Celebrating Nicky Clarke’s Bronze Award at the B2B Marketing Awards 2024

At Sojourn Solutions, we’re thrilled to congratulate Nicky Clarke, Head of Marketing Operations at Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) Business, on her recent Bronze award for B2B Marketer of the Year at the B2B Marketing Awards 2024. This is a testament to Nicky’s leadership, adaptability, and strategic vision-qualities that have driven success in the face of enormous change.

Since the Virgin Media and O2 joint venture in 2021, VMO2 has merged two iconic UK brands, creating a telecommunications powerhouse in mobile and broadband services. This merger required not only a united brand identity but also a streamlined marketing operations strategy. Nicky Clarke has been at the forefront of this transformation, leading a newly merged Marketing Operations team and managing an extensive consolidation of MarTech platforms, processes and workflows. Throughout, Nicky has proven herself a steady, inspiring leader, bringing her team’s capabilities to new heights despite resource and budget challenges.

A 25-Year Journey of Dedication and Growth

Nicky’s journey with the company spans 25 years, starting in 1998 with O2 in a project management role within customer service. Over the years, she steadily rose through the ranks, moving into Marketing Operations in 2011, and later, in 2021, becoming the Senior Marketing Ops Programme Manager as the VMO2 joint venture was announced. Now leading VMO2’s Marketing Operations, Nicky is known for nurturing her team and pushing for excellence in everything from MQL strategies to CRM integrations.

Her day-to-day responsibilities include overseeing VMO2’s marketing automation platforms, driving MQL performance, and ensuring smooth integrations across CRM, CDP, the digital landscape and data systems. She keeps her team at the cutting edge of marketing operations, embracing the latest technology, including AI-driven solutions, to continuously enhance VMO2’s marketing efforts.

Recent Milestones and Achievements

In the last 24 months, Nicky has spearheaded a series of transformational changes. Under her guidance, VMO2 has consolidated and relaunched its MarTech stack, a process that included migrating everyone to their existing Oracle Eloqua instance, saving £31,000 annually. Altogether, her efforts have saved VMO2 over £150,000 in MarTech consolidation costs alone. She’s also automated over 20 previously manual data processes, saving 208 days of resource time and an additional £15,000.

One of Nicky’s notable accomplishments was reducing lead-to-sales time by moving from a bi-weekly update process to a 15-minute automated program through Eloqua and Salesforce. This shift has significantly enhanced VMO2’s responsiveness, allowing the team to engage with prospects at precisely the right moments, strengthening the sales pipeline and positively impacting revenue.

A Collaborative and Compassionate Leader

Nicky’s impact extends beyond numbers - she fosters strong relationships within her team and across departments. She presents quarterly business reviews to highlight her team’s initiatives, providing transparency, driving engagement and reinforcing Marketing Operations’ value to the wider business. Her unwavering focus on her team’s well-being and professional growth has been especially vital during times of major organisational change.

Testimonials Reflect Nicky’s Leadership Excellence

Nicky’s colleagues describe her as a nurturing, grounded leader who inspires her team to succeed. Jeeten Mistry, Marketing Operations Manager, praised Nicky’s goal-setting skills and approachability: “Her understanding of people’s needs is outstanding, so much so that everyone in the Ops team feels comfortable giving their input during challenging times.”

From her long-time collaborator Rebecca Le Grange, Managing Partner at Sojourn Solutions, Nicky has earned high praise for her deep technical knowledge and integrity: “Nicky possesses deep knowledge of her team’s intricacies, including data utilisation and processes down to the individual field level. Her integrity shines through in the strong relationships she’s fostered internally and externally, earning her respect across the board.”

A Well-Deserved Win

Nicky Clarke’s Bronze Award for B2B Marketer of the Year reflects her unwavering dedication, innovation, and leadership in one of the UK’s largest marketing transformations. Her success underscores the vital role that Marketing Operations plays in shaping and scaling complex, high-performing marketing ecosystems.

For more than nine years, Sojourn Solutions has proudly partnered with VMO2, standing by their side through the many phases of transformation, growth, and change. From navigating the complexities of the Virgin Media and O2 joint venture, to adapting through organisational shifts and evolving market demands, Sojourn has provided steady support and expertise. Together, we have developed and implemented strategies to strengthen VMO2’s Marketing Operations, helping them maximise their MarTech investments, streamline processes, and empower their teams to achieve excellence.

Congratulations, Nicky, from all of us at Sojourn Solutions. We’re proud to be your partner in this remarkable journey, and we look forward to many more milestones together!