Kate Hamer:
Marketing & Digital Strategist
“Digital is just communication, marketing, life itself!”
Kate Hamer is a Marketeer who has specialised in Technology and Digital throughout her career. She has over 25 years experience working for global household brand names such as Orange, Unilever, Tesco, Disney and L’Oréal. Her passion for communications and her entrepreneurial spirit have led her to be involved in a variety of projects outside of her main roles. This desire to work on a variety of brands and projects convinced her to leave the corporate world and set up her own consultancy in 2015. Her mission to simplify the adoption of new technologies and upskill workforces, led her to become an Expert Tutor for Google’s Squared Programme and then go on to develop her own training offering.
In 2018 she partnered with Louis Saha to develop AxisStars, a private platform for Stars from the worlds of Sport & Entertainment to connect with trusted brands and service providers.
Making Digital Plain Sailing
I chose a sailing boat for my logo because they were used to discover the original ‘New World’. Nothing fancy, just wood, material for the sail the sea and the wind. For lots of marketeers and business owners, digital is today’s version of the new world, not yet fully explored and rather daunting. The great thing about these new channels is that they give you a platform from which to make the most of your natural advantage – my mission is to help you catch that tailwind in your sails and navigate the sometimes choppy seas of business with ease and speed.
Kate’s Philosophy
Digital is an area that has grown fast and continues to innovate and change at a rapid rate. Unfortunately that has allowed room for poor quality service and what can only be described as blagging. It’s true that most of us senior experts are self-taught (we didn’t even really use the internet when I was at university). However there’s a big difference between reading and quoting lots of articles and sitting up for 15 hours straight working in the backend of a wordpress site (Googling every forum known to man) to find a solution to a problem you’ve discovered. I am from the latter school of Digital expertise – I believe that you can only really learn if you roll your sleeves up and get stuck in.
My mission is to stop new technologies being talked about as though they are each a separate discipline – as complicated as rocket science, and the solution to all the ills of the business world. The fact is that Digital is just communication, marketing, life itself! As consumers we don’t distinguish between the offline and online parts of our life so why should the businesses promoting their products or services to us, work in that way?
Kate is great. Strength and depth of knowledge – from the practical hands-on tech of digital marketing to the higher-level strategic and creative thinking. Great team player, reliable, personable, dynamic. I’m glad we brought her in on projects and look forward to doing so again.
Chairman 7League
I worked with Kate during her time at L’Oreal and found her to be an extremely sharp, knowledgeable and professional contact. Kate’s experience, passion and honesty made her a highly enjoyable and effective person to work with. Since leaving L’Oreal, we have continued to work together on some exciting projects and I have no hesitation in recommending her services.
Founder Dog Digital
I don’t deny that there is still an importance in up-skilling marketeers and businesses in new technologies but it really doesn’t need to be as complicated as some people make it. I can help you find your sea legs and equip you with everything you need to stay afloat.
I was amazed, even as I was developing my own website, that there are so many people positioning themselves as web designers whose own sites are neither responsive to different sized screens e.g. mobile phones nor optimised for search. These are really important factors for businesses to consider but it seems that a lot of the suppliers trusted as experts in this field, are not offering the full package.
Digital is moving at such a pace that it’s impossible to know everything, but if I don’t know, I will have a pretty good idea how to find out or who to ask in my extensive network. I have a ‘collective’ approach to projects. I’ve met many brilliant experts throughout my career, in different disciplines from Analytics to Usability. I bring the relevant team together for each project. And most importantly, at the start of every job, I agree objectives and measures so that we can clearly see how successful it is at the end.
Responsible Marketing
In recent years there has been a lot of discussion around the impact of these new technologies, especially the social media platforms. You may have seen documentaries such as the Social Dilemma (which I recommend watching) or read books such as The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. I have a strong moral compass, I think marketing can be a good thing, provided that it is responding to a consumer need rather than creating one. A lot of the consumption in society today is unnecessary – the work that I do with Climate Reality means that I steer clear of fast fashion, for example. I do believe that companies and brands can change and make a positive difference to society. As a consultant, I see it as my duty to make sure that anyone I am working with is fully aware of how the platforms they are on work and what happens to theirs and their customers data. I am fully transparent with all my clients and work with them to achieve the best possible outcomes in the most responsible way.
For my Philosophy MA, I wrote my dissertation on the advent of AI and who should govern it at a global level to ensure that it enhances rather than harms humanity. I continue to study in this area and whilst I make use of this tech with my clients, I am always looking ahead and considering the longer term consequences for their business, their intellectual property and their security.
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