Insurance is a complex sector that is ever changing and evolving. Many B2B insurance businesses are on marketing transformation journeys making this an exciting space from a marketing innovation perspective. tml Partners, had the pleasure of partnering with one such unique business, to appoint a new Head of Marketing as they embark on a journey as an independent commercial entity.
The Standard Club is a specialist marine and energy insurer known for its excellent service, supportive approach and financial strength. Founded in 1884, they are one of the world’s leading mutual protection and indemnity insurers by tonnage and membership. The club has been managed, and remains partially managed by Charles Taylor, a global leading provider of professional services and technology to the insurance industry. The Standard Club amicably separated from Charles Taylor recently and brought their management team in-house, with the focus of improving their end-to-end expertise and service in this global yet niche market.
For more information visit https://www.standard-club.com/
The Head of Marketing appointment was critical as the business was looking to bring in a high performing in-house management team to support their customers globally. More importantly, The Standard Club were ready to invest in fresh new marketing initiatives and therefore were looking for a new Head of Marketing that could take the business on a marketing transformation journey.
tml Partners were introduced to Dipo Oyewole, Performance & Strategy Director / COO-Designate and Alex Miell, Global Head of People Culture and through several meetings were really able to understand the history of this prestigious business, the future vision of The Standard Club and the requirements for the Head of Marketing hire.
The role was to focus on taking a more sophisticated approach to marketing, events, digital, content and communications and draw out genuine return on investment from all marketing activities, thus enabling the business to successfully reach the next stage of their evolution. The position holder would be responsible for devising and delivering the global marketing strategy, working closely with the Board to support the commercial objectives of the business. In addition, they would manage a small team and would need to nurture these individuals, inject motivation back into the function and really upskill them and promote their individual growth opportunities.
Service to members is at the heart of the business’ value proposition and the position holder would therefore need to create a customer-centric marketing strategy with an infrastructure for measuring success and be able to bring new ideas and fresh approaches to marketing and lead generation activities. All in all, the successful candidate would support the business in their mission to stabilise underwriting and maintain customer confidence.
Drawing on her expertise and network across the insurance market, Malisha Patel was confident that tml Partners would be able to provide the business with a strong shortlist of candidates. Given the confidential nature of the hire, tml Partners suggested working this project on a Container Model.
Malisha worked alongside the COO & People Director, to understood the business’s needs and ambitions. She was immediately able to reach out to a range of candidates from the competitor landscape, broader B2B insurance market as well as wider B2B financial services. After 4-5 weeks, Malisha and Emma Morrison presented a screened and vetted shortlist to the client.
In the end Julia Legge, a contact known to Malisha and who she had kept in close contact with for about a year prior to this project, was successfully appointed into the role of Head of Marketing. Julia brought a breadth of marketing experience in the insurance, financial services and IT sectors. Having built and managed successful teams to drive innovation, efficiency and growth through an insight-led and customer focused approach she has an array of demonstrable experience of marketing transformation projects. Julia brought credibility, a structured approach and also a digital-first way of thinking, which was exactly the modern and sophisticated marketing injection The Standard Club were looking for.
Now about 5 months into the role, Julia is already winning the hearts and minds of stakeholders within the business and really embedding marketing into strategy in order to drive customer relationships and drive awareness of The Standard Club within the unique shipping insurance space.
tml Partners is an international executive marketing recruitment firm specialising in board level appointments across marketing, business development and corporate communications. Malisha Patel is currently partnering with high-growth clients in financial services, namely in fintech and payments, to support the best in class development of in-house marketing, product and digital teams.
To learn more about how Malisha and the team at tml Partners can support the growth of your marketing function please get in touch at malisha,patel@tmlpartners.com
