What has your journey into Edelman looked like and how did you get into the communications industry?
Having studied marketing at Bournemouth University, I put my degree to use, working initially for a b2b firm near Dartford, before joining the internal comms team at a large TelCo. I started with Edelman’s internal marketing team in October 2020, helping to promote the brand on external and internal channels, spanning the Trust Barometer, events and more. It wasn’t until I’d seen a job posting for a Senior Account Executive on the Xbox team that I’d thought about going client-side.
I learnt a lot with the Marketing team but making that jump turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I’ve been in my current role with Assembly, the Edelman-department for everything Microsoft, since November 2021 and I haven’t looked back. In my current role, my time is 100% Xbox, and I’m involved with UK press office, EMEA market management, creators and partnerships.
What achievement are you most proud of?
Professionally, it’s a toss-up between landing my first piece of coverage for a Halo Infinite Masterpiece sell-in back in 2021, or landing 2x separate pieces of coverage in two outlets that the team hadn’t been able to reach, concerning the Xbox Tartan controller, which marked 20 years of Xbox in Scotland.
On a personal level, running a half-Marathon is up there, alongside hitting a few home runs for the Edelman pitchers, our softball team across Assembly, Brand and Shell.
What do you find most rewarding about the job?
Being trusted by our clients (who are class, by the way) to deliver a high standard of work is certainly great but the sense of achievement I feel when the team wraps on a huge project is up there for me.
Most recently, we completed our first project as a new workstream, hosting select creators for the Dune 2 Worldwide premiere at London’s Leicester Sq for the team’s first premiere activity outside of North America, which tied into the Microsoft Flight Simulator Dune expansion – that was cool.
What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced throughout your time at Edelman?
Coming into PR from marketing close to 3 years ago with no media contacts was daunting, but I’m really pleased with the people I’ve forged relationships with. This also extends to our incredible internal and external agency partners, who I speak to on a daily basis, and are a delight to work with.
How do you stay motivated?
I’m lucky enough to have landed a role that I genuinely enjoy and care deeply about, working with some of the smartest people within video games PR. When you’re surrounded by a group of like-minded people who not only want to do cool stuff, but want to do it well, it’s hard not to stay motivated.
If you could offer one piece advice to someone considering a role at Edelman, what would it be?
Not to go all Phil Knight but: Just Do It. There’s a reason that employees stay here for many years and both the people and the culture at this agency play a massive part in that. If you’re naturally curious and are ready to be challenged, then this is the place for you. What have you got to lose?
What do you do outside work to relax?
Working in video games PR is enjoyably challenging, especially during crunchy moments where we’re working on upcoming game releases or global gaming events. It can be difficult to switch off, but one thing that’s really helped me is the training I’ve now immersed myself in: running and Hyrox.
It’s quite difficult to think about anything work-related in these moments. I ran the Brighton half Marathon in February and enjoy getting involved with the local Madison’s run club for exercise, local community and good coffees afterwards. It should also come as no surprise to learn that I play video games too and have just recently finished Baldur’s Gate 3 (10/10) and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
We're looking for an Associate Director to join our Assembly team, working on Xbox apply here.
