance.

Ashford, England, United Kingdom

Letraset was a very long-established supplier to the creative industries, specialising in premium design tools for professionals. I began my career proper there, moving up through the business until it was sold on to one of the world's leading fine-art materials brands. As Marketing Director I took a Board-level position and was a part-owner. Marketing was a bit different in those days, with social media just starting to gain traction as a promotional channel. I was an early proponent, successfully brand-building through Facebook groups, forums, blogger networks and working with influencers before ‘influencer’ really became a term. I was also able to significantly drive awareness through high-profile involvement with a raft of consumer shows, such as MCM Comic Expo and Design Your Future in collaboration with UCAS. In addition to the usual traditional PR and paid media routes. With the brand gaining momentum and D2C sales building, I won substantial new business with the TV shopping networks, while growing international sales through key-distribution in France, Germany, Benelux and the Nordics. Over the course of 3 years, I generated roughly £20m in incremental sales.

Ashford, England, United Kingdom

This was really where it all started, and I got my first break. With its core business heavily eroded by digital desktop publishing, Letraset was much in need of a brand pivot, which for me at the time represented a hugely exciting opportunity.On first getting to grips with graphic markers (back then used exclusively by professional designers) I quickly thought ‘what-if’ and began exploring ways to make this high-end product more widely accessible, and where the opportunities might be. Out of this mind-set, ProMarker was adapted and cost-engineered, with the creative hobbyist firmly in its sights. By targeting multiple niche markets, ranging through art and design, students, craft, manga and anime, even fly-fishing(!); substantial new business was unlocked.Effectively a brand-new consumer product category was established, which ProMarker went on to own.

Post Graduate Diploma, Strategic Marketing

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), Marketing With Business Studies, 1St

Education record