Chris Bailey - Freelance Strategy Director

JWT (Lead Agency) | Global Planning Director · Global Brand & Retail Transformation

BRAND STRATEGY · RETAIL · CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The challenge: Falling oil prices and growing alternatives to conventional fuel created pressure to unlock the commercial potential of Shell's global retail network. Forecourts were seen as dark, dingy places - ranked less appealing than the gym on a Monday morning.
The strategic choice: Reposition Shell from somewhere you reluctantly stop for fuel to somewhere that leaves you refreshed and ready for what's next.
The work: Go Well - a unifying global brand, retail and customer experience platform spanning advertising (AV content, radio, print and outdoor), PR, CRM, digital, mobile loyalty and commercial partnerships.
The outcome: Rolled out across all 43,000 Shell stations worldwide.

Dentsu B2B | Strategy Partner · Global Brand Transformation

BRAND ARCHITECTURE · BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION · CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The challenge: Eleven product brands covering thousands of tools across multiple industries, from everyday cutting and turning to advanced manufacturing, had made Dormer Pramet complicated to understand, buy from and run.
The strategic choice: Research revealed that what customers valued most was certainty. The opportunity was to deliver certainty through simplicity: reduce the portfolio to two global brands and two regional favourites, making the business easier to understand, buy from and work with.
The work: Certainty at Every Turn - a global organising idea connecting brand strategy, portfolio architecture, customer experience and internal operations around a single customer promise.

WPP | Strategy Lead · Brand & Customer Experience Strategy

BRAND STRATEGY · INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN · CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The challenge: New parents face a flood of immediate costs, and life insurance asks them to contemplate their own death at the happiest moment of their lives. It's easy to put off.
The strategic choice: Research revealed that children talk about their parents' influence long after they've died. This reframed life insurance from planning for death to continuing as a parent: “You never stop being a parent, even after you're dead.”
The work: Forever a Parent - an integrated brand, communications and customer experience campaign spanning digital, outdoor, print, media partnerships, staff training and customer literature.

Dentsu B2B | Strategy Partner · Pitch Win

BRAND STRATEGY · CAMPAIGN CONTENT · ABX

The challenge: CHEP's blue pallets made it one of the best-known names in global supply networks. But CHEP Digital was effectively a start-up within the business, with little recognition of its name, its services or why customers needed them.
The strategic choice: Position CHEP Digital as an MRI for the entire supply chain, diagnosing delays and damage even in its darkest corners. That gave every buyer, from CFOs and operations managers to sustainability leads and retail directors, a clear reason to care.
The work: Supercharge Your Supply Chain - a campaign platform spanning sales presentations, website, CRM and thought leadership.
The outcome: The assignment expanded beyond the original brief into content, media partnerships and ABX, and then from CHEP Digital into the main CHEP business.

JWT | Global Planning Director · Pitch Win

BRAND STRATEGY · FUNDRAISING · INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN

The challenge: With so many charitable causes closer to home, WWF was struggling to attract funding for tiger conservation. Its traditional adoption model was often bought as a one-off gift rather than creating an ongoing relationship.
The strategic choice: People wanted a more active role in the causes they supported. Our opening pitch slide challenged WWF directly:
“Your role is no longer to protect tigers.”
The strategic choice was to give that role to supporters - recruiting a nation of Tiger Protectors, with a job for life and one of the best jobs in the world.
The work: Be a Tiger Protector - a TV commercial bringing a tiger into the family home, a personalised book celebrating the Tiger Protector by name, with digital, print and PR support.
The outcome: National press coverage positioned WWF as a contender against John Lewis for the most moving Christmas advert. The campaign also established a new fundraising model that WWF extended to other species.

Dentsu B2B | Strategy Partner · Award Winner

BRAND STRATEGY · INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN · CONTENT

The challenge: Makita was well known on building sites but far less established in professional gardening. At the same time, it was phasing out petrol tools in favour of battery technology and needed to win over professionals who equated petrol with power.
The strategic choice: Reframe battery power as an upgrade, not a compromise. Position Makita's XGT technology as the next generation of professional power - delivering the performance professionals demand, without petrol's noise, fumes and vibration.
The work: Feel the Energy - an integrated campaign featuring Groove Armada's Andy Cato, now a regenerative farmer, and a remix of Superstylin' made from the sounds of XGT tools. The campaign spanned connected TV, social, influencers, audio, outdoor, press and digital.
The outcome: Makita's first major European gardening campaign, developed for rollout across 25 countries. Silver in Manufacturing & Industrial at The Drum Awards for B2B.

Freelance Strategy Director.