10 questions with... Jerry Daykin, head of global digital media partnerships for Diageo

In hindsight, I like to say that I led the CRM strategy for a small estate agency but actually, I just sent some emails for my neighbour when I was 14. It was the early days of the world of computers and he used to photocopy things and send bits out. I told him about email and so I did it for him.

What is the one piece of tech you cannot live without?

My mobile phone, which I know is super obvious but I have it in my pocket all the time. It tells me how to get anywhere. I drive places now and you know when you go places and your parents ask you ‘how did you get there?’ I have no idea, I followed the map on my phone. I use it for emails, Twitter, I’d be lost without it.

What is the one buzzword you would ban if you could?

Millennials. It’s a generalism. I’m technically a millennial, but it’s a generic word that we love to throw around and we talk about targeting millennials when actually we are talking about targeting younger people we shouldn’t be targeting at all and most of the time they are not a homogenous bunch of people who all think the same stuff anyway but we love to throw it everywhere.

Who is the one person in the industry that you most love to hang out with?

There’s a guy who used to be my boss at Mondelez; Gerry D’Angelo who now runs global media at P&G or something as crazily big, and while we had very different perspectives on the world when we worked together, now when I see him at events he is really good fun, is really interesting and has a perspective from being at really big advertisers and doesn’t mind a drink every now and again, but not too many of course.

What in life or business do you still want to achieve most?

Lots left to still achieve in business, but I need to be chief marketing officer one day. I come from a media side and I love to see people come from media to become senior leaders in marketing. There can be a route up from the digital side to the top of the business, which we haven’t seen a lot of yet, but I’m sure we will in the future.

What is the one major thing that needs to be fixed in marketing?

Fewer digital experts might help. But everyone feeling more empowered to know more about digital and media and caring about that stuff and not having it as a big silo.

What is the one piece of advice that you have been given that you always remember?

Keep things simple, I get told that a lot so maybe it means I complicate things. My goal in life is to simplify things. If you try and sell people on simple digital ideas that will help their business, they will buy them, but if you try and explain how programmatic and a tech stacks work, you’ll lose them.

If there was another industry that you could have gone into, what would it have been?

I do love the entertainment industry. I went through a brief period of time where I presented Google Hangouts for Cadbury’s and I think I could have been a children’s TV presenter. I could have presented Blue Peter. I love making things, cooking, it’s not too late I guess, it’s still going.

What has been the pinnacle of your career so far?

The proudest moment of my career was being nominated by my colleagues to carry the Olympic Torch, which was a special moment. It doesn’t happen to everyone. More recently I was really proud of Diageo working with a whole bunch of other alcohol advertisers, where we got Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to all sign up to this big commitment to make their advertising safer and more controlled for the alcohol industry. It’s unusual to see those different brands and social media companies to come together and commit to anything.

My favourite event is the Eurovision Song Contest, and I did manage to run a sponsorship of it while at Cadbury’s. I’m super passionate about Eurovision because it’s absolutely fabulous but I’m also sure it is one of those oddly missed opportunities that is a massive thing that people really get behind. Especially across Europe, even in the UK where there is still cynicism about it. As marketers, we can be a bit too dismissive of things like that when the brands that do support it see a huge opportunity there.

What would you change about Twitter?

I don’t think it needs an edit button. It’s still a bit bubbly. I speak to some really interesting people who I follow but it’s a weird bubble and I don’t quite know how you get outside of that. There are things like Explore where you can see what is trending but I tend to see fairly similar views and it would be great to switch my view mode where you find all the people the opposite political and marketing views filling my timeline.

Jerry Daykin is also judging The Drum’s Social Buzz Awards and The Drum’s Social Purpose Awards this year.

Find many other 10 Questions entries from the likes of Publicis Media chief Steve King, Facebook's Nicola Mendelsohn and WPP's Mark Reid.