A New Adventure
The summer is over and – at long last – so are my travels. My work with Lucozade is at an end and this time last week, I finished up my stint with Oxfam as well.
As the title suggests, it is indeed, time for a new adventure.
Today I’m doing just that by joining 1000heads as Engagement Strategy Director.
I’ve been aware of and worked alongside many different people from 1000heads (aka ‘the word of mouth people’) over the past four years, and they’ve always impressed me with their ideas, professionalism and more than anything else, their ethics. We’ve often shared stories about our respective projects & conversation ideals and very recently I had the opportunity to talk to them much more openly about my long term plans and ambitions.
It was the synergy that came from these meetings that made me realise that working with 1000heads was clearly the next logical step in my career. When it transpired that they felt the same way, everything just fell into place…
Even if you don’t know of 1000heads, you might not be surprised to hear that they are word of mouth (WOM) specialists. The company works with a range of clients from various industries to understand and engage with their consumers, from Nokia and 3Mobile to Canon, STA Travel, Sky and the BBC.
I am absolutely over the moon about joining the ‘heads and can’t wait to sink my teeth into the work ahead. I’ve already been into the office to meet some of the team and I’m going to spend this coming week getting up to speed with the accounts, campaigns and overall strategies I’ll be working on in the coming months.
After an eventful summer (where I really feel like I’ve been getting my hands dirty again), this move makes complete sense to me and well, I look forward to telling you all about the new adventures, as they happen.
Said in the only way I know how:
Bring it on.
October 5th, 2009 at 09:58
Congratulations! Can’t wait to see which companies you’ll be helping! Here Here! Next time I’m in London I’ll buy you a beer.
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October 5th, 2009 at 09:58
Congratulations mate, tad jealous about the job title.
We should celebrate like it’s 0009 soon.
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October 5th, 2009 at 09:58
Big congrats partnah, looking forward to some awesome stuff from you!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:03
Congrats dude, hope it brings you new and interesting challenges, and I look forward to following your continued adventures.
J.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:04
Hey James
Congratulations! All the best to you and all the heads!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:07
Congrats James.! Nice 1 mate.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:09
Congrats James.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:09
Congrats mate, good luck!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:11
Nicely done James, good luck in the next phase of Whatley!!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:18
Yay Whatleydude is coming to 1000heads!
You’ll meet me soon enough ^_^
¬O-DoG
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:22
A perfect match! I’m so pleased that 1000heads managed to snag the irrepressible Mr. Whatley. I’m sure you’ll do great things James. Congratulations!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:26
congratulations.
Based on your previous commuting experience can we assume you will be based out of the Oxford office
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:30
SWEET!
They seem like a great company to work for. Certainly everybody I’ve met there is great.
Killer title, too.
Engage!
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:33
Congrats James! Good luck with all those heads.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:37
AWESOME
That is all. x
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:38
Congratulations, more exciting times ahead for you. The ICA will be just a little bit emptier now you’ve got a London office
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:39
Well done James! Enjoy
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:40
Good luck James .
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:41
Nice one – sounds like you’ll be right in your element.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:58
Great news… as ever you’ve landed on your feet.
If I believed in job-karma, I’d say this was it, but I don’t… so you must have earned it.
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:59
Don’t know if I’m happier for James or the ‘heads. This is a dangerously well matched pair. Congratulations all around!
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:03
Congratulations, sounds a great fit.
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:28
Huge congrats James
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:45
Congrats – sounds like an interesting role…
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:46
Congratulations and all the best bro!
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:49
Congratulations fella! Well deserved!
Just so u know I have left ARN so if you have any recommendations James them please let me know…
Thanks man!
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October 5th, 2009 at 11:50
good stuff man, looking forward to seeing more excellent stuff coming from the heads crowd and maybe seeing you at their staff drinks sometime in the future! don’t let em work you too hard
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October 5th, 2009 at 12:01
Congrats! Godspeed!
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October 5th, 2009 at 12:33
Nice one. I reckon that’s a pretty good match…
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October 5th, 2009 at 13:07
Fantastic news James, I can’t wait to see your first campaign.
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October 5th, 2009 at 13:17
Congratulations James – good news!
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October 5th, 2009 at 13:26
Congrats – looking forward to you rocking the WOM stuff.
Laterz
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October 5th, 2009 at 13:57
Congrats James! Looking forward to watching the Heads spin!
mp/m
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October 5th, 2009 at 14:27
Could not be more excited for you and 1000heads – having worked with both of you, it’s definitely an awesome match.
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October 5th, 2009 at 14:33
looking forward to being engaged
congratz, dude
xo an
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October 5th, 2009 at 16:56
This is win-win for *everyone*… Congrats!
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October 5th, 2009 at 17:11
The WOM team do indeed choose their team well! =)
Most excellent news James, congratulations fella!
I look forward to following your next series of adventures…
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October 5th, 2009 at 21:07
Your good news gave me a very big smile–an awesome adventure ahead!
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October 5th, 2009 at 21:12
Awesome news! Congratulations both to you, and 1000heads
From what little I’ve seen of 1000heads, it seems like they’re definitely going in the right direction. And seeing that you’ve now joined them, clearly that makes them an all the more awesome agency 
Sounds like you’re really coming into you’re own now 
Excellent stuff!!
Can’t wait to see what awesome stuff you generate and create with them
Best of luck settling into you’re new team.
Cheers
Farhan
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October 6th, 2009 at 10:27
maybe one of your clients will send you to Vancouver for the Olympics and we can do the mobilist bike ride that I spoke about when you were with the previous company! congrats!
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October 6th, 2009 at 16:14
I completely agree with PseudoFinn – “This is a dangerously well matched pair. ”
Bring it on, is right!
To quote Motley Crue, “Knock ‘em dead, kid.”
;oD
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October 7th, 2009 at 04:32
[...] A New Adventure | whatleydude [...]
October 7th, 2009 at 20:15
Totally #awesome09!
All the best mate,
Mike
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October 7th, 2009 at 22:22
Many congratulations James – damned fine news!
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October 8th, 2009 at 14:37
Interesting. Happy for you.
Keep kicking butt.
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October 9th, 2009 at 17:00
You know what they say… 100Heads are better than 500…
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October 12th, 2009 at 21:34
Oops, bit slow on the uptake here
Massive congratulations! You keep on moving from cool job to cooler job. Bit jealous.
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October 18th, 2009 at 21:37
This is awesome… Well done and good luck from Glenn, the GEO guy!
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October 19th, 2009 at 18:17
top move James – and a great job title. Congratulations!
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November 4th, 2009 at 13:36
Well done James – am definitely keen to learn about all the cool stuff you’d be working on – yes trust, respect, and ethics with users are core to proper WOM.
Lovely videos I felt like I’ve travelled around the world just looking at your blogs
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January 4th, 2010 at 10:59
[...] back in October when I first joined 1000heads, I struck up a conversation with one of my colleagues about the whole ‘what’s going to [...]
January 27th, 2011 at 10:40
[...] myself, having spent 2010 defining (and refining) the engagement strategy for the company both internally and externally, [...]