Marketing stalwart cooks up retirement plans after 35-year career
A vastly-experienced East Midlands marketing professional has announced her retirement.
Bev Cook is set to step down from Simple Marketing Consultancy (SMC),the company she founded, after over 35 years in marketing roles across the region.
Succeeding her is Elliot Cook who will continue to manage the company’s client portfolio.
Cook began her career in the automotive sector before moving into professional services marketing for prominent top tier firms. Upon joining Stoy Hayward she was quickly thrown into the deep end when a week later its merger with BDO Binder Hamlin was announced. She went on to oversee growth of the merged firm from eight partners and 70 staff to 14 partners and over 200 staff, with the launch of the BDO Stoy Hayward Leicester office.
This kick started her consultancy career and roles at Bland Bankart (now Gallaghers Insurance), Faithful & Gould, Flint Bishop, Grant Thornton and Tenon followed. Whilst at Tenon the firm won the Marketing Society Star Award for best professional services brand and the European Managing Partners Forum Award for best brand in practice.
Following Tenon’s merger with RSM, Bev left and founded SMC with a business model to provide outsourced marketing support to family and owner-managed businesses on a monthly retainer basis.
Her son Elliot Cook joined the business in 2016 having provided remote support whilst studying a BSc in Business Administration whilst on a four-year football scholarship in the USA.
Based in Radcliffe on Trent, Nottinghamshire, SMC has advised businesses such as Blueprint Interiors, Alpha Rail, Purpose Media, Finch Consulting, Lesley Cree Opticians, Mather Jamie and Tecserv UK.
Cook said: “I was really privileged to be mentored by some of our region’s leading professional advisers. They encouraged me to get first-hand experience listening to owner managers and understanding their issues. Thanks to them I was able to differentiate myself as a marketer and also pass this knowledge to Elliot. I firmly believe that as my successor our clients will continue to thrive.”
Business partner Elliot Cook added, “Over the past decade, I’ve been fortunate to have an exceptional business partner by my side. With her extensive experience in offering practical marketing advice to business owners, she has been an invaluable mentor and role model. After nearly four decades in the industry, she has earned the right to hang up her boots and embrace a more leisurely lifestyle. I am immensely honoured to be assuming leadership of the business in her place and eagerly anticipate the exciting future ahead for SMC.”
Cook says she plans to spend her retirement focusing on getting fitter, looking after her Dad and playing golf more. She hopes to continue representing Notts County Ladies Golf Association and will also continue to arrange the annual Three Bunkers Golf Challenge in aid of local charity Big C Little C which has so far raised over £40,000 for local Cancer Research and NSPCC projects.
