One marketer on why the Army was perfect training for his career
Five years of ‘Boy’s Own Adventures’ with the Army proved good training for a career in marketing, says brand marketing director EMEA at web domain provider GoDaddy, James Eadie.
An Oxford University degree in Physics and a short service commission as a captain in the Army may not be a conventional route into marketing. But James Eadie says that both these formative experiences taught him lessons about the importance of rigour, curiosity and creative problem-solving that have served him well ever since.
Studying Physics required the ability to gain a deep understanding of data, draw conclusions and create models which explained the data.
“That is pretty relevant to marketing. Actually it has become more relevant, because of the depth of insight, data and analytics,” Eadie explains. After his degree he entered the Army, taking on a specialist Arctic warfare role, which required a lot of time spent in Norway.
On deciding to leave military life, Eadie was attracted to a career in marketing. He landed a brand manager role at Procter & Gamble and once on the ground was surprised by the similarities with the Army.