90 Seconds with Dan Ginger
Carlie Walker, Associate Director and Sports and Entertainment lead at tml Partners, sat down with Dan Ginger, Director of Brand, Marketing & Digital Media at Newcastle United, to get his thoughts on career development, opportunities and challenges for marketing leaders, and influential leadership.
What is the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
Find something you’re good at and dedicate yourself to being great at it. The rest will take care of itself.
What has had the most influential impact on your leadership skills and why?
I have been impressed by many traits associated with great leadership, but what stands out to me the most is the ability to demonstrate humility, grace, and empathy.
I must give credit to three individuals I’ve been fortunate enough to work for: Kate Newton, former VP Creative Services at Endeavor; Andrew Garrihy, former CMO at Huawei; and Massimo Calvelli, CEO at ATP. Although there are many talented people in our industry, the way these leaders exemplified these characteristics taught me that there’s more to great leadership than simply fulfilling the requirements of a job description.
What future trends do you think marketing and communications will see in your sector over the next five years?
We’ll begin to see a significant shift back towards consumer trust in brands. With the rise and fall of celebrity endorsements and consumers seeing through influencer marketing, I believe that brands that can authentically connect directly with their consumers will win.
What has fundamentally changed about your industry since you started working in it?
The primary shift is in consumption and creation. TikTok has 1.6 billion monthly active users, and 55% of them create their own videos on the platform. That’s a talent pool of 870 million people, or 1,000 times the number of people employed by the entire film and TV industry.
The world’s largest reserve of talent also has a near-zero cost of extraction. The top eight U.S. media firms will spend $115 billion on original content this year. Netflix alone will spend $17 billion. In contrast, TikTok produces its content for almost nothing, and the company’s payout to top creators is a rounding error at $200 million per year.
There will always be a place for beautifully produced content for the big screen, but the irreversible shift in consumption is evident.
What do you consider to be the biggest challenges for marketing & comms leaders?
Our industry is about to experience a significant shift, thanks to the power of AI.
It’s a double-edged sword, though. On one hand, AI can make things more efficient, personalised, and targeted. With AI algorithms analyzing vast amounts of consumer data, we’ll be able to better segment audiences and deliver highly tailored messages.
But there’s a catch. As AI becomes more sophisticated, it becomes harder to distinguish between human-generated and AI-generated content. This can make it tough for consumers to know what’s real and what’s not.
To succeed, we’ll have to balance human expertise with AI automation. Striking this balance will be a crucial challenge as we navigate the evolving world of AI technologies.
If you could go back 10 years, what career advice would you give yourself?
Prior to COVID, my answer might have been reprioritised. However, in this era of remote work, personal relationships have become more important than ever. It is crucial to be social, get to know people, listen, and work on your relationships.
Who are tml Partners?
tml Partners are a specialist marketing headhunter with access to a global network of marketing leaders.
Whether you’re seeking interim or permanent solutions, our team have the expertise to support across various sectors and locations.
To learn how tml Partners can help you, get in touch with Carlie Walker:
