Testimonials
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Charity and Social Enterprise
Citizens' Advice Scotland
“I had the pleasure of working closely with Aileen on a pivotal EU Citizens Support project for Citizens Advice Scotland. Under Aileen’s wing, I created a Social Media Campaign Strategy, Social Media Policy and Social Media Training materials for the organisation. With over 30 years’ Marketing experience under her belt, working with Aileen was a real masterclass. Within minutes of working with Aileen it was clear to me that she LOVES what she does, and she is BRILLIANT at it too. I would work with Aileen again in a heartbeat. I highly recommend Aileen to any organisation looking for Director level Marketing support.”
Dane Thomson
Social Media Specialist
Streets Ahead Social
“Aileen worked with us from January 2019 and was a first-class addition to our team. She brought a vibrancy and a well-defined set of skills to CAS during her time and was an absolute pleasure to work with. Her marketing skills, knowledge and experience were of huge benefit to my team and she left our organisation with all of our best wishes. I would have no hesitation in recommending Aileen to any organisation looking for someone with her skill set.”
Derek Mitchell
CEO
Citizens’ Advice Scotland
“Aileen was a welcome addition to our team from Jan to April 2019 taking a lead in establishing updates required to Brexit readiness digital content and developing a marketing strategy for our upcoming EU Citizens Support Service. Aileen successfully liaised with multiple teams within and outwith CAS to achieve these objectives. Her forward thinking to ensure marketing developed for EU Citizens Support had a wider impact beyond the immediate task at hand resulted in laying foundations for future marketing endeavours.”
Aaliya Seyal
Director of Customer Journey
Citizens’ Advice Scotland
Brightstripe
”Aileen has been a pleasure and inspiration to work with. She has delivered all that we asked for and more, taking us to a place we wouldn’t have got to without her. Alongside her determined professional approach was a true commitment to us and we enjoyed her down-to-earth sense of humour.”
Mel Potter
Development Director
Brightstripe
“Coupled with determination and drive, Aileen delivered all that Brightstripe asked for with wonderful articulation and oodles of personality, professionalism and clarity. Aileen has been incredibly valuable in helping us shape our business.”
Leoni Linton
Development Director
Brightstripe
“Working with Dynamic Heart has enabled Brightstripe to move from a new concept to a much more commercial organisation retaining our community based focus. The professionalism of Aileen alongside the enthusiasm of the team she has been working with has given us a new focus, branding and a comprehensive marketing toolkit. It has been a pleasure to work with them all.”
Jan Perridge
Development Director
Brightstripe
Financial services
Barclays Wealth Solutions
”Aileen worked hard and with dedication on a complex project with multiple stakeholders and challenging deadlines.“
The outcome: a great piece of work delivered, on time and within budget. I could not have asked for more.“
Dominic John
Head of Propositions
Business Development
Barclays Wealth Solutions
Bestinvest
Andrew Barnes
CEO
Bestinvest
Prudential
“Aileen quickly established herself in the interim marketing role at Prudential, leading the area through a period of change and effectively leading the 3 teams that sat within the area. Aileen supported me in my role, and I benefitted from her extensive Marketing knowledge and experience and the coaching that I received. I enjoyed working with Aileen and hope that I can work with her again in the future.”
Paul Maguire, Head of Customer Marketing, Prudential
Newton Investment Management
“It was immediately clear to us on meeting Aileen that she would be able to grasp our issues and priorities, as well as adapt to the culture, in order to achieve what was required.”
“She certainly hit the ground running and not only carried out the brief, including complex projects related to brand and PR, she identified areas for improvement and worked with anyone necessary to achieve change and benefit. She was masterful at combining the tactical and strategic thinking and actions – a reflection of her experience, wisdom and energy for success. Every organisation would benefit from an Aileen and we were delighted she took on our assignment.”
