Meet Sophie Caswell, Head of Innovation and Strategic Growth at Brew Digital

What’s your name and role at Brew Digital?

My name’s Sophie (aka classic) and I oversee the strategy process for the projects we do for our clients, and help identify new products and services which would help them.

What does a typical day look like for you? 

They’re always different! It can be anything from workshoping with new clients to understanding their internal landscape and helping to find the best ideas, to user group research, to site architecting and UX flows, to working on a new service offering or a new business pitch.

What’s your favourite part of the job? 

Working super closely with clients. Our Decision Sprint process really helps us be embedded in their team and find the best effective solutions.

When we’re digging around in a workshop and uncover the real objectives for a project rather than the ones written in a brief.

What are the bits that are most challenging?

When there aren’t enough hours in the day.

As the head of strategic growth, what are some of the common pitfalls you see companies fall into when trying to grow?

Trying to operate in the same way which brought them initial success. 

Like the proverbial ‘difficult second album’, every successful start-up goes through a messy teenage stage as they try to scale. This is often because they believe the entrepreneurial attitude which got them to where they are will carry them through as they grow. But this is not the case; that tight-knit team who created some magic and a great culture is difficult to maintain as you evolve. 

Poor communication, departure of valued team members and reductions in productivity are all common issues of companies going through a ‘messy teenage stage’—and not all of them even make it through.

The swiftness with which problems are identified and a willingness of the management to evolve and proactively manage change determines how smooth the growth trajectory will be, or indeed if there will be any trajectory at all. 

What does innovation mean to you, and why do you think it’s important for businesses to embrace it?

If you have a curious spirit and you like to tinker, then you’re never short of ideas. The difficulty is making them happen and making sure you’re backing the right ones.

Having the discipline to have a process to identify all the great ideas coming out of a team and then evaluating GENUINELY whether they have legs and how to go about making them happen.

You’re one of the OG employees of Brew Digital. What are some of the changes you’ve seen over the years?

The biggest one is that there are lots more women! For so many years I was the only girl. Now we’re about 40% women including 50% of the management team. So that’s a pretty healthy statistic. 

On the downside, office snacks are more healthy :( 

The pandemic changed the shape of our team massively. We were able to attract talent from all over the globe and we’re very proud to be across 4 continents now. It's great to find fantastic talents but also culturally like-minded people. We’re all very different but we have some shared values and it's a wonderful feeling.

Do you have a secret skill or talent your work colleagues don’t know about?

In a completely different industry my nickname is ‘The Invisible Girl’.  And no it's not because I don’t turn up.

Is there anything about the job that surprises you? Or something people might not know about what you do?

I’m always surprised when people don’t have a strategy and how much more empowered they are when someone comes in and helps them come up with one. There's a view that it's got to take weeks to come up with one... Not so. That’s one of the reasons Decision Sprints work so well. They take 2 hours, clients feel empowered, everyone’s aligned and it's one meeting to save 10. There’s a good case study here for the Marketing Society which talks a bit about the results. 

Is there a project you’re particularly proud of?

Quietly… yes lots. I’m proud that the clients enjoy working with us because they love and admire the way we approach projects from a strategic analytic perspective, and the results they get from it.

I’m really proud of Decision Sprints. It's really fast, really fun and usually really surprises clients – in a good way.

How do you spend your ‘off-time’? 

I’m big on ‘make and do’. Whether it's knitting penguins or plastering a wall. Also if anyone says ‘oh you won’t be able to do that yadda yadda…’ I have to do it just to prove a point.

Don't tell me I can’t because I’m out to prove you wrong.

Do you have any book, film or TV recommendations? 

Errrm… I’ve got the longest list of stuff I want to consume. Sinners is an amazing film which everyone should go see. I’m also very much enjoying The Penguin, and the second season of The Last of Us (like everyone else…). I still want to see Godzilla Minus One on a big screen if I can find it still playing somewhere, it’s not usually my thing but apparently it’s AMAZING.

Is there an upcoming or emerging technology that has you really excited? 

Well exciting and terrifying... The idea that by its very nature AI will make technology more human and easier to interact with, which should mean it's easier to integrate with everyday life – particularly for those for whom technology seems very inaccessible. 

But with that capability comes responsibility. Just using AI for ‘tasks’ you can’t be bothered to do seems like a fail to me. The fact that AI can be used to screen Breast Cancer Diagnoses 10x faster with the same accuracy as humans is a win given resource issues in medical care.

Why do you love working at Brew Digital?

How much people care, about their work, about their clients and about their colleagues.  It's a pretty unique culture.