This month’s Spotlight Interview is with our fabulous new Account Manager – Ella Corke.
How did your career start in Partnerships & Marketing?
At university, I studied Events Management and one of the modules I studied was marketing. We would put on fun events, and I would build relationships with brands to offer their products and build awareness of our events. I then went on to my first job and worked for Uber, in their Partnerships team, developing partnerships to establish Uber in different cities.
What has been your favourite Partnership you have worked on whilst at Mando?
My favourite would be VOXI Drop’s first charity partnership with Cool Earth, we know that Gen Z are really concerned about climate change and so they were the perfect audience for an environmental charity partnership. VOXI donated £60,000 to Cool Earth but offered their customers the opportunity to say where they would like that funding to go, such as supporting biodiversity, building community projects and planting trees. It proved to really resonate with customers as it became one of VOXI Drops top performing rewards.
Could you tell us about a Loyalty Scheme/ Brand Partnership that you think is really impressive?
I love the Lidl Plus loyalty app, I might be biased because I used to work on it but I think I can say it now that I don’t. They offer a great coupon option to get money off and free products in-store (I did claim my free bakery item!). The partner offers are great, such as 3 months of Tastecard and huge discounts on cinema tickets, which are getting more and more expensive. Also, this may not affect the scheme but who doesn’t love seeing what might pop in the ‘middle of Lidl’.
Who would be your dream brand to work with?
I would love to work with a brand like Red Bull. They have such a huge portfolio of ways to build brand partners whether it be through sports, culture or lifestyle.
What has been your biggest achievement/ most proud of outside of work?
I’m going to have to say getting married because it only happened a couple of months ago and was such an amazing day. However, the real achievement was getting through the year of planning and group debates on napkin colours!
What’s your favourite part of your job?
I think the majority of people that enter into the partnerships world are creative so it’s always fun holding brainstorms with the team and coming up with new and exciting partnerships for all of Mando’s clients and partners. I always think the most creative ideas form, after building from inspiration of others.
If you could do any job for just one day, what would it be?
I think it would be so fun to be an MI5 spy, to have insight into what goes on outside of public knowledge and maybe do a few James Bond manoeuvres whilst I’m there!!
What’s a fact about yourself that surprises people?
Honestly, there are probably a couple of things I could mention but the one that always seems to get the biggest reaction from people is that I don’t like cake!
What is the last box series you watched?
Succession was the last series, which I’m sure most people have already seen. It’s a funny drama supposedly based on Rupert Murdoch’s life; it’s quite shocking in parts but very entertaining.
What did you want to be when you were younger?
I would always make potions in the garden, so my mum and sister told me I could be a ‘witch doctor’, I’m not sure I knew what that meant (or means now!) but it sounded fun!
