Carl Sharples

• Lead full-funnel marketing and sales strategy across motor, home, pet and life insurance products within a major UK consumer organisation.
• Scope:
• Leadership of 15-person marketing team
• Management of £5–10m annual marketing budget
• Responsibility for acquisition, retention, brand and digital performance
• Key Achievements:
• Delivered sustained double-digit revenue growth through integrated, multi-channel marketing strategy
• Achieved positive ROI with year-on-year improvement, driven by enhanced attribution, channel optimisation, and performance management
• Increased customer acquisition by 15–25% through digital and performance marketing transformation
• Improved marketing efficiency and ROI by 20–30%, optimising media mix and spend allocation
• Introduced customer lifecycle “engagement zones,” improving conversion rates driving more effective targeting
• Increased customer retention by through CRM and personalisation strategy
• Led brand repositioning contributing to uplift in brand awareness and consideration metrics
• Successfully navigated transition to a partner-led business model, maintaining growth and marketing effectiveness
• Built and developed a high-performing team of 15, enhancing capability across digital, brand, and CRM disciplines

The UK largest Affinity Friendly Society (220k members of the Police Service & 180k Military).

They offered a tailored range of financial products (Savings, Loans, Insurance, Mortgages, Financial Advice).

I held Group level responsibility for Marketing - Brand, Acquisition, Retention, Engagement, Channels, Proposition Development, PR, Insight, Social and Digital Marketing.

The team was 24 colleagues working across 2 sites with a Marketing Budget of c.£5m

• Regular attendee of Group Board, providing board members and senior internal/external stakeholders with the development of the 3 year Group Customer Strategy and ongoing performance metrics and strategic input.
• Developed Group Customer and Marketing 3 year Strategic Plan
• Defined brand voice and imaging, aligning collateral with mission and values to drive brand success.
• Defined business strategies and roadmaps to drive performance across sales, promotions and marketing departments.
• Delivered Growth strategies for awareness and advocacy through Brand campaigns
• Lead and deliver the Annual Marketing Sales plans,
• Oversaw development and execution of multi-channel marketing campaigns to drive growth.
• Create CX engagement strategies to deliver Market leading NPS, CSAT and loyalty retention scores
• Define and deliver the Omni-Channel communication
• strategy across Digital, AtL, Direct, Field Sales Team, CRM, Contact Centre and Social
• Managed relationships with key stakeholders, securing beneficial partnerships.
• Increased brand visibility by implementing strategic marketing campaigns.
• Spearheaded data analysis initiatives to understand customer preferences better.
• Directed efficient budget management without compromising on quality of campaigns.
• Conducted comprehensive market research for better understanding of consumer behaviour.
• Led a dynamic team of marketers, fostering creativity and productivity.
• Empowered highly talented team to deliver on established marketing benchmarks and campaign initiatives.
• Reviewed KPI reports and leveraged data-drive insights to make informed campaign decisions.
• Consistently met and exceeded company goals and objectives with comprehensive marketing oversight.

Freelance Customer Proposition, Brand, Experience and Innovation specialist

Assignments included

Northern Rock - Led the development and implementation of the Customer Experience strategy following Government intervention.

Police Mutual - Marketing strategy and proposition development.

Saffron Building Society - 5 year Marketing and Distribution Strategy.

10 Associates - Development of ao.com rebrand, Rullion rebrand.

?WHATIF! (World largest innovation company) - Senior Inventor working on various projects - Morrisons (Retail format innovation), General Mills FMCG - Product

Innovation.

Planning Express - Various assignments such as Sage CRM development, Kelloggs Campaign Development, Red Bull insight project, Brand work - Scenic Tours, Skiddle.com, Skipton Building Society, icelolly.com and game and Customer Insight for Transform

Pitch and Planning assignments for a number of North West based Creative Marketing agencies.

Established new Customer Proposition function in Marketing

Creation of Proposition framework and approach across the business

Development of Customer Experience/Journey 6 step audit framework

Creation of Organisation wide Innovation lab for "hot housing" new ideas and test environments

Development of Retailer Financial Services - putting FS products into Co-op Food Stores (Savings, Credit Cards, Insurance)

Various roles across the organisation from Product Category Manager, Cross Buying Manager, Programme Manager to Senior Project Consultant working on Marketing and Business Projects and activities to support the needs of the business, such as Product Development, Marketing Communications, Cross Selling, Acquisition and Retention initiatives