Chris Howard is chief operating officer for Nest Commerce, a full funnel performance agency.
Nest Commerce works with a variety of clients including Nadine Merabi, Adanola, ME+EM, Reiss, Hims and Crew Clothing.
Howard’s career started in digital marketing at eBay, followed by leadership roles at Play.com and Shop Direct (now The Very Group) where he played a key role in driving digital transformation and helped secure significant sales growth through mobile, personalisation, and data-driven marketing.
In 2017, he moved agency side and joined dentsu where he held various roles across client leadership and product development including at Carat Manchester. Most recently, he served as managing director of performance media, leading a large team in delivering successful campaigns for dentsu’s clients.
After joining Nest Commerce in February, Howard shares a recent week in his life…
Monday
At Nest, we work from home on Mondays, so my day starts in a familiar fashion: walking Bramble, my 3 year-old black labrador who combines beauty, affection and bad behaviour in equal measure. Then it’s time to get into the working week. I try to keep Mondays and Fridays clear of most recurring meetings to focus on the big stuff. Today is no different, with product and partnership development taking centre stage.
Much of the morning is spent working with George, our creative director, discussing opportunities to develop new services to complement our clients’ in-house creative teams. That’s followed by an afternoon call with Meta, focused on getting the best out of their account managers. We’ve worked hard to develop a great relationship with Meta over the years, and these open conversations are really important in ensuring we’re collaborating effectively to deliver the best work for our clients on the platform.
Tuesday
It’s always an early start on Tuesday: leaving the house before 6am to get the train down to London. Today is made worse by the train being delayed by almost an hour; in just over 3 months of weekly travel to and from London since joining Nest, 50% of my journeys have been delayed by at least 15 minutes. At least it gives me plenty of time to prepare for our weekly management meeting, which I arrive at the office just in time for. We’re growing really quickly as a business, and these meetings are a great opportunity for the senior team to remind ourselves of this, and to take stock of what could be even better.
I love being in the office with the team, but it’s only a quick pit-stop there today as I’m at a cross-agency roundtable in the afternoon with one of our fashion retail clients. I’ve been in a number of these client-plus-multiple-agency sessions (on both sides of the table) over the years, and in truth they’re always tricky to get right. Thankfully, this one is well-managed and fruitful, with all parties focused on collaborating to try and solve the client’s business challenges. As for many brands it’s a crucial time for them, with peak season rapidly approaching and their competitive landscape evolving quickly. Having clearly defined plans for peak, backed up by strategic testing before Q4 to understand what works and where to invest, has never been more important. This is a great example of clients grasping that mantle.
My apartment for the night is in Camden, so I finish the day with a few laps around the Regent’s Park running track which is a stone’s throw away, before dinner in front of the night’s Euro 2024 action.
Wednesday
This morning I’m at the Drapers Future of Fashion event, speaking on a panel alongside Lily, one of our clients, about driving growth through performance marketing. Or at least I’m supposed to be; sadly the curse of Avanti West Coast has struck again, leaving Lily stuck on her train from Liverpool. As a result, it’s just me on stage being interviewed. Despite appearing at industry events for years, the nerves still kick in every time I get on stage, and they’re only intensified by the last minute move to a solo slot. The audience seems to enjoy it though, and the 30 minutes go by in a flash.
I manage to watch a couple of the other sessions at the conference and chat to lots of attendees (including Lily once her train arrives), before a quick dash to Euston to get a lunchtime train back home. Vic, my wife, is flying to Perth for a conference, so I’m solo parenting for the rest of the next ten days. Thankfully there’s no train drama this time, so I’m back in time to pick my son Henry up from school and take him to an inter-school orienteering competition. He gets two winner’s medals (one for his pair and another for the school) and is over the moon – it’s a proper proud dad moment.
Thursday
At Nest, everyone has 1:1s with their line managers each week, as well as monthly sessions focused on their individual development. I’m proud of the fact we don’t let that slip, regardless of how busy we all are. Today I have mine with each of my direct reports, and while it’s always preferable to do them in person, even a Google Hangout is a great opportunity to chat to Lucy, Rod and George about their challenges and where we need to focus our efforts.
In the afternoon it’s our monthly company all-hands. We normally do these at the end of the day, however it’s a little earlier today because of the England match at 5pm. Getting the whole of Nest together to talk through where we’re going, how we’re performing, and the great work we’re doing for our clients, is always worthwhile and helps us all stay connected as a business. The highlight is awarding ‘Nestling of the Month’ to Anna, one of our paid social managers. It’s a well-deserved reward for some phenomenal work, despite a lot of stiff competition from across the agency leading to a record number of nominations.
After the all-hands, those in the office decamp to a local pub to watch the England game, while I watch it from the comfort of my sofa with my children, Evie and Henry.
Friday
Friday kicks off in the best possible way – agreeing commercials with one of our long-standing paid social clients to extend our partnership to cover paid search. While new business wins are brilliant, being trusted by a client who already knows you, warts and all, to take on a wider scope is a particularly special feeling. I couldn’t be prouder of everyone in the team who has contributed to the win.
New clients and expanded scopes mean more people, so the afternoon is spent reviewing our hiring plans for the second half of the year. We’re very diligent in the way we hire – for example, our CEO Will does a final stage interview with everyone before they join. It’s definitely played a role in maintaining such a positive culture across Nest as we’ve scaled.
The week ends with a quick tea before taking the children to cricket practice, a walk for Bramble and finally collapsing in front of the football.
