As November drew to a close, our ever-growing team either logged on or gathered around the warm glow emanating from the family-size screen and our esteemed leaders Andy and Sarah Smith.
The votes were in. The quotes were ready. A hush befell the room. Breaths were held as Sarah slowly opened her laptop. It was time to announce the month’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Almost too much goodwill to go round
We’re all anticipating Christmas more than ever this year. And – judging by the number and breadth of nominations – it looks like the season of goodwill was well and truly pulsing through our hearts when we cast our votes for this month’s MVP.
No less than 18 separate individuals received words of appreciation from one or more of their colleagues for going above and beyond in their role. Sometimes it was for putting in extra hours, others for making lives easier, bringing clarity or being helpful. But mostly it was for simply shining in their expertise and making our work and deliverables for clients all the better. We should all be proud.
Let a smile spread across your face as we sample just seven of the most memorable quotes:
“Alix has been making a huge impact on the production process with her QA and embedding her QA process as more projects get underway. However, this month she has also stepped up to help out with the internal management of various projects, bringing her hidden PM talent to the table and really helping out the delivery team. She’s been making a big impact through her organisation – keep up the great work, Alix!”
“He’s only been here 2 months, but Dale is a worthy winner of this month’s MVP! Since day 1, he’s hit the ground running. From providing a fresh pair of eyes on accounts to keeping the paid media team in check, it’s safe to say that Dale has been a supportive hand for Poppy, Nathan and Rosie H. Let’s not forget he played a significant part in securing StrategiQ’s biggest paid media client and worked over his annual leave to tackle some challenging scenarios with the account switchover. Dale truly lives and breathes our values and is more than deserving of a duvet day.”
“Duncan this month has been a huge support for the development team with Tom having 2 weeks’ paternity leave. As well as having a very full planner with client deliverables, he has managed to quote tickets in a timely manner, supporting the team and remaining a direct line to Max as his journey and experience continues to grow. He has always made time for my questions without any pushback, dropped existing work to help extinguish a few smouldering embers and worked very late to ensure the STC migration prep was in place so we could transfer everything over before 9am the following morning. In doing so, this meant absolute minimum impact to the client’s business and demonstrates Duncan’s selfless attitude – always putting the client and his team first. A huge thanks from me, Duncan!”
“Louise has deserved to be MVP for the last few months now. Her work has been exceptional. From leading brand projects to supporting web projects and helping with the running of the creative team. Louise has not only settled in through the last 6 months, but brought the experience and dedication to help Ash in pushing the creative team forward in its organisation and big picture thinking. She lives and breathes the StrategiQ values and I cannot wait to see what the future holds. #limitless”
“Although Tyler is very (very, very) busy, the conversations I have with him are pretty much always the most valuable of the day. If I am stuck in a creative rut he is a great person to thrash out ideas with. If I am stressed about my workload, he will put things into perspective and help me work out timings. I think he definitely deserves a well-earned rest this month.”
“This month was a tough one with The Dotties and DevelopHER awards, where we have had some brilliant women in the business flying the flag for StrategiQ. This month my vote goes to Poppy. Watching Poppy at DevelopHER giving the keynote speech was inspiring to listen to. She was confident, truthful and brave. Values that we all want to hold ourselves to. You are doing amazing Poppy. Keep up the great work!”
“Mike deserves to be MVP this month. His passion to learn new things and constantly improve on his skill set is great to see. The time he is putting in on Blender is really paying off when you see the quality of some of the videos he’s putting out. World Class. He is really driving QLabs forward and is constantly coming up with awesome ideas for the Qlabs Instagram account. (Like, Share and Follow, if you haven’t already. Shameless plug…). Keep smashing it Mike!”
Close, but no cigar
Sharing the honours for third place this month with 3 votes each were Poppy Court and Duncan Brown – great work, both!
Second place was Alix Palmer, scoring an impressive 5 votes, with many people struck by her cross-disciplinary skills and proactive approach. Nice one, Alix – maybe the title will be yours next month!
But finally, there can only be one winner…
(Little) Drum(mer) roll please…
By a distinct margin, with no less than 7 nominations, this month’s MVP is the artist formerly known as Lauren Oliver – Lauren Boyton!
November has been a massive month for Lauren. On top of her huge “Marketer of the Year’ award win at the Dotties, 3 (yes, three!) hen parties and intense preparations for no less a significant occasion than her own wedding, our queen of customer experience has continued to blow us all away with her truly professional approach and the relationships and results she’s created with clients.
While we change her name on the Google workspace, email and website, let’s see what her colleagues have to say:
“Lauren has done some amazing work for us and our clients in the past 6 months, but now… she’s award winning! Not that she needs another day off in December, if you haven’t heard she’s off on a little holiday… but I think Lauren needs to finally have that MVP banner for everything she’s done this year!”
“Lauren is smashing her role as Head of CX and is always going above and beyond. Winning Marketer of the Year at the Dotties was a massive achievement and it truly was such a proud moment to see her get the recognition she deserves. Keep it up, Lauren!”
“Lauren always goes the extra mile for all of her clients and has so much expertise in CX, which has completely transformed how StrategiQ works. She is determined to do great work, alongside helping her team follow in her footsteps… She didn’t get marketer of the year for nothing. Keep shining, Lauren!”
“It’s always tough but this month I have to vote for Lauren O. Seeing her win the Marketer of the Year at the Dotties was a stand out moment for Lauren and the company. Knowing how hard Lauren works in her role is truly inspiring and I can’t wait to see her develop further in her journey. She really is taking the Head of title to another level and setting an amazing example to the junior members in the team. I’m not sure she needs another day off with her honeymoon looming but she definitely deserves the recognition. Keep smashing it Lauren!!!”
Until next month!
Enjoy your duvet day and dinner on the company, Lauren! (Whenever you fit it in around your honeymoon!)
In the meantime, as we keep our noses to the monitors in the run-up to Christmas, who’s going to take up the mantle as December’s MVP? Come back in a month’s time to find out… Until then, Merry Christmas!
PS:
Think you could be a StrategiQ MVP? Check out our careers page or get in touch – it could be you next!