Ruth Murphy
Director of Business Development
Newton Investment Management
Energy
Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd (GASCO)
“Aileen was brought in to deliver communications within one of the biggest gas processing organisations in the world based in Abu Dhabi: a completely new sector; a totally different culture – both corporate and societal.”
“She quickly established herself as a team player and overcame all the challenges we threw at her with warmth and professionalism.”
“She created and delivered the communications for an extremely effective employee engagement campaign. She also led the project that delivered GASCO’s first Corporate Sustainability Report to widespread acclaim.”
Ahmed Al Kuttab
Vice President Corporate Excellence Division Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd (GASCO)
SSE plc
“Aileen joined SSE at a time of significant and rapid change. There was an immediate requirement to build a brand at pace to reflect the refocusing of the Group as a developer, operator and owner of low-carbon infrastructure. While a new SSE Group brand strategy had been formulated by a working party over the course of some months prior to her arrival, much needed to be done in completing the brand development and creating brand guidelines from scratch. Aileen was quick to establish herself and her credentials as a brand professional among key stakeholders across a complex operating model. Her tenacity resulted in the delivery of a robust brand system, a detailed set of brand guidelines and a near-ready brand management system that was the product of thorough research and internal due diligence. In summary, Aileen was able – over the course of a very tight timeframe – to deliver a lot of brand work that will stand SSE in good stead as it plays its part in the fight against climate change.”
Sean Munday
Head of Group Communications and Reporting
“Aileen contacted me at the start of 2020 as she was conducting research and due diligence into martech vendors with a UK presence. The list of requirements was extensive, with an overarching aim that the selected vendor could facilitate and sustain SSE plc’s (a FTSE 100 Energy company) urgent rebranding and repositioning. It was apparent from my first conversation with Aileen, that she was a consummate marketing professional, so it came as no surprise to learn she was a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the CIM.
“Aileen walked me through the key drivers for the SaaS-solution for online brand management and DAM, whilst clearly demonstrating an enormous knowledge of SSE and current challenges in the energy sector. She very succinctly espoused the new vision, mission and values, outlining how critical they were to secure long-term sustainable growth for the SSE brand. Over the coming weeks and months, despite the challenges of a truncated timeline, managing competing stakeholder requirements, Aileen’s competence and flair ensured an enjoyable journey. Everyone’s resolve was tested again as the Covid-19 pandemic hit and that seemed to underline the acute need for a remote, online brand management solution. Aileen delivers and ensures the job gets done. When you have a project like this one, with complexity, different stakeholder groups and many moving parts, this can be very reassuring indeed.”
Paul Glynn MCIM
Managing Director, UK & Ireland, Brandmaster
Technology
Janet
As soon as Aileen comes in the door there is a sense of energy and drive. She is a person clearly on top of her game and with a mix of carrot and stick can motivate and inspire a marketing team to go to places that they had hitherto not reached. At Janet we needed to almost completely start again virtually replacing a whole team and then to educate the company as to the opportunities offered by a “real” marketing team. As well as this structural re-organisation Aileen led a major rebranding exercise as well as recruiting a first-class leader to take over from her.
“Aileen has made a significant difference to Janet which has permeated not only through the marketing team but throughout the whole company. We now stand equipped to effectively face the challenges that the new and more competitive operating landscape brings and this is due in no small part to the contribution made to our company by Aileen.”
Tim Marshall, CEO
“Aileen was instrumental to the turnaround marketing within Janet. From day one it was clear that she had the drive, determination and character to build a new function capable of delivering for the company far into the future. Aileen launched, and delivered, a thorough, well considered branding programme that has transformed the look and feel of Janet, including all collateral, templates and every communication with a new tone of voice. She has developed the quality marketing plans that would be expected from someone with her level of knowledge and experience.
“In parallel Aileen has worked with senior managers to build a new high performing team that started delivering within weeks of formation. Despite the many challenges implicit in change management, Aileen has remained a pleasure to work with; combining dedicated professionalism with a wicked sense of humour.”
