Strategist and Innovator
Brighton, United Kingdom
- Current
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- Director/Consultant at Free Range Ltd
- Past
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- Client Partner; Head of Innovation; Programme Director - Social Spaces; at iCrossing UK
- Consultant at Magic Lantern Productions
- Owner/Managing Director at Getfrank Ltd
- Senior Producer at Victoria Real
- Senior Interactive Designer at Epic Group PLC
- Senior Project Manager/Project Leader Area51 at AOL Europe
- Producer at AOL Europe
- Online Sub-Editor at Mirror Group Newspapers
- Education
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- London Metropolitan University
- Recommended
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22 people have recommended James - Connections
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356
connections
- Industry
- Online Media
- Websites
James Byford’s Summary
Freelance digital strategist and innovator with 15 years experience gained in commercial, cultural and public sectors.
Focused on rapid application of smart ideas into practice.
Experience/adventures commenced at birth of the internet in early '90s. Many interesting first-hand learnings since about insight/creativity, design and strategy, internet culture and technology, marketing and communications, spotting talent and growing teams, communities and networks.
James Byford’s Specialties:
listening
facilitation
insight and ideas
co-creation, collaboration and partnerships
digital strategies
learning and evaluation
social media, community and network consultancy
James Byford’s Experience
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Director/Consultant
Free Range Ltd
(Online Media industry)
November 2005 — Present (4 years 1 month)
Freelance Strategist and Innovator
Previous gigs between 2005-2006 with:
- Headshift (social software consultancy)
- Magic Lantern Productions (rich media/interactive/television production)
- Spirit of Creation (service design) -
Client Partner; Head of Innovation; Programme Director - Social Spaces;
iCrossing UK
(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)
November 2006 — February 2009 (2 years 4 months)
Contributed to growth of international digital marketing company:
- business and brand strategy and organisational design
- service design
- client partnership
Co-created industry-leading social media practice - working with FTSE 100 and Fortune 50 companies.
- Recruited and led highly successful teams
- Grew significant international revenues
- Co-created and delivered strategic frameworks
- Provided counsel to senior executives
- Led search and social media programmes and platforms -
Consultant
Magic Lantern Productions
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
June 2005 — June 2006 (1 year 1 month)
Strategic marketing
Brand development
New business
Process development
People development -
Owner/Managing Director
Getfrank Ltd
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
January 2000 — January 2005 (5 years 1 month)
I was co-founder, majority shareholder and managing director of Getfrank, an award-winning creative consultancy specialising in interactivity. Getfrank’s clients included AOL, BBC, BMG, Channel 4, EMI, FA Premier League, Museum of London, Ofcom, Sony, Strategic Rail Authority and Virgin Music. Getfrank helped it’s clients win national and international awards including, Interactive Music Awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002 for EMI and Virgin, Prix Italia for Best Culture Website in 2001 for Channel 4’s 4Learning.
Getfrank was described by Computer Arts as “one of the most dynamic and exciting web agencies in Britain” in March 2001, listed as “One to Watch” in New Media Age’s Interactive Top 100 in October 2001 and achieved ISO9001 accreditation for quality management in 2003. -
Senior Producer
Victoria Real
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
October 1999 — January 2000 (4 months)
I provided strategic and production management on Victoria Real’s major account – Iceland Foods.
I project managed the development of Iceland's Home Shopping Service for the Sky Open.... interactive television platform. I also provided development and strategy for Iceland's web presence. Iceland went on to win numerous industry awards for it’s home shopping website developed at Victoria Real, including the prestigious e-commerce award at the 2000 BIMA awards. -
Senior Interactive Designer
Epic Group PLC
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)
March 1999 — September 1999 (7 months)
I produced and project managed an award-winning intranet training solution for The Royal Bank of Scotland. Project Management was carried out to ISO9001 standards. I played a central role liaising with technical and design staff, developing archiving systems for images and also directed a photoshoot involving thirty models.
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Senior Project Manager/Project Leader Area51
AOL Europe
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; AOL; Internet industry)
May 1998 — February 1999 (10 months)
I established a skunkworks team - responsible for developing innovative online properties including You're the Boss, an football management game played by tens of thousands of users, ecommerce applications and significant engineering innovation within the AOL software itself. I provided leadership and learning support across publishing platforms.
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Producer
AOL Europe
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; AOL; Internet industry)
September 1996 — May 1998 (1 year 9 months)
I was responsible for the management, development and maintenance of the highly successful Travel and Weather channels, managing an Assistant Producer and three volunteers.
This involved the creation of new content areas, which I guided through the full project lifecycle for clients such as Lonely Planet, Thomas Cook Flightbookers and The Good Hotel Guide. In addition, I facilitated the development of thriving online and offline communities such as the Camping and Caravanning forum.
I also produced successful online areas and websites for a number of collaborative initiatives including "Have Your Say" (foi.democracy.org.uk) and Gorillas in The Mist (www.gorillas.org). -
Online Sub-Editor
Mirror Group Newspapers
(Privately Held; Newspapers industry)
January 1996 — September 1996 (9 months)
My first commercial role as an interactive designer, developer, producer and online sub-editor of national newspaper titles - The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sporting Life, Daily Record and Sunday Mail and L!VE TV.. Remember the Newsbunny etc? Further work included designing online for UCAS and editing websites for Ladbrokes.
James Byford’s Education
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London Metropolitan University
BA (Hons) , Politics and Government , 1989 — 1992
Additional Information
James Byford’s Websites:
James Byford’s Interests:
Innovation, design, social media, politics, music, football(soccer), yoga, parenting, art, photography.
James Byford’s Groups:
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AOLAlumni -
Consultants Network -
Innovation Management Group -
Brighton -
Service innovation network -
Sports Industry Network™ -
we20 -
Onboarding - Accelerating New Employee Transitions -
Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing -
Social TV - next generation media (Web 2.0, mobile, digital video broadcast, DTV, STB, MHEG, IPTV) -
CastBrighton
James Byford’s Honors:
Various for client work including:
Prix Italia Culture Web Winner; Interactive Music Awards x 3; NME Awards; Webby nomination, BAFTA Interactive nomination etc
Personal:
Top 50 Movers and Shakers - Internet magazine - 2002
St Ivel Bronze Award for Cookery - 1980
James Byford’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
