My name is Anthony Browne and I started out on this path by studying Communication and Mass Media at university. I then went travelling for a year in 2000 and I have worked in marketing ever since.
Where I travelled to
The Steep Learning Curve
Firstly I started my own business with a friend by getting a Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust loan. We were pretty successful in establishing a clothing and snowboard brand (dense), securing sponsorship of 6 of the UK’s most promising boarders and striking sponsorship deals with the British Snowsports Council and the British Junior Snowboard Team, we even had a children’s presenter wear our clothes a few times on CITV 
These successes were all the more remarkable considering we had no marketing budget and instead used the earliest form of social networks (message boards) and digital marketing (emails, e-flyers) as our primary marketing tools.
(l to r) dense sponsors British Snowsports Council, the dense team of riders, clothing line, boards, dense on the catwalk, Michael Underwood wore dense on CITV and ITV roadshows
After 2 years we had to close up our office as we didn’t manage to secure the expansion funding we needed to take the business to the next level but we did leave dense much the wiser. The learning curve attached to running your own business is a steep one but I believe the management and marketing skills I gained in those two years have proved unbelievably useful ever since and although it was tough at times, it really was such a rewarding way to learn / work.
The Book Industry
I then returned to the book industry, which I had worked in while at university, as an Events Manager for Ottakar’s, where I worked on events like the Dalai Lama’s visit to Glasgow and Lauren Bacall along with a host of other authors and sports stars and celebs who wrote books. I progressed to Scottish Marketing Manager and then when Ottakar’s was merged with Waterstone’s I became Scottish and Irish Marketing Manager.
(l to r) Fresh Talent from Scotland, Ewan McGregor and Charly Boorman, Aye Write!, Joanna Lumley, George Pelacanos, Me and Billie Piper
In these marketing roles I had to liaise with shops and head office to build Ottakar’s and Waterstone’s into strong brands while retaining their local feel at the heart of each of their communities. This involved picking which books would be on promotion, building a section on the intranet to allow staff to share information on emerging “hot titles” and deal with media and press both in Scotland and Ireland. It is in this time I got involved with the Scottish Government’s Cross Party Group on Culture and Media and in December 2009 I started attending a new CPG on Digital Participation, I’ll keep you posted on this blog.
I still keep in touch with the book world through chairing events at each years Aye Write! book festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival and of course all the wonderful people I met in the book industry.
The Public Sector
I’m currently working in the public sector in the communications dept. of East Renfrewshire Council.
I work with various services and Culture and Sports facilities (Eastwood Park Theatre) to improve their marketing message, utilise emerging digital marketing tools and present their services in a way that their customers will engage with.
I am also looking at building platforms for internal communication and introducing social media elements as a way of improving work flow and efficiency. I also volunteer on a local radio station, Pulse98.4, where I help out with marketing and host a couple of weekly radio shows including the radio book club.
Digital Marketing
Throughout my career to date I have embraced emerging digital marketing techniques as cost effective and targeted parts of the marketing mix. I love digital marketing, social networking and all the exciting technology that surrounds it. It is such a dynamic field with new elements introduced daily. I try to keep up to date with the explosion of ways to communicate and look forward to the next area to discover just around the corner.
The future?
I love to travel and meet people, professionally my ideal job is one that challenges and excites me on a daily basis.
this is me
This is my personal blog.
Please be aware that the thoughts and opinions expressed on this blog do not represent the opinions of my employer.
