Sky Marketing Director Joins Le Col
Simon Creasey, a director of marketing at Sky, is joining cycling apparel brand Le Col as chief marketing officer in February. He will lead the sales and marketing growth plans for Le Col as it scales to become a major brand in the global cycling market.
Simon has over 20 years’ experience within sales and marketing and has been a director at Sky for a decade. His roles have included director of acquisition marketing and strategy, NOW TV director (where he founded and launched the new service) and most recently director of Sky Store.
Yanto Barker, founder and CEO of Le Col said: “I am absolutely thrilled that someone with Simon’s pedigree has chosen to join us at Le Col. Simon’s exceptional sales & marketing experience will help us transform this business to become a leading player in cycling. With his track record of delivering extraordinary growth and business success at Sky, this is the perfect appointment for the next phase of Le Col’s journey.
“I’m particularly delighted that, although it was Simon’s enthusiasm for cycling that first piqued his interest in Le Col, it was his passionate belief in our vision, our product and our business plan that convinced him to join our team. With Simon’s appointment and our current £1m crowdfunding investment programme, which surpassed £800k in its first few weeks, I’m confident and excited about the next years of rapid expansion for Le Col.”
Simon Creasey added: “I’m incredibly excited by the opportunity for growth at Le Col. Yanto and his team have achieved so much already and have built excellent foundations for the next phase of the business. They have a superior product, which could only be developed with the obsession for perfection of an elite professional cyclist. They also have a strong operating model including ownership of the specialist factory in Treviso Italy and they’ve built a premium brand with an authentic identity.
“My role will be to take the sales and marketing function to the next level and share the brand story more widely. The UK cycling market alone is already worth £1.2bn and I’m confident that we can significantly grow our share of the UK and global market over the next few years as we build awareness, engagement and desire for Le Col, coupled with a transformation in our e-commerce and digital capabilities.”
Barker spoke to Sport Industry Group last month about why more brands – including his own – are turning to crowdfunding, read the full article here. Le Col is still aiming to reach its target of £1m here.
