Today is my 10th anniversary aboard the good ship Grapevine. Time is sailing by, but it actually does feel like it’s been 10 years when I think back to 2015 now (something big happened in the middle that I’ll refrain from reminding you of by naming it).
A decade ago I worked at Bournemouth University, running an external facing marketing and research consultancy called the Creative Enterprise Bureau. In 2015, BU hit a spend freeze that put a bunch of restrictions on progressing the scheme.
I’d gotten to know one of my local SME clients, Grapevine well. I mentioned to my key contact there, James Spinks at an event in the May that I might need to move on from the CEB and wanted to give him a heads up that he may want to explore a plan B, as I wasn’t sure if the function would be resourced once I left.
James asked what I had lined up. Other than running a record label during my evenings and weekends (which covered costs but didn’t pay the bills) I didn’t have anything yet. He asked whether I’d consider joining them in an in-house role.
To this point I’d hadn’t held a traditional Marketing Manager position. I liked that what I was doing at BU utilised many of those skills I’d gained on my degree but was less defined in terms of remit.
A couple of years ago Paul Tansey from Intergage asked me “are you still in love with marketing?”. I was a bit taken aback. I couldn’t recall a time I ever was. Like many of the media leaning professions I can see how it’s a desirable career though and that many would be passionate about it.
When I embarked on my degree ‘Advertising and Marketing Communications’, I did so in case my pursuits in music didn’t work out. I think I knew in week 1 of the programme that I didn’t want to work in the ad industry, so it was always a question of how I’d put my skills to use.
I was dubious about whether I could apply myself to a marketing manager role at Grapevine. In hindsight, my appetite for a broader remit has probably served me well in the company. Even prior to our move to employee ownership in 2023 I was responsible for, or supported on a variety of activities helping to drive the business forward.
I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity the team here gave me, especially after I told them in our initial meeting about the role that I was winding down on the record label, only to take on our biggest release the following year.
They’ve always supported the extra-curricular activities I’m drawn to, while I *hopefully* continue to do a good job as a marketing manager or, at the very least a convincing impression of one!
This tenth year has seen some highlights of my time at Grapevine, particularly our engagement with Julia’s House and the EO community. It’s always great to know you ‘bet on the right horse’ and I have no doubt about this. Ten years is longer than almost anything else in life I’ve spent my time on and it’s been time well spent.
In addition to it being my 10th anniversary, we’re celebrating 10 years of providing IT services. The acquisition of an IT business was a big surprise for me when I started my role in September 2015, expecting to be solely focused on telecoms products.
The strategy had roots in a consultancy project we’d delivered for Grapevine though when I was working with the team at Bournemouth University. It was clear from both our research and Grapevine’s industry insights that the two service areas of IT and telecoms were blurring.
When we look back now over the past decade and see how the industry / industries have evolved and merged it’s clear to us that, had we not made the investment in this service area, our business may not have survived to have become the proud employee ownership trust that we are today.
Our complete managed service provides a seamless experience for our clients who entrust us with all of their IT and communications requirements.
For me, it made my role at Grapevine even more interesting than expected from week one, and each compelling challenge presented since has helped to build a rewarding career.
At this milestone for our provision of IT services I commend our leadership team of 2015 for their foresight to make this strategic move and thank all of my colleagues involved in the day-to-day delivery of client work and administrative support for contributing to the success this evolution has become.
Liam Toms 