Ben Kaye

SURREAL

Gimme a sec to settle into the role, and then I'll tell you what I've been up to!

Category & Commercial Manager

Spin Tennis App

• Drew up an events plan to add an additional USP and revenue stream for Spin Tennis App
• Creating and hosting events to further engagement within the Spin Tennis Community
• Sourcing venues to deliver an enjoyable experience for Spin members
• Initial events in 2025 have had 100+ attendees with a positive experience and demand for further events

Event Manager

2 Sisters Food Group

Category Manager within the Poultry division, working across a variety of retail customers:
• Responsible for analysis of all protein space & sales performance for a large convenience retailer, helping deliver "the best presentation across the supply base" (retail buyer), resulting in 20% incremental space and additional SKUs worth £m of pounds to the business
• Led and delivered the development of best-in-class insights reporting website, delivering the team’s category insight, in-store reports and data analysis all in one centralised place for customers
• Produced comprehensive consumer insight report to assist retailers in understanding Christmas purchase decisions
• Used data and analytics skills to redesign and rebuild the Co-op Sales Reporting process to give more profound and more powerful insights to the commercial team, resulting in the award of Employee of the Month
• Led the delivery of category insights for BBQ Season 2024, featuring new image-based market maps

Category Manager

Well Fruited

Co-founder of a drinks brand that used product innovation and fun to address the fact that only 28% of adults consume 5 portions of fruit & veg a day.

Some key accomplishments:
• Co-created the first fruit drink made using all of the fruit, designed to maximise fibre and nutrient content, whilst limiting sugar impact
• Bootstrapped the business through initial product testing phases by using self-taught skills such as web design, branding, financial modelling & prototyping
• Sold over 5,000 bottles as part of initial testing phase, through various channels such as D2C, B2B and live events
• 7m video views across TikTok, YouTube & Instagram
•Charted the growth of the brand alongside my insights into what makes a consumer-business stand out

Co-Founder & CEO

Unrest

Participated in the programme to help strengthen the foundations of the business and fuel the growth of the Well Fruited brand.

As part of the programme:
- Refined our Pitch Deck & proposition
-Built out Financial Projections & models
- Refined brand strategy
- Engaged in the wider Unrest community

Entrepreneur at Unrest (London)

Year Here

Working on solutions to societal problems to deliver positive impact and social change.

Mar - August 2021: Population Health Team, Bromley-by-Bow Health Partnership. Projects included:
• Project Best Start: analysing data to build a profile of young people within Tower Hamlets and help inform decisions on how to give every child the best start in life
• Project Ways of Working: delivered a report that assessed ways of working across the Health Partnership, with recommendations on how to improve ways of working across areas such as meetings, project management and document sharing
• Project Talking Food: organised and facilitated sessions around nutrition and healthy diet for local community members to help improve wellbeing, which results in some "life-changing" results

Sep - Oct 2021: Consultant on a project for Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation around equitable and representative employment for the local area

Social Innovation Fellow

Bakkavor

Working across UK & Ireland on one of the UK's largest retailers on multiple fresh prepared food categories.

Role included delivering first-to-market innovation, long-term strategic planning, stakeholder management, building customer relationships and commercial analysis.

Key accomplishments:
• Shortlisted for Bakkavor Group Innovation Awards for work on Post-Launch Review Process
• Led the introduction of a new software tool to deliver faster, more accurate and in-depth sales reporting on a weekly basis to transform the way the sales teams reported on performance, whilst saving countless hours of data collection
• Worked on a bespoke strategy for Tesco Ireland to adapt offerings to fit the market need, resulting in cutting wastage by 20%
• Launched new product ranges across multiple retailers, cuisines and tiers, worth over £10m in annual sales revenue

Testimonials:
• Attention to detail is fantastic and it’s been a great support

Commercial Manager

Managing key retailer accounts across a variety of Fresh Prepared Foods categories to deliver first to market innovation and profitable business growth.

Responsible for Category Strategy, Promotional Planning and International Projects, achieved through cross-functional working and a commitment to innovative and new working practices.

Key accomplishments:
• Improved forecasting accuracy by c.15%pt through the creation and implementation of an analysis tool
• Established a clear set of category information documentation that enabled the team to become category pioneers through easy-to-access information on product & promotional performance
• Grew an e-commerce account 28% YOY, ahead of the growth trajectory for the retailer overall
• Improve margin performance of at-risk lines through Product Development work to recover of £50k p/a

Testimonials:
Ben is a self-starter and is constantly looking at avenues and ways to add value to the business. 
He has proactively volunteered for add on projects and has been working with grit and determination on PLR (Post Launch Review) project which has been identified as a big opportunity.

