Staff Q&A: A brief encounter with… Adrian Odds

It’s time for the next instalment of our employee Q&A series! We think it’s important for our readers to get to know each and every colleague here at CDS. To find out what really makes us tick and what we each to bring to our individual roles.

Next up in the hot seat, it’s Adrian Odds, marketing and innovation director. With just 10 minutes on the clock, let’s go…

1. Sum up your role at CDS in one sentence:

I’m the marketing and innovation director, I have responsibility for our brand and marketing activity, for innovation within the agency, and for all our partner relationships.

2. What’s your favourite thing about your job?

I have literally all the toys in the toy box to play with! Working with our teams and partners, we get to look into the future to see which products and services will make a positive difference to our clients and their users. My team and I then get to bring those innovations to life to our markets – brilliant!

3. How did you become a marketing and innovation director?

I’ve had something of a portfolio career which has included business development, marketing and strategy roles, mainly agency-side up until the last few years. It’s so helpful to have a breadth of experience to draw on.
Regardless of role, I’ve always been really focused on the value the organisation you work for creates, both from a business point of view and in the narrative we build around our brands. We’re only here because customers and users need us to help them solve an issue, so our focus must be on how we can do that in the best possible way.

4. What drew you towards choosing CDS as an employer?

I was looking for a role with breadth, and one where I could make a real difference to the organisation. I also wanted to work for a business that understood the value it creates and was genuinely living its purpose.

5. Describe the CDS ethos in just three words:

Committed, passionate, thoughtful.

6. What’s been your favourite project so far and why?

The great thing about coming into a newly-created role is there is lots to sink my teeth into! I’m enjoying working with the leadership team on our three-year strategy and with the marketing team on our plans to ‘industrialise’ our marketing activity. So, watch this space…

7. And, which brand would you love to work on a comms project with?

I’m really looking forward to working with Optimizely, one of our strategic partners, to tell the story —with their help — of how we will make a positive difference for our clients and their end-users.

8. Complete this sentence: For businesses, employing an effective communications strategy means…

Being crystal clear on explaining how you create value for your stakeholders and shareholders.

9. For a bit of fun, if CDS were a variety of biscuit, which would it be and why?

This is hard because I think we can be different biscuits depending on what’s required of us! The ‘choccy one-sider’ when you need absolute value and reliability, the ‘double-stuff Oreo’ when you’re feeling creative and looking to create real engagement, and probably ‘the king of biscuits’ (is it really a biscuit?) the Tunnocks wafer when you just want to work with the best…

10. Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to your 10-year-old self, what would it be?

There are many routes to happiness. Whichever path you choose, follow it with full effort and an open heart. And if that road ends in a dead-end or isn’t going in a direction you like, pick another. You might just be surprised where you end up!