Dan Perry, Director of Product and Marketing
“I was privileged to work with Aileen as she completed her role as Interim Head of Marketing, and handed over to me as the new incumbent at Janet. Aileen was extremely thorough in her handover, managing simultaneously to transfer her knowledge of the organisation as well as completing outstanding projects. Aileen’s enthusiasm and energy for marketing is unrivalled and I feel very lucky to have worked with her at Janet..”
Jennie Stewart, Head of Marketing
“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Aileen – Working with an expert and having fun doing it I couldn’t have wished for a better boss. Not only did she develop a professional and effective marketing function within our organisation, she managed to change the culture of the company to make it much more customer focused rather than technology led. Thanks to Aileen, I have developed my own skills and our department has gone from strength to strength – with new practices and procedures now in place, Marketing is now enjoying a new found level of respect from our colleagues and we are now proactively leading the company rather than simply acting as a support function. All this would not have been possible without the skills, enthusiasm and tenacity of Aileen.”
Rachel Freeman, Senior Marketing Officer
“Aileen successfully guided Janet through a far-reaching re-branding exercise that addressed not just the look of the company but also changed aspects of the underlying culture for the better. Her short stay with us had a real impact.”
Mark O’Leary Development Group Manager
Digital Directorate, Scottish Government
Maxine“Aileen has made a real difference to the way we approach our communications and engagement. She has professionalised our contacts with our many and varied customers; creating a customer centric approach supported by training and toolkits and, crucially, has transformed our internal communications resulting in more engaged and informed staff. She delivered on her key objective – not only creating the communications and engagement strategy but leaving us enthusiastic and capable of continuing to deliver and develop on her approach.”
Anne Moises, Chief Information Officer, Scottish Government
“Aileen has assisted us with clearing the landscape on our previous myriad of communication methods and taking us to a point where concise and repeatable communications methods can be applied across our division. Quite often external resources struggle to understand the complexities and inter-relationships within Government, however Aileen quickly established herself as a credible subject matter expert who could establish multi-tier relationships. There is no doubt that this was a demanding and time constrained engagement but Aileen was able to drive through change and get us to a better place with clear and reusable outputs.”
Andy McClintock, Chief Technology Officer, Scottish Government
“Aileen has delivered a very high-quality piece of work for Information Services & Information Systems. She’s worked well with a wide variety of stakeholders over the past 10 months to conduct our people survey, help change behaviours and approaches, develop new protocols and products, and leave us with the tools in place to support all of this in the future. This was a challenging project, requiring time and input from many people with competing priorities, against a constantly changing landscape. Aileen has shown a great deal of professionalism, drive and determination to deliver this work in the time available and I’m delighted with what she’s achieved.”
Dave Watson, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Scottish Government
“Aileen came into our business area and shook us out of our torpor. She shone a hard light on our communication shortcomings and dragged our attitudes and approach to business communication into the 21st century. Aileen reinforced that negative reaction from the business was to be welcomed rather than shied away from and delivered real change in ethos, approach and output to a number of key communication protocols. She was tireless and a hugely positive force for the time she was in the organisation. I hope our professional paths cross again.”
Graham Mitchell, Head of IT Support Services, Scottish Government
“Aileen joined ISIS to provide guidance and develop processes for our technical teams for input into the wider divisional communication strategy (or lack of) for our customers and stakeholders. As with many organisations the technical teams were from different specialisms and subsequently spoke in different technical geek speak. Although from a non-technical background, Aileen quickly gained the credibility of these teams, with her ability to digest and translate. As a result of her work with people from across the division, Aileen was then able to create and deliver clear and concise training courses for the technical teams for the delivery of the new customer-centric Communication Strategy.”
“Aileen also took our muddled explanations of what all 10 branches across ISIS delivered and translated them into clear and concise customer-friendly service propositions so our customers now have a much better idea of what we can and can’t do for them – ISIS on a page. Aileen was a refreshing addition to our organisation who made us all think out of the box and take different approaches to areas out with our comfort zones. I hope our professional paths cross again.”
