Meet our new Strategy Director, Mark Brighton

How would you describe your job to your nan? 

I usually go with the cliché of “I help brands and businesses become known to their customers, in their market”. That’s usually easier than giving all the planning and strategy buzzwords around brand, campaigns, content etc.

What drew you to saintnicks?

A few things that all came together in a great way…

• Independent nature, backed by network experience.
  Some things I’ve loved in previous roles was because the agency was independent; Closer team, speed of actions and change, feeling like my opinion really counted in agency decisions. But I’ve also seen the benefits of bigger, network agency resources, experience, budgets and creativity. saintnicks gives me the best of both worlds – all the “family-feel” of an independent, but with “network-expertise” as everyone here has had that experience. I think that gives us all a drive to show we’re just as smart, creative and can deliver like a ‘brand name’ network agency.
• New, exciting clients.
  A chance to work on some new clients, in new industries that I haven’t spent much time in before. All while keeping my love for B2B (mostly).
• The location.
  I’ve always heard amazing things about Bristol. The vibe, the people, the lunch options. This was a great chance to see it.

What makes your approach to marketing strategy unique? 

Ooof… to be totally unique is quite tough in this industry. Probably impossible. But I guess my undying love of B2B marketing (with all its complexities, journeys, audiences, messages, content, ads, you name it), mixed with my love for highly creative, culturally-relevant and stand-out advertising, makes my inspiration and thinking slightly uncommon.

How do you stay up to date with all the latest in the marketing world? 

I read, listen and watch a lot of content to give me my fix of marketing/advertising, and to stay on top of the latest views from the strategy bubble.

I spend a fair bit of time on LinkedIn and Twitter (X), and actually love to follow the same people on both to see how differently they act and post on each. I read a lot of ‘thought leadership’ from other strategists and marketers; the full list would be a big one, but some of the standouts would be Dave Trott, Richard Huntington, Richard Shotton, Giles Edwards, and Rob Estreitinho. I also keep on top of the latest news and reports from Campaign, The Drum, and WARC; and I take in some podcasts like ‘Call To Action’ on my commute.

What’s a campaign you wish you’d made? 

Ahhh, there are so many. A couple of classic B2B ads that I would’ve loved to be a part of would be ‘The Epic Split’ from Volvo Trucks, and ‘The Wolf’ from HP.

I also love the recent ’Raise Your Arches’ campaign from McDonalds. That has become a proper thing in my house.

Where would you like to take saintnicks in your time here?

Further. I would love to get saintnicks into the B2B Marketing Benchmarking Report in 2024, and start mixing it with some of the biggest and best B2B agencies in some big pitches. I’d also love to get some more awards on the shelf.

When you’re not working, how do you spend your time?

You can usually find me around the Cotswolds, hiking with my two best mates (my Hungarian Vizslas). When not doing that, I’m either on the golf course, watching the Premier League or NBA, getting tattoo’d, or loafing on the sofa with wife, binging movies and drinking wine.

Want to chat to Mark about strategy, campaigns, or Hungarian Vizslas? Or want to hear more from the rest of the saintnicks team? Drop us a line today.