Five minutes with Jessica Lambert
Meet our Automotive Lead Consultant, Jessica Lambert.
We’ve welcomed our newest Lead Consultant to our Consultancy team, Jessica Lambert. Jessica will be heading up the business unit for our automotive vertical, and brings a wealth of industry knowledge with her to the role. So, without further ado, let’s spend 5 minutes with Jessica.
Congratulations on your new role at Fox Agency! Please tell us about your career journey so far.
I’d say I’ve had a pretty fun, but demanding career to date. I ended up in NYC for three years in one of my first agencies, which was a huge leap of faith at the time, but proved to be a great adventure in a start-up vibe agency that helped shape my love for client services.
Since then, I’ve enjoyed nearly a decade of working agency side, both big and small, mainly in the world of automotive. I’ve been able to work with brands I love like Land Rover, on global accounts delivering industry firsts alongside some incredible clients. It’s also given me the opportunity for lots of travel which has been an added bonus.
What does your new role as Automotive Lead Consultant involve, and what excites you the most about it?
I’ll be heading up the business unit for our automotive vertical. Automotive is one of our largest flagship sectors and we are lucky to have some wonderful client partnerships which makes it feel quite special.
I’ll be focused on being the strategic lead for all of our automotive related accounts, making sure our clients meet their broader strategic objectives, take advantage of the shifts happening across the sector and ultimately help them unlock opportunity.
Fox as an agency is innovative and agile, and the automotive sector is at an exciting turning point with the transition into ZEV, AI, autonomous vehicles and more sustainable practices – so I think with our dedicated focus we’re the perfect agency to be a part of that transformation for our clients.
What’s on the horizon for the Automotive industry that has your attention?
What isn’t! Between the recent technical developments in parts, manufacturing, infrastructure and big data, I think we can anticipate some radical shifts in the sector coming down the line.
Big data or AI, certainly has my attention, and I imagine it will continue to evolve every aspect of the sector. The use of data has already made some really valuable improvements to areas such as safety technology with remote diagnostics for example, so in this industry, it’s not to be feared.
I also think it’s hard to deny the sustainability agenda within the sector. This is a poignant topic that touches all aspects of the supply chain: vehicles, OE parts, AM and infrastructure, and is only going to become more fundamental in my opinion. End customers are increasingly demanding, expecting more in these areas which government policy (ZEV) and businesses have responded to.
How this plays out in areas such as the circular economy is sure to be interesting, as well as seeing what influence the recent political changes in the US will have on this.
What do you see as the biggest challenges for the Automotive industry, specifically within B2B, and what advice would you give to enterprise businesses in that space?
Picking which horse to back. With so many potential advancements and a new generation of demanding customers with higher expectations around things such as price, servicing and sustainability, it’s difficult to know which advancement will truly reshape the sector or where to focus attention as a business.
The attempts previously made in the sector to get ahead of changes like EV haven’t been smooth sailing. The UK government for example, set ambitious ZEV quotas, but the public demand hasn’t met these growth expectations. We’ve learned hard lessons in the sector from the Covid19 pandemic which really impacted sales, costs of raw materials and supply chains, so whilst an ambitious approach to getting ahead of advancements is probably needed, I’m sure there will be a nervousness. My advice would be for enterprise businesses to embrace data and make that their focus.
What has been your biggest professional achievement to date?
Living and working in Shanghai on the APAC Ford account. At the time I had a big step up in terms of responsibility, going from local to regional. We had a large amount of diversity in the region covering Thailand, India, China, and Australia, so understanding local market nuances and priorities and managing these against our global objectives was a new type of challenge for me.
My biggest achievement was bringing the regional teams and our datahubs together to achieve integrated results at scale using our Adobe Experience Cloud platforms. To this day, I still miss those teams and our clients, but not the air pollution!
Finally, tell us something interesting or unique about yourself?
Something that anyone who knows me well would be surprised to know, is that when I was younger, I spent three months living in a desert in Rajasthan – rural India. I volunteered teaching English and Math and lived in a basic mud hut with no running water. I guess what I’m saying is that I’m highly adaptable.