Graeme Lockhart, Head of Systems Management, Scottish Government
“Aileen on arrival immediately immersed herself in the business of the Scottish Government ICT service division. As specialists in a number of ICT disciplines with complex stakeholder groups, communication was challenging and as a result often inconsistent and unclear. During her time we had a number of high dependency projects and her contribution to our communications strategy, planning and delivery was professional, highly effective and productive. She left a legacy of motivated comms champions across the Division and a sustainable foundation for the future. Her tenacious approach and vivacious personality made her a lively and memorable colleague.”
Maxine Reid, Head of Knowledge and Information Management, Scottish Government
Essex County Council - ICT division
“Aileen was engaged by a large local authority to supply communications expertise during the transition period of a strategic partnership contract for the provision of IT and telecoms services. The transition project was a largely lift and shift exercise, undertaken in a very short period of time, with eleven different service lines to identify and subsequently migrate in-house. This was not a straightforward undertaking with the contract being terminated early and a large number of staff being transferred back into the local authority under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE Regs).
“The primary communications challenge was to initially deliver a difficult message about the on-going level of service during transition to service users all of whom had differing requirements and levels of technical understanding. There was then an ongoing requirement to dispel any unrealistic expectations around the instant re-engineering and improvement of IT service post transition. A secondary challenge was to engage with staff being transferred and those already in the authority who were part of the contract management team. The requirement was to unite these groups and breakdown entrenched and residual hostility resulting from the previous commercial relationship between the parent entities and subsequent contract termination.
“Aileen’s response to these twin demands was very effective. Within three weeks of engagement she had created a clear proactive communications strategy, which she implemented effectively, efficiently and professionally. Aileen created a joint employee engagement programme to break down the barriers and mistrust within the two teams. Her events were highly successful and were crucial in creating a unified culture under challenging circumstances.
“I would recommend Aileen to anyone in need of a strong communications professional for a project with a challenging timescale and a difficult message.”
Bill Hall, Project Director
HR Access Solutions
”As soon as I met Aileen, I knew we were going to work well together. Not a simple context to manage for her, a UK start-up, and part of an international organisation: plenty to do and plenty of co-ordination necessary with corporate headquarters in France. It was a key advantage that Aileen spoke excellent French, not that common amongst English-speaking natives, that made her mission with us a success. I’m ready to work with Aileen again.”
Jean-Marc Duquenoy, International Product Marketing, HR Access Solution
Hospedia
”Aileen provided us with marketing consultancy just at the right time. We were looking to launch a new Healthcare IT application and needed a strategy and a plan so that we could work efficiently with the sales team. As budget was limited, we had to get maximum benefit out of Aileen’s time. She collaborated with us effectively and quickly and produced an incisive and impressive marketing brief and strategy in a very short space of time. This was developed into a plan that was then actioned by the sales team across the UK. As a small IT company with a limited budget it was essential that consultants could understand technology, understand the business, and quickly become effective, and Aileen definitely did that for us.”
Marianne Campbell, Product Manager, Hospedia
Outsphere
“Aileen came highly recommended to us as someone who would understand our business and help us create a strong foundation for our strategic future. She immediately grasped our core business and we could see that she had a vision that very much ran alongside our own.
“She delivered on so many levels, as an expert practitioner with all her years of PR and Marketing experience, yet she avoided being jargonistic, instead offering straight forward suggestions and plans that we can now fully implement. She consulted with us, regularly checking we were on the same page and that she was grasping our core business and direction. She identified the areas we needed to address in order to move the strategy along and provided clear guidance on how to do this.
“Aileen also offered us ideas and opinions, which we found very useful indeed. To have such a clear thinker on your team, who delivers exactly what she says she will, is both satisfying and sadly a little unusual these days. Aileen is undoubtedly one of the top consultants in her field and I would not hesitate to use her again in the future or to recommend her to you.”