About me
Name: Nikki Hughes
Title: Associate Director, Marketing – EMEA Work Champion
Overview: Based in the Marketing Team, Nikki is responsible for promoting Edelman’s work across EMEA: creating fresh, compelling case studies which tell the story of Edelman’s great work for new business, media profiling and awards participation.
Before Edelman
Steve Jobs said, ‘You can’t connect the dots moving forwards, only looking backwards’…and that’s definitely apt here: it’s a winding road of experience that led me to my current role, which mixes creative insight and production, with project management and strategy. I started out working in Post-Production, where I eventually handled the company’s PR and communications, whilst also training and working as an actor and theatre director. Six years later, after a spell in production companies, I joined Cannes Lions as an awards manager, where I learned the art of the case film, whilst managing delivery and progression of their awards. Four years later, I moved agency-side to Publicis.Sapient, where I managed the awards strategy, process and logistics across EMEA.
Career highlight
Prior to joining Edelman, my career highlight was working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conceive, publicise and deliver the ‘Cannes Chimera’ - a global initiative to develop world-changing communications ideas. Since joining Edelman, there have been countless high points. I’m always thrilled when the teams I support get recognised for their amazing work - either winning awards or contributing to successful pitches - and am proud to say that 2019 is Edelman EMEA’s most awarded year on record, including a Lion, our first eurobest award and our first Clio. I also love taking part in EARN IT – Edelman’s biannual internal awards competition, where I have the opportunity to travel, meet fantastic minds from across the Edelman network and see the amazing work surfacing from across our global business.
Favourite bits of the job
I enjoy being exposed to the variety of work across the business and working with such a range people to get to the heart of the stories we need to tell. The varied nature of my role also keeps me interested – one day I might be wearing a producer hat, working with creatives, animators and editors to get a film over the line and the next day I might be working on strategy with my colleagues in marketing or exploring categories and industry trends.
Most excited for in the year ahead
We have some fantastic projects delivering across the business at the moment, with the work getting sharper and more creative all the time. I’m excited to keep growing the case studies program in to 2020, building momentum around the ambition and hopefully delivering some great results for the business through quality storytelling and planning.