Account Manager

Part of the Commercial Team, working directly with two of the UK's largest retailers and a wide range of various stakeholders.

Worked across a variety of Fresh Prepared Foods categories on both projects with retailers and supplier-related projects. This has included forecasting, promotional activity, category management and using specific data sources and systems.

Key achievements:
• Winner of Graduate's Graduate Award (2018) for contribution to the business and experience of graduates on the programme
• Won monthly innovation award for leading a project to save M&S over £1m in food waste on their Italian ready meal category

Testimonials:
Ben has made an impressive start to his career at Bakkavor and is a pleasure to have on the team. His approach is humble, respectful, resilient and committed.

Commercial Graduate

Tesco

Primarily working on promotional strategy and ranging across the Plant-Based ranges within Fresh & Frozen. Helping to deliver double-digit growth in one of the emerging areas within the food industry.

Additionally assisted in the delivery of the 2019 Christmas Party Food Range.

Key accomplishments:
• Ranging recommendations delivered possible incremental sale of £31m and £14m margin for Tesco across chilled & frozen ranges
• Ensured timely launch of Christmas Party Food ranges to ensure all lines were correctly executed in-store

Product Analyst

The Holiday Place

Working in the Product Department which involves:
• Dealing with contracts with suppliers
• Content writing for the website
• Using the dedicated software to manage hotel and flight details

Administration Assistant

XpressionFM

I was:
• Head of Marketing at Xpression FM (www.xpression.fm)
• Xpression FM Saturday Sport Show pundit (www.facebook.com/xpressionsportshow)
• Producer of Highly A-Newsing (www.facebook.com/highlyanewsing)

Head of Marketing

💥 MY BACKGROUND
👨🏻‍💻 I work in Category Management across multiple customers, covering insights, sales analysis and consumer trends
🛒 I've worked with some of the UK's largest retailers on their own label ranges, launching over 100 products
📈 Focusing on sales growth, product assortment and category strategy
🍲 Seconded to work for the UK's largest food retailer in supporting the launch of two new brands
🍊Co-founder of Well Fruited; developing first-to-market innovation; a drink with half the sugar of a juice/smoothie, with 4k+ units sold and over 7m times across TikTok, Instagram & YouTube!
🎾 I once won the Junior Tennis Tournament at my local tennis club, so am always up for a game

💥 TESTIMONIALS
▶️ "The guys who created and make the product [Well Fruited] are extraordinary, they fully deserve the success coming their way!"
▶️ "Your ability to spot the smallest details in a giant spreadsheet of numbers is unreal"
▶️ "A deserved winner of Employee of the Month for going above and beyond in helping the team"

Feel free to connect with me to chat...or for a game of tennis 🤝

Co-Founder

Co-founder of a Food & drink brand using product innovation and fun to address the fact that only 28% of adults consume 5 portions of fruit & veg a day.

Some key accomplishments:
• Co-created the first fruit drink made using all of the fruit, designed to maximise fibre and nutrient content, whilst limiting sugar impact
• Bootstrapped the business through initial product testing phases by using self-taught skills such as web design, branding, financial modelling & prototyping
• 6m video views across TikTok, YouTube & Instagram
•Charting the growth of the brand alongside my insights into what makes a consumer-business stand out

Natural Baby Shower Ltd

Indie Refill

Orchestrated Indie's journey from inception to international market penetration, leveraging real-time consumer feedback, digital marketing strategies, and rapid product iteration.

- Achieved 20% YoY growth, expanding into US and Middle East markets, notably partnering with global brands like Urban Outfitters and Faces
- Adopted a ‘test and learn’ strategy, with products available for purchase within 2 weeks of incorporation
- Successfully managed a product crisis after initial launch, strategically harnessed feedback from dissatisfied consumers, transforming them into valuable collaborators for the product redevelopment phase
- Steered product development in compliance with market standards, introducing an award-winning conditioner and achieving a Trustpilot score of 4.8
- Championed a data-driven approach in consumer product testing, resulting in a robust 60% return purchase rate
- Leveraged PR as an awareness channel, securing features in renowned publications like Hello! and TechRound
- Bootstrapped, supplementing with a small Friends & Family funding round
- Engineered a multi-platform digital marketing strategy that amassed over a million views across TikTok and Instagram
- Designed and refined a high-ROI email marketing funnel, crafting a campaign that acquired emails for 30p

