When it comes to marketing business entertainment, the affable Anna Fenten, UK director of marketing at Sodexo Prestige runs a tight ship. Victoria Paley reports
On a relatively grey winter’s day in London, I find myself sat opposite the perfectly charming and sunnily dispositioned Anna Fenten, UK director of marketing at Sodexo Prestige. We’re onboard a boat no less – for moored at Embankment Pier, Fenten is fortunate to have Bateaux London (the restaurant cruise operator) as her office base. The enticing setting seems fitting for an internationally successful fine dining events company. After all, achieving the ‘wow factor’ is surely never far from its key objectives. Yet despite the gentle sway of the contemporary vessel, it becomes clear throughout the interview that Fenten has her feet planted firmly on the ground.
While industry outsiders might perceive events marketing to be all champagne and ice sculptures, Fenten repeatedly emphasises the importance of data analysing and education. Seriously, in events? But this warm-natured marketer is definitely serious – at least when it comes to the nitty gritty of marketing.
“I truly believe in a very educated approach to marketing. All my team members go through CIM training. In an old-fashioned way, I believe a CIM qualification gives you a very holistic marketing education. It’s tough – but it gives you enough theory to analyse what you’re actually doing,” she insists.
And what of data? If there was ever a marketer to advocate the power of data, I’ve no doubt Fenten would be it. Of course you need creative flair when planning the sort of event extravaganzas that Sodexo is involved with, she explains, but it’s a numbers game too.
“You have to get pleasure out of looking at data. No one likes number crunching but analysing numbers afterwards is so important,” she says, later suggesting that data in 2011 needs to be “the bloodline” of successful marketing.
And the award goes to…
Fenten knows a thing or two about successful marketing. Under her leadership, Sodexo Prestige has won a number of recent industry awards for its events programmes. These include best PR campaign for Newcastle’s Museums, an award for its conference centre at Edinburgh’s Botanical Gardens, Eventia best venue for Great North Museum, and of course the much-coveted B2B Marketing Award 2010 for Best Use of Email. This latter award centered around marketing activity at The Open Championship at St Andrews in 2010. While it doesn’t strike me as the most girly of events, in fact when asked about her favourite Sodexo campaign, Fenten reveals it’s The Open Championship. So what is it about this campaign that not only appeals to Fenten but also helped her team bag an award?
Marketing an event like The Open Championship is “not about industry segments,” Fenten reveals, “It’s about finding a predominately executive male decision maker who is a keen golfer. It doesn’t matter if they’re in construction marketing, legal marketing or double glazing marketing. The moment you talk golf – the passion comes through. That’s the crux of the campaign.”
Fenten explains that The Open Championship’s email campaign involved highly tailored messages that were sent out to appeal to a particular job role. “Instead of three messages, we probably had 20. It was a lot of work,” she admits, but simultaneously says it’s the variety of the campaign that she especially loved. And Fenten is certainly spoiled when it comes to variety – other major events Sodexo is involved with include Royal Ascot (Sodexo introduced a successful fashion show to the event as part of its marketing activity) and the Chelsea Flower Show. Each event requires a different tone of voice for its marketing as it attracts a different type of audience. “It’s rather like marketing Sodexo as a different brand in each case,” explains Fenten, “And it’s a challenge juggling different brands – but also refreshing.”
But it’s this year’s Open Championship hosted in Kent that most excites Fenten – not least because it’s being played so close to London, but also because Kent has the largest number of SMEs per county in the UK. In terms of target audience reach, that’s surely a hole in one for Sodexo.
Crème de la crème
Success seems to follow Fenten – though she’s probably the most modest marketer I’ve ever met when I point this out. Aside from the string of awards she’s helped Sodexo to scoop, she’s also helped the organisation increase sales for two of its biggest events last year despite being up against economic challenges. Fenten attributes this to solid teamwork, close collaboration with partners and focusing on quality of events over quantity.
While I’m certain this is all true, I’m more than convinced that it’s Fenten’s personal qualities that have been instrumental in this success. She’s a big reader – regularly dipping her nose in industry titles, as well as exploring her favourite consumer brands to see how they go about successful marketing. She’s enthusiastic about collaborating with peers and exceptionally open-minded. Rather fitting then, that a company known for its excellence in fine dining – boasts the crème de la crème of marketers.
Anna Fenten’s CV
Sodexo Prestige – 2007–to present
Sodexo Prestige – 2004–2007
Sodexo Prestige – 2003–2004
Bateaux London – 2000–2003
United Card Service – 1992–1999
