Welcome Tom to the team!

We've welcomed a new team member to New Icon, and that means a new starter blog! 

This month we'd like to welcome Tom, who's joined as Head of Marketing. Here are Tom's answers to the famous New Icon "new starter" questions...

 

What’s your working background, and how did you come to work for Newicon?

My background is a what I call a ‘generalist’ marketer, I’ve been in various marketing roles over the years with responsibility over pretty much everything marketing. I’ve managed to lend my hand to digital, offline, events, lead generation, design and video. It means my average day is always varied and interesting, and definitely keeps me on my toes!

I came to work for New Icon to lend this diverse skill set to a new industry, as I have a passion for technology, web and IoT (a very typical tech geek!).

 

Describe your job to a six-year-old

I make people interested in things that companies sell and help them remember the name of the company when they want to buy. 

 

What are you looking forward to working on the most?

I’m looking forward to mixing commercial with creative. I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing my work generate leads that turn into sales as well as being able to do more creative brand work such as videos and blogs. New Icon seems the perfect place to see this all come to life!

 

What tech breakthroughs do you think we’ll be seeing in the next ten years? 

The realisation of the true-to-life potential of AI, more integration with everyday devices such as phones and watches and seeing them become ‘the norm’. I fully expect the AI use-cases move from fun, artistic and more gimmicky to become genuine day-to-day time savers such as being able to automate mundane tasks that many people dont enjoy doing (like doing the laundry or driving long distances).

 

What do you like doing outside of work, any unusual hobbies?

Nothing too unusual, I enjoy time with my family and my son (usually playing games like Minecraft or Escapists) as well as having a game of darts.

 

Favourite film/TV show/podcast?

Movies that are close to my heart are mostly from the 80s, such as Back To The Future, Ghostbusters and Top Gun. Favourite TV shows are The Boys, Clarksons Farm and Friday Night Dinner. Podcasts include Steven Bartlett's ‘DOAC’, `Weekly Dartscast’, and ‘the Tim Ferriss Show’ (no relation!).

 

What book should everyone read?

For anyone and everyone: Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat. It helps you get your head around enjoying life and being happier from the perspective of someone who tragically lost his son due to a mistake at the operating table(!) and how he stays happy and uses it to fuel his desire to help others.

For anyone who works in an office: Surrounded By Idiots by Thomas Erikson. This books helps you understand why you may think that others are difficult to work with or ‘stupid’ and how to understand that different people work in different ways and how you can ‘meet in the middle’. 

For Marketers: The Brain Audit by Sean D’Souza. Short format way of helping you understand how the brain makes purchasing decisions and how you can tailor communications to suit that process and ultimately sell more.

 

At Newicon we listen to a lot of music and make far too many playlists. What are your go-to songs and/or artists?

Anything 80’s pop, 90’s cheese, or Cafe Del Mar & Chill-hop when i want to focus. 

 

Share a meme that sums up your job…

 

 

Draw yourself

 

(*and to think i used to be able to draw! 🙂)

 

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