Luke Jones

Experience

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  Round8

  May 2005 - Jul 2007

  Recruitment Consultant - Graduate Team

  Round8 finds and develops commercial people for media and digital media companies. Working across consumer and national press, digital media, TV, Outdoor and Radio.

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  EMAP

  Aug 2007 - Feb 2009

  Project Manager

  Part of the commercial Strategy and Solutions team delivering national sponsorships across some of the biggest radio stations in the UK, including KISS100, Magic 105.4, and the Big City Network.Sponsorships and Strategy Team of the Year 2007Bauer Media Person of the Year (Runner-Up) 2007Focus agencies Zenith Opimedia, and Starcom

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  Fitness First

  Jun 2009 - Dec 2009

  Sales Manager

  Leading sales executive in charge of gym memberships and personal training packages;Managed corporate accounts including ANZ Bank and Embassy College ensuring satisfaction with the service.Trained team members

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  Bauer Media

  Apr 2010 - Jan 2012

  Digital Account Manager

  Digital Account Manager with a specialist focus on mens lifestyle brands FHM and ZOO.Working closely with MGOMD, OMD and Target Digital planning and buying teams bring brands such as Playstation, McDonalds and film clients from Sony pictures to Optimum to audiences across the UK. As part of the creative solutions team I work closely with the commercial and editorial teams to create innovative ideas for some of the UK's best brands (FHM, ZOO, Empire, heat).Actively promoted the use of new technologies for branding with a focus on mobile. Show less

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  Cut The Cap

  Sept 2010 - Jan 2022

  Associate Editor

  This is my website and its ‘Full of Lifestyle and Entertainment Goodness’. It keeps me out of trouble and lets me combine my passions of writing and coding whilst talking about some of the finer things in life.I'm constantly thinking of new ways to promote the site and have worked with some very interesting brands such as Pernod Ricard, Diageo and Gaucho along the way.

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  Live Nation Entertainment

  Jan 2012 - Nov 2015

  Digital Partnerships Director

  Selling integrated advertising solutions across Live Nation Entertainment's digital network and offline assets that include festivals such as Yahoo! Wireless and Hard Rock Calling and the Academy Music Group venues (Brixton Academy, Shepherd's Empire etc).Created and took to market a data-first advertising solution. Used customer data and 185 Experian variables to give context within the data and deliver a compelling sale argument, to offer both engaging ideas and specific audiences.Instrumental in the development of both LiveNation's mobile and programmatic advertising solutions with an additional focus on native advertising within mobile content.Responsible for selling digital and mobile(display and integrated solutions) across the Live Nation and Ticketmaster brands.Achievements:• Grew key accounts Vodafone (200%) and Google(510%)• Generated over 50% (£320k) of the team's overall revenue for 2012• Grew agency patch to represent 4 of the 5 highest billing agencies • Brought on and managed 3 of the top 5 spending clients Show less

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  Red Bull Media House

  Nov 2015 - Apr 2017

  Global Digital Sales Manager

  Representing all of Red Bull's digital media channels to advertising/media agencies and clients globally, specialising in brand integration.Bring on board relevant and credible 3rd party brands and investment to support the reach of our existing content and additionally open up the opportunity to inspire a new audience.• Brokered the biggest digital-only content deal (£450k) with Google (Android) to create a 3-part ad-funded series, 'The Kazakhstan Triangle'.

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  Red Bull

  Apr 2017 - Feb 2020

  Commercial Partnerships Manager - Gaming and Culture Lead

  Positioned within one of the world's most creative and progressive marketing teams to create and sell brand partnerships that produce high-quality branded content for distribution across multiple owned and operated channels.Specialist focus: Gaming, esports and music. • Key member of the team that launched the Red Bull Gaming Sphere – a 200-person dedicated gaming and esports venue in London, responsible for the commercial strategy and revenue.• Worked with endemic brands and gaming publishers to ensure it launched with state-of-the-art equipment and ran engaging consumer activations.• Brokered £1.3m worth of deals and implemented 18 gaming events.Clients included: Codemasters | Fanatec | SimLab | Blizzard | ASUS ROG | AOC Hyper X | noblechairs | 3 | Athlon Games | Paradox Interactive | newegg• Created Red Bull Soundscapes, the biggest Red Bull UK moving image Culture project in terms of revenue (£160k) and number of views (1.2m), in partnership with Shure.The first project of its kind to blend Red Bull Sports and Red Bull Culture - licensed and shown at CES and NAMM trade shows. Winner of two W3 Digital Excellence Awards and an honoured mention at the annual Webby Awards in the entertainment category Show less

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  Red Bull Racing & Red Bull Technology

  Feb 2020 - Dec 2022

  Senior Gaming and Esports Manager

  Positioned within one of the world’s most creative and progressive marketing teams leading the strategic planning, new business development and execution of Red Bull Racing's esports and gaming efforts, with the mission to become the number 1 sim racing team on and off the track.Responsibilities: • Department strategy - evolved the Team from a competition-focused organisation to a competition and content-focused brand• Planned and managed the annual esports and gaming budget (c.£1.5m)• Managed a roster of 12 drivers and 3 content creators as well as the main POC for operational partner G2 Esports and high-performance partner Ground+Air• A leading voice within sim racing to shape the future of the sport and ensure Red Bull Racing was integrated in relevant gaming spaces - working closely with Formula One and gaming publishers• Worked with sim racing and real-world talent (including Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Red Bull athletes) to create engaging cross-over content.Achievements:• Planned and launched Red Bull Racing Erena - a training, competition and content hub• Developed the Performance Accelerator - a coaching and development program for drivers• Commercial: Grew from 2 partners to 14 partners (including title partner) with annual revenue of £4.5m and £350k annual profit from licensed products.• Partnered with hummel to design the Team's first full pro kit and lifestyle range.• Integrated with the Fan Engagement team to grow our esports-specific database to 120,000+ entries• Streaming: Brought onboard 3 of the best up-and-coming F1 content creators - negotiated contracts and set KPIs• Launched the Team Twitch channel - surpassed the follower target for 2022• Created cross-team and cross-brand streams with F2 drivers and NYRB FC• Worked with the comms team to ensure gaming and esports were given exposure. Coverage includes Channel 4, Sky Sports F1, BBC and LBC • Oversaw 7 World Championship wins inc. 2x F1 Esports Team Championships Show less

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  Guild Esports

  Jan 2023 - now

  After 5 months in the business, my role expanded to include oversight of all commercial endeavours of the business - partnerships, sponsorship, Guild Studios (campaign-specific deals) and licensing.• International network of contacts includes a growing understanding and portfolio in the MENA region.• Pitching average deal size between £500,000 - £1,000,000.Notable deals include the Saudi Esports Federation, hummel (including Kit launch in EAFC), Fanatec and Subway.• Working closely with DBV (David Beckham Ventures) to ensure alignment with partners and the David Beckham brand.• Deliver quarterly business reviews to senior stakeholders across our partnership portfolio. Show less Guild Esports is more than an organisation in pursuit of trophies. Hailing from London and co-owned by David Beckham, Guild exists at the intersection of competition, entertainment and gaming culture. And it’s our mission to build a bigger, better esports community for everyone.Reporting into the CEO and a key executive team member responsible for overseeing Guild’s teams and player recruitment efforts. Developed and executed the strategic vision for all player-related activities, as well as managed program design for competitive play.Holding key stakeholder relationships with publishers such as EA Sports, Valve, Riot and Psyonix. Show less

  • Vice President of Commercial, Esports and Gaming

    May 2023 - now

  • Director of Esports and Gaming

    Jan 2023 - May 2023