27 Jun 2023
While some marketeers are in the business right from the start, this wasn’t the case for Sharon Spinelli, who had multiple roles before having children: “Thereafter I became a stay-at-home mum and completed an HND in business and marketing.”
Her ‘life changing moment’ came when her children started school and her dad, to whom she was close, died: “I was struggling and encouraged to find something for myself which really interested me, while bringing some much-needed income into the household. The one thing I was really passionate about, was houses.”
Spinelli applied for a sales executive role with now defunct Beazer Homes: “I met colleagues who are now my best friends. I loved my job and couldn’t wait to get to work each day.”
Spinelli eventually opted to focus on her family: “I was offered progression but didn’t want to take on a manager’s role until my children were teenagers. The rest is history: sales manager to sales and marketing director with Robertson Homes. I’ve now been here six years.”
Recalling her first meeting with her now managing director at Robertson Homes, John Murphy: “There were so many exciting projects for me to be involved with that it just blew my mind. New marketing team set up, new website development, new customer journey creation, training and development, collaboration on a brand-new range of house types, new development and marketing suite set up, new business set up in the NE of England... I could go on!”
On joining Robertson, Spinelli's immediate thoughts were "to work closely with someone who could see my vision. I believe a Robertson home is truly “home to more” and the challenge would be to convey this to those who hadn’t yet seen or touched a Robertson home.”
Historically, the housebuilder had been coy about its reputation, which radically changed following a collaboration with agency Tonik: “Nobody had invented a word that perfectly describes the superior build quality, high spec, extra space, light or levels of a Robertson home, so we created some words to help fill the gaps.”
She admits that this ‘out of the box’ approach took her out of her comfort zone, but she trusted Tonik and introduced new creative plus a ‘Robictionary’ of descriptions for Robertson homes. Explaining terms such as Incloodles [in-kloo-dullz] “where there’s lots and lots and lots included”, Spinelli laughs: “It was hugely successful and I’m so pleased for them and us.”
A new collaboration with Tonik is once again proving exciting: “Our new lifestyle photography has been a real joy to see and the new tagline ‘home to more’ reflects the characteristics of Robertson’s approach and product."
