Head of Digital Marketing at Trinity Leeds, White Rose and Trinity Kitchen

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It all started in March 2013...

...when I took the job as Digital Marketing Manager at Trinity Leeds, just a few weeks before the shopping centre was due to open. Being to only major shopping centre to open in Europe that year, all eyes were on us. Sky News, ITV and BBC were broadcasting live, every major newspaper in the UK was there, Trinity Leeds was trending on Twitter globally... and we welcomed 130,000 visitors on the first day!   

It's fair to say that we opened with a bang, and Trinity Leeds has kept that momentum to become one of the best performing shopping centers in the UK today. Digitally we have outperformed every other shopping centre, and now have one of the biggest social media followings and email databases in the UK. 

My role was enhanced in 2014 when I started working closely with the Digital Marketing Director of Land Securities on several innovative projects to trial and evaluate before portfolio wide roll-out.

In 2015 my role changed significantly once again when I was given responsibility of digital strategy for White Rose shopping centre and the Trinity Kitchen. Now owning the digital strategy and execution of three sites that see a total of 40 million visitors annually.

Some Highlights

Along the way there's been some wonderful times, like Wonder Weekend:   

 

And plenty of ground breaking times, like when we launched our app based loyalty scheme Love Trinity Leeds complete with Apple Watch and Passbook integrations... a first of its kind in Europe.

Or the time we installed a 50ft helter skelter slide to help launch our digital Spring / Summer campaign that saw Facebook reach of more than 5 million and gained 25,000 new email sign-ups - see snapshot video below:

Oh and those manic Student Night events... when 30,000 students invade Trinity Leeds during 3 hours turning everything upside-down whilst spending £750,000 on discounted clothes, shoes and accessories...  

A Snapshot of my role: 

Head of my department with ownership of significant budgets and accountability for web, email and social performance for three premium retail and leisure destinations with 40+ million footfall annually. Brand steward for all digital channels, with responsibility for art direction, UX design and tone of voice. 

  • Brand steward for three of the strongest retail and leisure destination brands in the UK: Trinity Leeds, White Rose and Trinity Kitchen.

  • Planned content for web, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) email and digital screens for three retail and leisure destination brands: Trinity Leeds, White Rose and Trinity Kitchen. 

  • Owner of the digital strategy including: Websites, SEO, Email CRM, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TripAdvisor, Google Places and digital screens.

  • Delivery of the Digital Innovation Road Map, trialling and evaluating innovative digital projects before roll out across the Land Securities retail and leisure portfolio.

  • Devised digital strategy for the ‘Everyday Wonder’ event calendar, with 60+ small, medium and large scale events per year, including ‘Wonder Weekend’ which attracted 500,000 visitors over two days.

  • Built and maintained relationships with 250+ brands like Apple, Topshop, H&M, Zara, Primark, Victoria’s Secret, Urban Outfitters and Hollister.  

  • Managed a 12-strong agency lineup delivering editorial, video, photo, website, SEO, apps and print.

 

Some of the stuff I'm pleased with: 

  • Secured overwhelming social media reach, trending 3rd in the UK on Twitter and 7th worldwide to help exceed target of 130,000 visitors on launch day.
  • A digital footprint of +500,000 followers across Trinity Leeds’ digital channels whilst retaining industry leading engagement.
  • Drove digital acquisition aggressively, methods now regarded as ‘best practice’ amongst the portfolio.
  • Positioned Trinity Leeds as ‘The most digitally enabled shopping mall in the UK’ with a number of innovative industry leading projects.

  • Achieved a 76% increase in reach across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, totaling 30 million reach for the year, with an enhanced video and live content strategy.  

  • Delivered pre-promotion strategy for annual ‘Trinity Leeds Student Night’ events, with more than 30,000 students spending in excess of £750,000 during 3 hours.

  • Drove a 36% sales increase for street food vendors, bars and restaurants in Trinity Kitchen with a hyperlocal social media, email and OOH campaign. 

  • Doubled the size of the White Rose email database during 2016, taking it from 45,000 to 93,000.