As part of our work with this client, we had already been tracking candidates in retail and e-commerce, with a particular focus on high-end premium roles in product and design. This brief was to extend this work to focus on sector competitors where they have invigorated their brand in the market, or where they have made the move into new products.

The client tasked us with looking at the following:

• Hiring: Researching the type of people these brands hire - including job titles, salaries, locations.

• Digital Landscape: Looking at the key impact of digital technology on these brands and how have they utilised it to further their brand. We sought to highlight the connection between data, digital and consumer awareness.

• Market Intelligence: Highlight how brands have moved into new product areas, by looking at their processes and how typically leads on them.

• Impact of covid and post pandemic: Reviewing the impact on spending and habits such as an accelerated digital transformation, the adoption of cloud-based tech and streaming across sectors and looking at how ‘technology first’ brands have been seeking to reinforce their dominance.

The client was particularly keen to understand typical remuneration levels in their sector, the backgrounds of the leaders typically being hired and what steps these businesses were doing to evolve, adapt, generate more revenue, promote themselves and ultimately continue to grow. To answer this, we looked at how brands tend to hire, how they balance the focus of their business between creative, brand and broader marketing and where digital fitted into the landscape. We also looked at how leading brands have expanded by building their teams to drive their transition, connecting data, digital and consumer awareness.