#Rockettime with Jay
This months #RocketTime is with our coder Jay, our very own email guru! If you don’t already know him for his huge industry presence, keep an eye out for his talk at Litmus London 2019!
Hey Jay, welcome to RocketTime! Let’s start with how you landed your job here?
I was the head of digital marketing previously for three large outdoor equipment companies in the UK. Handling everything from web design, PPC, SEO, events and of course email.
Finding that standard email templates were not cutting it, I started creating my own – found out about the Emailgeeks slack group and after some messages with Elliot came to Action Rocket for an interview…
Your current role is a coder, have you always been interested in this aspect of digital marketing or have you had a range of experience in the industry?
I came to coding pretty late in my career. Having done small bits of HTML for websites before getting into email, I’ve also been a one man marketer for a couple of small startups covering everything. I have a good all round knowledge of digital marketing, actually implementing it and analysing reports.
I’ve done everything from create large international marketing campaigns to building an event stand out of pallets, talks to large groups and retail store community marketing.
What’s your favourite email or campaign that you have worked on here?
PizzaExpress worked with us to create an interactive scratch card game for international carrot day (First I had heard of it as well!) and include a live web poll asking recipients whether they liked the new menu or returning menu more.
The designers did a great job of visually displaying everything and I loved coding the interactive elements. With the Taxi for Email developer team helping create the back end for the live poll the whole team worked really well together to create an awesome email!
“I GET ALL THE REALLY COOL INTERACTIVE EMAIL BUILDS, PLUS A LOT OF TAXI FOR EMAIL TEMPLATES WHICH IS GREAT”
What are your favourite things about working for ActionRocket?
I know everyone says the family feel and the people – that is a huge part! Alongside that, having industry thought leaders and so much experience in the team, the opportunities to learn and make really good emails is awesome! (Also the office dogs!)
What’s your favourite weekend activity?
Heading out canoeing with friends, or taking a group of kids out canoeing for the first time. There’s nothing like escaping central London and driving up to the Lake district with a bunch of mates and canoeing down a river with stunning views! To camp out on an island, breakfast with a view over the national park, a short paddle back to the car and back to London before work on Monday!
Leave us with an interesting fact about yourself…
I have a degree in Outdoor Leadership from the University of Cumbria and was an outdoor instructor for years!
Bex Highfield
Marketing Manager @ Action Rocket