Our brand experts

I’m Neil. I mainly spend my life running workshops and training people – my mum once said ‘your job is just showing off really, isn’t it?’

I’ve gone from coming up with names (my tombstone will say ‘He named Ocado.’), to writing whole sentences, to defining tones of voice and whole brands. I wrote Brilliant Business Writing, and have helped everyone from Cabinet ministers to call centre workers think about how they express their organisation’s brand.

I’m Hannah. When I’m not writing children’s stories about giants and vampire dentists, I’m writing surprisingly sensible things for businesses.

Over the last fifteen years, I’ve written websites, corporate values, recruitment campaigns and plenty of tone of voice guidelines. And for one very happy afternoon many years ago, I ghost wrote a letter as Colin Firth.

I’m a bit of a behavioural science bookworm, too. I love bringing new bits of research and thinking into talks and training sessions that I run for businesses here and around the world.

Oh, and every book I’ve read agrees with me that confirmation bias is best.

I’m Alex, and I’m a Creative Director.

I rummage around brand personalities, which means I’ve been the voice of detergent, ice cream, oil paint, margarine, and dogs, to name but a few. I studied philosophy, but always wondered if I should have done psychology; writing covers both. Playing with tone, words and sentence structure triggers different emotions and behaviour – it can even build and break beliefs. And, perhaps because I spent ten years in social media marketing, I like the challenge of doing that succinctly.

I’m Nick, or Padders, and I do a lot of our tone of voice and naming work, as well as anything that falls onto the wordy side of brand strategy.

If I had to sum up what I do in a nutshell, and I do, because that’s exactly what’s going on here, I’d say my thing is creative hooks. That might mean a clever way to make a tone of voice catch fire (in a good way) in an organisation. Or a big idea that makes a brand video stand out from the crowd. Or a strapline that neatly completes the story started by the brand name.

I’m Ashleigh, one of our Language team writers. I’m happiest when I’m finding names for cake businesses. But I also like taking dry or super corporate writing and making it sound friendlier. I studied Modern Languages (French and Spanish mostly, but also some others just for fun) so I’m a bit of a language nerd. I’m especially interested in neurolinguistics which is all about how the brain absorbs language.

Hi, I’m Nick; I’m a Senior Writer here at Definition, working across the Language, PR and AI teams on everything from tone of voice and naming to long-form thought leadership articles and AI prompting.

I’ve always been a bit of an all-rounder in this way, writing in a whole range of different styles and for different audiences. I’ve drafted speeches, screenplays and strategies, reported on international football matches as a sports reporter, been all over the world as a travel writer, gathered news for newspapers, and designed social campaigns for commercial clients. I’m a qualified senior journalist and a former editor of Virgin Australia’s inflight magazine.

Since joining Definition I’ve been a key part of the company’s AI Team, researching generative AI an prompt engineering, writing prompts and comms, working with teams on AI usage, and delivering AI training to big-name clients.

I’m Matt, and my thing is absorbing oodles of complex information and then finding a story that makes perfect sense of it all. Sometimes that ends up looking like a blog about educational neuroscience that a child can understand, and sometimes it’s a clear ‘about’ page for a brand that does a bit of everything.

I arrived here from a theatre background, via some time as a journo, so I’m as happy in front of a crowd or beating the streets as I am behind a keyboard. Variety fuels me. Which is great, because you need multiple angles to see the whole story.

I’m Grace – a Writer and brand strategist in the language team. I started my career in-house as a marketing and communications expert, but quickly developed a passion for building brands and crafting copy. Since then I’ve written for luxury hotel chains, global manufacturers and law firms, and strategised for the innovation, telecoms and finance industries. But my crowning glory is my music blog Cellophane Sounds. (And yes. I do have better taste than you).

One of my favourite quotes is ‘vision without action is hallucination’, oh how I wish I’d said that. I love helping clients work out what they should stand for, that’s usually 5% of the task. The other 95% is turning that vision into action through their customer and colleague experience. We call it brand alignment.

I love my work, and my friends and family think I have an easy life because I do all this with fun brands such as Alton Towers, David Lloyd, The London Eye, Blackpool, Greene King and Odeon. I suppose they are right!

One of my scariest jobs was doing focus groups in Strangeways prison but scarier still was conducting research in pubs at 11pm at night with clubbers ‘on the pull’ and being a test dummy when Merlin were testing Nemesis at Alton Towers. I dine out on those tales.

I’m Jodie, your resident Strategist, bridging the gap between research and strategy here at Definition. My journey began in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of retail, where I honed my skills in delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Transitioning to Brand Vista, I embarked on a two-year adventure as a Brand Executive, skilfully coordinating national and international projects for esteemed clients. This experience cemented my passion for qualitative research, inspiring me to earn an MRS advanced certification in Market and Social Research Practice.

