Kiran Suryanarayana speaks to industry professionals and former CMA award winners about their professional journey
Stuart Devoil – Group Head of Marketing, James Latham
Stuart Devoil (right) at the 2022 CMAs showing off the three awards won by James Latham Group with Jo Wilmot and Henry Rubinstein from the company’s marketing agency, The Think Tank
What is your role?
I’m Group Head of Marketing for James Latham, one of UK’s oldest and largest distributors of Timber, Panels & Decorative Surfaces.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I get to embrace the ever evolving technology and get to witness the impact modern marketing techniques have upon a typically traditional market sector.
What is it that you hate about the job?
I hate it when people who aren’t aware of modern marketing methods tell me that they will never work in this sector. Some areas of our industry can be a little resistant to change especially in sales and marketing, so sometimes it’s a battle to win hearts and minds. Fortunately the results speak for themselves.
What’s your next challenge?
It is quite exciting that we will be launching our e-commerce site soon. Back when Covid struck, we needed to change our marketing strategy and that’s when we introduced our digital specification showroom with over 1,400 3D rendered products that enabled customers to view and research items from the comfort of their own device, without going into one of our showrooms. The launch of the e-platform will take it one step further by allowing them to purchase the product as well. The challenge here will be shipping of bulk goods, but it will be ground-breaking when we deliver it.
Looking back now, what would you tell your younger self?
“Get to love the numbers!” An old boss of mine used this exact phrase to me way back when I thought marketing was all about artwork and straplines. Data is critical to the success of any campaign, and the thrill of following a sales trend (hopefully uphill) after you’ve launched a campaign will never leave me. It’s numerical self-validation, I think. I would definitely thank Andrew Smith for making me realise it!
Given that James Latham won several awards at the CMAs last year, how has it helped the business?
Personally, it’s about the exposure of our business to the wider construction sector. As a company founded in 1757, we’ve had a long history of talking about timber to “timber people” – effectively talking into an echo chamber. Winning the CMA’s has given us exposure to that wider scope of purchase influencers and to go beyond that echo chamber.
What is a core principle that James Latham as a business stick to with all projects?
We’re seen as the good guys in our industry, with great standing. People look to us to lead the way in everything we do, from responsible, ethical procurement of products to our commitment to the global carbon issue. Similarly, our mission of marketing is to be honest, open and benefits led.
Bagging so many awards must have been an amazing experience, how did you feel receiving all these awards?
In a word, gobsmacked! We won best mid-range campaign in 2020 and that was massive for us, but to take home the haul we managed last year was on another level. To see us competing against huge international construction brands and winning really felt like a step up for us from a marketing perspective. Honestly, this time four years ago we didn’t even have a marketing team! My quote of the night came from one of the judges who said “I have to say, you’ve really amazed me. I used to see your company as ‘sleepy old Lathams’, but now I can see you’re something very different.”
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