Laurence Coen

M: 07867 808349
T: 0036 309524567

My background includes...

... a degree in modern and medieval languages from Cambridge followed by some twelve years’ blue-chip line marketing experience with some of the world’s premier FMCG companies, including Unilever, Mars and Diageo, which culminated in the role of GB marketing director for Guinness. By then I’d reached a point where I thought that working for myself would be more fun, so I’ve since been operating independently as a down-to-earth marketing consultant for companies like Vodafone and others. This also has the advantage of allowing me the time I need to complete and publish my children’s novel.

What I’m particularly interested in is…

... the idea that the best marketing is the stuff that tells the truth. (In fact ‘truth marketing’ is the subject of another planned book, this one for a business audience.) David Ogilvy once said that you should interrogate a product till it confesses its truth; then you’ve got something you can work with. It’s certainly a view that I subscribe to; I’m not a believer in the ‘big it up’ school of marketing that tries to push any old tat that people don’t really want. Ogilvy also said that bitter experience taught him you can’t foist inferior products on the consumer. And while this helps to inform my own approach, my main areas of strength are proposition development, communications planning, marketing capability build, and innovation.

When I’m not working I like to…

… dabble with a paintbrush, or knock out a Beatles song or two on my guitar for my kids (who are a great audience as they don’t know any better). I also play sport, but not as much as I used to – and nowhere near as much as I now watch on TV.

Something you’d never guess about me is…

… I once led the Cambridge University Athletics Club to victory in the Varsity Match!