Marketing Week Meets: Sara Bennison

Sara Bennison is a marketer with almost 30 years of experience. Starting her career as a graduate trainee at JWT in the late 80s she rose to become managing partner at Grey London in 2003. She jumped client-side to BT and then into financial services, first at Barclays, where she was CMO of its personal and corporate bank, then to Nationwide in 2016 where she works today.      She is an active advocate for change with various industry bodies and was named Visionary Marketer of the Year at Marketing Week's Masters of Marketing awards. In a wide-ranging interview, Bennison discusses: · Why brands need to give their agencies the time and space to have “the crazy idea” · Why the financial crash was good for branding in the financial services industry · Why the true test of a marketer is when things aren’t going to plan  · The virtues of testing yourself in an alien environment · Overcoming marketing’s “obsession with numbers” and focusing on the long term · Why it’s important to work for a company aligned with your values