In my current role as a Strategist, I am fuelled by the belief that the voice of our customers and colleagues should be the heartbeat of all strategic decision-making.

I’m Amy, the go-to person at Definition when it comes to research. I take pride in diving into the fascinating world of consumer mindset, extracting valuable insights and behavioural patterns. My true passion lies in converting these insights into action – creating bespoke strategies to drive brands forward.

With over a decade of experience, I’ve crossed paths with an array of sectors. From theme parks to whiskey clubs, housing charities to childcare providers.

Among the multitude of insights, a particular one that stands out involved decoding the purchase decisions of tradesmen for a power tool brand. Turns out, the decision hinges on whether the colour of the tool matches their uniform! Now that’s the exact kind of colourful insight that keeps my job endlessly fascinating!

Hello! I’m Holly, a seasoned Senior Executive. With over 15 years of experience in the agency landscape, my career has been rich and diverse, spanning various roles such as project management, brand strategy, and insight.

In my role, every day brings a mixture of challenges, excitement, and variety as I manage projects, define and deliver captivating brands –working with some wonderful people from theme parks to robotics – it keeps me busy!

I’m Tabitha, but we like a nickname round here so everyone calls me Tab. I am Head of Strategy and I work in the wonderful world of research, strategy and experience. I am from a legal background, but this is much more fun, and strikes the ideal balance between creative and academic thinking.

Career highs include helping to name the tallest, fastest rollercoaster in the UK, travelling to South Korea and China to understand the role of the brand when physicians prescribe antibiotics (spoiler- it matters) and defining and aligning some of the biggest leisure brands in the UK (and the world come to think of it!). Career lows include sprinting through Hamburg airport on a 45 minute transfer only to find the flight was delayed and missing out on a spa trip to Milan due to a global pandemic.

I’m Olivia, and I’m a Senior Researcher in the fascinating world of Research, strategy, and experience. I delve into the intricacies of market research, with a background in the pharmaceutical industry. Throughout my career, spanning 6 years, I’ve crafted a deep expertise in deciphering complex data and extracting invaluable insights that drive impactful business decisions.

I kick-started my journey at Definition by delivering insight training for Grunenthal in Colombia and Mexico within my very first week. Over the course of my career, I have helped companies develop strategies for the launch of essential new pharmaceutical treatments.

Every project presents a unique opportunity to uncover hidden gems and unlock game-changing strategies. At Definition, I bring my extensive market research experience to the table, enriching every strategy with actionable insights and innovative thinking. My goal is to drive transformative growth and empower brands to make informed decisions in an ever-evolving market.

I’m Sam, your go-to Senior Qualitative Researcher in our Strategy and Research wing. From the agency trenches to client-side battlefields, I’ve honed my craft for over five years with a focus on understanding what makes consumers tick.

With a solid foundation in Psychology, honed further with a master’s degree, I’ve devoted my career to understanding ‘why’ people behave the way they do.

Navigating through both qualitative and quantitative research, I have streamlined objectives, discovered patterns, and unlocked behavioural mysteries. The most enriching insight? Emotion drives action more than logic – a fascinating delve into our human psyche, isn’t it?

Hi, I’m Jennie. I helped launch Europe’s first online bank. That’s pretty cool in today’s digital world. I’ve been hooked
on B2B, tech and fintech ever since. And started my first digital agency in 1999. Trained in psychology and a champion of our B2B “Human Affinity” model, I’ve been a volunteer counsellor for the NHS and am a professional mentor at City University.

I can help you with marketing to businesses, boosting your brand, reaching new audiences and driving business growth.

Hi, I’m Fiona. I lead an award-winning team and there are trophies from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Design Effectiveness and Transform to prove it. I’ve worked for over 30 years with pretty much every department of government. And my private sector experience isn’t bad either – with clients from EDF to Pearson to Vodafone.

I’m Tayler, a Senior Client Manager. I’m here to take charge and navigate your project’s workflow like a seasoned captain guiding a ship through rough waters. With a firm grip on the helm, I manage the intricate workflow of each project and chart new courses to enhance these projects, forging stronger relationships and achieving strategic aims. My arsenal of skills includes masterful communication, seamless collaboration, and precision organisation.

I’ve managed ventures for HS2, Regulator for Social Housing and UK Parliament. I’ve delivered films, animations, editorials, strategy and design for the Security Industry Authority and Nuclear Waste Services. I’ve led rebrands for heavyweights Henderson Scott, Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, Guinness World Records and EDF. I’ve worked with Elavon, Schroders, Ciena, CISCO, Pearson, Ezra & Alchemy. You name the sector, I’ve made my mark.