The future of Canada’s marketing industry will be shaped by its youngest talent—the super-worldly, plugged-in, brilliant and creative youth who are already making a name for themselves. Marketing put out the call to the industry to find the top 30 standouts under the age of 30 who have already made their mark on the industry.
From PR to advertising to media and beyond, our 30 Under 30 showcases the smartest, bravest and most creative ones to watch in the business.
Lindsay Cook, 29
Director of marketing, Joe Fresh, Home & Entertainment, Loblaw Companies Limited
Lindsay Cook has a job that not only marketers would kill for, but fashionistas, too.
She’s the director of marketing for Joe Fresh, one of the hottest Canadian clothing brands, and recently helped orchestrate its entrance into the U.S. market.
The company opened six locations in the U.S. over the past year, including an 18,000-sq.-ft. international flagship location on Fifth Avenue in New York.
The Loblaw-owned fashion line also recently announced it will open branded shops within nearly 700 newly renovated JC Penny locations starting next spring.
Despite the brand’s success in Canada, Cook and her team of four were working with a relatively blank slate.
“As a marketer it’s pretty cool to take your brand into a market where nobody knows it,” says Cook, who first joined Loblaw’s in-store signage and events team in 2007.
How did she overcome the challenge of launching Joe Fresh in the U.S., where it had zero brand recognition?
At the end of spring last year, the company opened a temporary location in the trendy town of East Hampton, a popular summer weekend destination for wealthy New Yorkers.
“That really was the first introduction of the brand to that market and it was great because it was totally led by marketing and PR. We pretty much pulled together a whole store within three weeks of making the decision,” she says. Many of the team’s discussions, she says, revolved around what mix of media would benefit the brand as well as individual store locations.
“We purchased ads in a lot of key publications [and] we had TV running,” she says. “We had a pretty strong mix of media in conjunction with grand-opening offers and collateral around each store.”
As if that weren’t enough to keep Cook busy, she has also been instrumental in developing and executing a new retail model for Loblaw that puts non-food, general merchandising like home, leisure and entertainment products in a dedicated section of the store. The concept, including new signage, fixtures and reduced shelf heights, is currently being rolled out to more than 100 grocery stores across the country.
“It was gruelling at the time, but looking back it was a great experience because we dissected everything… We really had to rethink every inch of space in that store,” says Cook.
“Lindsay is incredibly strong across all important marketing attributes,” says Craig Hutchison, SVP marketing, Loblaw Companies. “Creative, great listener, task oriented, cost conscious and can-do attitude.” All traits that never go out of style.
For lots more of the 30 Under 30, pick up the Sept. 10 issue of Marketing magazine.
Photo: Mike Ford
