Redscout names The Talent Business’ managing partner Jules McKeen as first chief revenue officer
Innovation agency Redscout has hired The Talent Business’ managing partner Jules McKeen as its first chief revenue officer to quicken the momentum building behind the business.
Redscout names The Talent Business’ managing partner Jules McKeen as first chief revenue officer.
McKeen starts her role later this month, reporting to the agency’s London managing director Jason Cobbold and working closely with founder and chief executive Jonah Disend. It’s a setup that gives both the Redscout veterans access to an external perspective as they map out the agency’s growth, with McKeen having been an entrepreneur, a columnist and a mentor to Techstars startups since she left the agency world seven years ago.
She will continue to mentor startups alongside her Redscout commitments, such is the importance the innovation specialists place on her direct link to entrepreneurs. Both agency and hire refuse to call the arrangement a “compromise” on either’s part, preferring to see the value it could offer businesses by having someone who is that much closer to innovation across a multitude of industries.
Or as McKeen puts: “I’m hoping I can be the eyes and ears on the market [for Redscout].”
What this entails falls somewhere between a new business expert and someone who is just as focused on shaping the agency’s proposition to clients in the way a marketer would do. Whether it’s helping Cobbold figure out what sectors are ripe to move into or working with Disend to tweak what Redscout is offering both its existing and potential clients, McKeen’s role is one of “continual optimisation of our product and position”.
“Only because when you get to this stage of growth it’s so easy to be delivering that for clients and then forgetting to do it for yourself,” McKeen explained of a remit she likens to “making sure we’re best in class”.
Consequently, “revenue with longevity” and “reputation” will be crucial to any opportunity she spies while at the agency, with McKeen admitting that “there is an acquisition cost to every pitch you do” that will need to be weighed up before pursuing. Her point being that the agency will continue to be strategic with the accounts it goes for and won't be chasing every brief up for grabs to fuel its expansion.
“This is a time when clients are starting to recognise the benefits they can get with bringing in fresh perspective…now more than ever before some of the biggest global clients are personally beginning to break down internal barriers and no longer become closed shops,” she continued.
Proof of this change can be seen in the 27% jump in Redscout’s revenue over the last two years. In the first half of 2016 alone, revenue rose to 17%, while the second half was capped off by the agency being named the creative lead for General Mills alongside 72andSunny in October.
American Eagle, Chicken of the Sea, Peloton and KinderCare also moved budget over to the business, while MillerCoors, Google and PepsiCo continued to employ its expertise on various projects. In the UK, Redscout’s team also worked with Sony on how the music business should adapt its revenue model to the shift in people streaming music rather than purchasing it.
We’re aware of the momentum that’s building behind the business both globally and locally,” said Cobbold. "Those [moments] are exactly when you need to bring in experienced talent to join the leadership team because the more big client relationships we have then the more we’ll need people who know how to work with those on that level. We also need someone to help us objectively think about growth that’s happening and where we should and shouldn’t be focusing on.”
McKeen spent three years at executive recruiters The Talent Business where she led the marketing and media practice. Prior to that she was founding partner and managing director of Peaks of London, a company she started to bring stylish fashion to breastfeeding women and then sold in 2014. The entrepreneur first started out in advertising, with stints at Grey, DDB, Lowe and Partners and TBWA.