5 minutes with Ian Gibbs

Name: Ian Gibbs            

Job title: Director of Data Leadership and Learning

Organisation: JICMAIL

How did you get your current job / how long have you worked in your current role? I spent nearly ten years at the Guardian heading up their commercial insight team and then departed in late 2016 to begin life as a roving media measurement consultant. The JICMAIL opportunity presented itself through an industry contact and I couldn’t believe my luck in having a brand new industry currency to sink my teeth in to. These opportunities come around once a decade at most.

What sort of mail do you receive at home? Nappy discount vouchers.

What is the craziest thing you have bought during lockdown? I don’t know about crazy, but the most unusual purchase has been a Behringer interface from my turntables to my computer so I can livestream DJ sets. I shouldn’t be admitting this really – it seems like every bedroom DJ has come out of the word work during lockdown! A lot of interfaces were sold out everywhere… which just shows how much livestreaming has gone through the roof.

What do you think direct marketing / mail / print will look like a year from now? Hopefully something richer and more brand focused (while still acknowledging that mail is a powerful response driving medium of course). Mail can make a significant contribution to above the line planning KPIs for brand campaigns, but it’s an effect still not acknowledged enough.

If you could choose one person you could be locked down who would it be and why? Do you want me to say someone other than my partner and daughter… I can’t answer that!

Once lockdown eases the world as we know will still be a very different place, what do you think the biggest positive change will be once this is all over? I think consumers will revert to type very quickly sadly. Recessionary concerns aside there’s going to be a lot of pent up demand out there. I mean we all went quite happily from not having exotic holidays to having them when mass market tourism exploded a few decades ago, so I don’t see why that would be any different when the crisis is over. On the positive side I hope we retain our new found sense of community and resourcefulness. We know our neighbours much better than before and people are much more likely to sit outside the front of their houses than they were before – it feel’s positively Mediterranean! But maybe that’s just the good weather….