About Me
James Methven
Brand and Marketing Professional
Born and educated in South Africa, I spent my early career with Unilever in commercial and marketing roles before seeking out the cultural diversity of Europe. I'm currently splitting my time between the UK and Spain. I have also lived and worked in France, Belgium and Sweden.
Passionate About Inspiring Success
Key strengths
Customer & commercial innovation
Known for successfully translating value propositions into market solutions with strong ROI and category-changing initiatives that reframe customer and brand experiences e.g. award-winning social media and advertising campaigns with outstanding visual, experiential, and storytelling content to relaunch and reposition brands into new segments, channels and geographies.
Connecting & inspiring people
Extensive experience working at the intersection of brand, marketing, product and R&D, delivering a number of successful launch programs across EMEA and the US. This has given me considerable knowledge of building structured approaches across multi-functional teams and winning the support of diverse stakeholders e.g. establishing benchmarks for teamwork, speed to market and best practices for go-to-market planning, implementation and content development.
managing Diverse teams
I have built and led teams comprising a range of functions, including specialist Packaging, Product and Graphic Design, Insight, and eCommerce functions.
More about me
Classically trained but not a typical marketeer
As a Unilever graduate trainee, I started as a computer programmer in warehousing and distribution, followed by a stint in internal audit! This taught me customer service bottom up, trouble-shooting skills and a commercial outlook before I even set foot in marketing.
Born with an entrepreneurial spirit
I co-founded a canned drink vending business to pioneer concepts in beer vending in the early 90's in South Africa. Partnering with leading sports bars, we didn't quite turn the beer vending idea into a commercial success, but we sold the regular canned soda vending business as a going concern 2 years later. Since growing and selling vegetables to the locals while at high school, the entrepreneurial mindset has always been there!
I am known for 3 things
A fearless leader, not afraid to tackle tough issues; an innovator focused on customer experiences, and a change agent always looking to do things better.
And, when I'm not imagining the next customer experience, I am travelling and hiking with my family (so many adventures, so little time). Or perhaps in a market haggling over the price of a mask and sometimes selling a rare Stephen King novel. Otherwise, you can find me tending our olive grove in the mountains. The combination of fresh air, the beauty of nature and physical labour is a potent mix.
