Conversations with Changemakers....

Introduction. 

Juliet is a commercial strategic leader with 30 years of experience mainly in the business of sport. Juliet’s track record shows an ability to embrace a large remit, develop and articulate strategies, build successful teams and deliver growth and profit.

How did we meet?

We have a connection in common… Erica Vilkauls (ex CEO LK Bennett, East) is our common denominator and kindly introduced us in late 2020. One of the “silver linings” during the global pandemic is that we all have been speaking (of course virtually) to individuals who we never would have met, in the normal course of business. Juliet and I instantly connected. Juliet has attended a number of the EVE Female Investment Consortium events (of which I am a Co-Founder), and is actively evaluating a couple of start ups in terms of investment.   

What is your current role / expertise and how did you secure this?

I have worked for 30 years within business, focusing specifically within the sports sector. My previous experience includes working for adidas, Fulham Football Club, 2012 Olympics, culminating as Chief Commercial Officer at Ascot Racecourse. I have enjoyed a range of responsibilities, however driving building brands and delivering a commercial return has always sat at the heart of this. I am very commercially driven and always have a focus on the consumer.  Putting the customer at the heart of everything you do ensures you deliver (over-deliver) against expectations. This drives retention, upsell opportunities and also creates a strong narrative for business development. I focus on building a product and service portfolio using insight, data and instinct to create customer demand. A strong eye on the bottom line has also been essential to deliver a good return. 

At Ascot Racecourse, I grew all commercial revenue by over 100%. We built up our ticketing, hospitality, sponsorship, broadcast and events revenue ensuring a diversified income stream. Ascot racecourse is known for the “Royal Meeting”, which is the highlight of the racing calendar, however we also operated 21 other racing days. We built our customer base for both the Royal Meeting and all our racedays from both B2C and B2B.

I focused on expanding the offer to a wider range of customers, and segmenting this offer to meet their perceived needs. We also introduced “surprise and delight” element across lots of our meetings – always wanting to exceed expectations to drive retention. At the Royal Meeting we operated 12 “fine dining” restaurants, I restructured the product range so that we catered for every income group. That extended into the product offer for the general ticket holders across four enclosures. It was exciting to identify product gaps and develop new concepts – for instance we opened the first new enclosure at Royal Ascot for over 100 years – The Village Enclosure.

Ascot as a brand had lost its lustre and been marred by some bad behaviour and negative publicity. We re-built the brand by refining the promise and values. These core values of elegant, uplifting and original defined every experience. Part of living the brand involved reducing capacity and creating interventions to manage some of the unsociable, alcohol driven behaviour that we had experienced.

Data and technology innovation is still under-utilised in the racing world, however we developed digital ticketing and created an app to encourage customer engagement on site. I see the future of all sports events as being very tech driven in their development of the customer experience.                  

What / Who has been important to you in your career?

I can pinpoint 2 events. Firstly when I left University, I knew that I wanted to work in the world of sport. I had no connections in this industry. My brother’s friend worked at a Sports Marketing Agency, I persuaded him to share his knowledge with me, and offered my services free for 3 months. He was gracious enough to take me on – the rest as they say is history! Without this first experience, I may not have entered the industry.

Secondly, I very much wanted to work for the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Bid for London – and again offered to work to help bring the Games to London. I have always been passionate about the Olympics and Paralympics and the role the can play not just inspiring young people into sport but with a broader social, environmental purpose. Once again I offered to work for free to prove myself, however I was offered a paid role – which lasted for almost 3 years. It was such an honour to be part of the team that won the bid to host the games.

I have always networked actively but I have always wanted to “give back” to my network. It is one of the most important assets you build during your career, but always to be handled with care and courtesy. I particulary have kept in touch with my previous Line Managers, they have often mentored me along my career, for which I am grateful and I have grown as a result.    

Can you pinpoint the most significant steps in your career?

My role at the 2012 Olympics led to my meeting a completely different group of people. One of these individuals who I’d sold sponsorship to gave me the opportunity for my first MD role at Haymarket. It was a huge step up for me and I was grateful for the opportunity. Sometimes you can feel like there is a glass ceiling above you, but great leaders find and grow talent. Kevin Costello gave me that opportunity. He recognised my leadership skills and helped me to develop from a commercial role into this MD position and supported me along that journey.     

How do you think our industry will change given the global pandemic?

The sports industry has been very hard hit by the pandemic, playing behind “closed doors” is certainly not the same and no paying fans has caused huge commercial impact for many rights holders. In addition sports at a grass roots level has been very hard hit. It will take a while to rebuild.

This pause has driven more tech innovation across every element of the sporting world – from athlete training evaluation, diet and wellness to the consumer experience around sport which moved completely digitally for a while. It will be interesting to see which brands embrace the digital opportunity to radically transform the customer experience at every step opening up betting engagement but also new commercial opportunities.

On a personal note the world of digital sport has certainly ensured that we can become healthy at home.  I’m a multi-class online attender and can’t imagine going back to the gym!

Who do you admire and why?

I have many sports heroes. 

Haile Gebrselassie is a retired Ethiopian long-distance track and road running athlete. He won two Olympic gold medals over 10,000 metres and four World Championship titles in the event. He won the Berlin Marathon four times consecutively and also had three straight wins at the Dubai Marathon. I know Haile ran 10 miles to school every day and carried books under his arm, you can see how his arm has adapted to this, as he runs. Haile is humble and passionate about sports and helping young people in Ethiopia to run and win. I worked with him at adidas and he was one of the most incredibly inspiring but also a perfect gentleman. His story inspires me still.

Carys Davina Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, DBE, DL, known as Tanni Grey-Thompson, is a Welsh politician, television presenter and former wheelchair racer. Tanni is not defined by her disability, she is a member of the House of Lords and is defined by what she has achieved. She is a passionate advocate of sports and an example of how to use determination and focus to achieve your goals.

What advice would you offer to an individual wanting to secure a sports career?

Talk to as many people as you can. Find individuals who interest you in the sector you work in or wish to enter and ask for 30 minutes of their time. Most individuals are happy to help. Demonstrate your knowledge or passion so that they cannot say no! Write to them (no spelling mistakes) with an intelligent approach. 

Find out more about different roles, there are many skills required in different sectors. The world of sports sector requires Lawyers, Accountants, as well as creative, operational, commercial as well as health professionals. It is a very broad ecosystem.

Always keep trying and build your network. I believe if you want something enough you will find a way to achieve it, but also the journey to getting there can be fun as well.  

Share a Secret.

I would like to share two….

I once rubbed body oil into David Beckham! This occurred pre his marriage to Victoria….. This was for a photo shoot during my time at adidas.

Secondly, meditation is my new super power – I meditate every day!   

Harveen Gill

MD, HGA Group