In the second episode of K2’s new podcast series, Personally Speaking, Global Client Experience Manager, Emma Kerslake, is joined by Global Marketing Manager, Shelley Jarlett-Hill, and Global Marketing Director, James Marshall. The group talk about the journeys that led them to K2, the evolution of the K2 Marketing Team and the challenges of building a global brand.
Shelley joined K2 just over six years ago, when the K2 Marketing Team as it is today, in terms of size and reputation, seemed like a pipe dream. Despite the ‘team’ of one period, one thing that both Shelley and James speak to during this episode is the sense of belonging to a wider team, and becoming a part of the global K2 Family, from the very first moment you start with the company.
K2 has more than tripled in size since Shelley started in 2018, and it is K2’s unique culture that she believes has been at the centre of the company’s growth. It is also what ultimately led to K2 being officially recognised as a Great Place To Work® in 2023, a project that the Marketing Team led on and that is one of the highlights of Shelley’s time at K2.
James has now been with K2 for almost 2 years. As well as being tasked with the development of a stand-out global brand, the last two years have seen James lead on the significant expansion of the Marketing Team, the transformation of the department into a key strategic function within K2, and the delivery of major projects and events like the Kinetic Conference.
Alongside the because it’s personal ethos that is at the heart of everything K2 does, James cites another mantra that he believes empowers the Marketing Team to break boundaries. Imprinted on the walls of one of the meeting rooms at K255 are the words ‘embrace failure’. This design feature, worked up by Nick and James, demonstrates that K2 as an organisation understands that making mistakes is not only human, but is also brave and completely permissible, provided that you use those mistakes to learn and grow.
People & Culture and the intrinsic link between employee contentment and client success, are a major theme of the episode, alongside the value of K2’s human-centric approach to both mobility and marketing.