Founder

Greenacre Autocentre

Trusted advisor to the Director, providing comprehensive support in a variety of areas, from conducting due diligence during the acquisition of the business to crafting annual financial projections, recruitment plans and COVID crisis management. Creation and implementation of marketing strategy from digital marketing (SEO, PPC, Email) to long-term retention strategies

- Led the rebrand and relaunch of the business within the local market, an effort that tripled revenue within two years
- Crisis management during the COVID period, including team restructuring and implementation of redundancy process
- Transitioned the business from loss-making to profitability within the first year
- Management and approval of all department budgets ensuring long-term profitability
- Management and ongoing training of Admin Assistant and Receptionist team

Strategy Consultant

LaundryRepublic

Strategy development and implementation of B2B and B2C marketing through omni-channel methods

- Launched B2B marketing function, achieving a 1240% ROI within the first 6 months
- Streamlined customer acquisition process, cutting acquisition costs by 50% and increasing conversion rate by 10%

Head of Marketing (Fractional)

Entrepeneur at Unrest (London)

Happy Joe

Spearheaded go-to-market and broader marketing strategies, effectively managing marketing budgets to meet strict CPA targets and implementing key digital marketing initiatives including PPC ads, SEO, and website development.

- Formulated and led the go-to-market strategy and broader marketing strategies, leading to a 120% month-on-month increase in app downloads
- Served as the consumer's voice during the app development process, contributing to a 300% increase in daily active users
- Pioneered the incorporation of Mixpanel, outlining data requirements to enhance user insights and facilitate strategic decision-making

CMO (Fractional)

Volter Electric

D2C e-scooter start-up Founding team member responsible for the go-to-market strategy including brand and product development, e-commerce development and budget management.

- Drove marketing strategy, managed budgets, and spearheaded growth, achieving a consistent 40% MoM increase from inception.
- Shaped the brand, creating its unique tone of voice and core values.
- Oversaw all e-commerce operations, including website design and creation, inventory control, SEO optimisation, packaging, customer service, and the integration of Shopify plugins.
- Crafted compelling content and managed all social media channels, also initiated a YouTube platform for expanded reach
- Executed digital marketing campaigns across Facebook and Google Suite (Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping)

Head of Customer & Growth

Full ownership of the marketing funnel and development of the brand, working alongside the founders. Grew the marketing team, from scratch, to 3 team members. Led the growth from 5,000 to 400,000 users over two years through both online and offline channels and managed multi-million pound budgets. 

- In charge of all acquisition channels, both online and offline, and ensuring CPI and COCA KPIs are met
- Managed the go-to-market strategy on new product releases, including the launch of Social, which doubled our revenue in the first month
- Managed multiple large-scale area launches across London and Brighton
- Day to day running of the department, including managing all communications, CRM, daily growth and customer service strategy
- Ownership of all ATL and BTL marketing, including managing agencies and a rebrand
- Developmental growth and management of the marketing team (1-to-1s, training, growth, team)
- Spoke on a Festival of Marketing panel: Think BIG, spend less: A guide to content marketing on a shoestring budget

Sole member of the marketing team responsible for all consumer facing comms and meeting acquisition targets.
- Wrote, sent and analysed all comms, including push notifications and emails, utilising the data to develop a communication strategy
- Managed entire team of promotional staff (60+ members)
- Ordered and stock managed all promotional materials
- Creation and development of all partner facing communications

Marketing Manager

Yoyo Wallet

Brought in to manage both MAU and revenue growth at strategic sites, brand partnerships and B2B and B2C communication strategy. Chosen to lead a new product launch and a rebrand. 

- Led Freshers relaunch at 60 sites, resulting in YoY growth of 53.6%
- Launched a physical loyalty card at 17 sites, including Planet Organic, with a conversion rate from card to app of 30%
- Organised nationwide retailer training events, including: redeveloping all training materials and logistics or both staff and attendees
- Led the rebrand of all consumer marketing materials
- Redesigned the complete onboarding flow for retailers, including managing development of new onboarding documents
- Managed all mass communication, in both B2B and B2C markets
- Managed brand partnerships including Coca Cola and Red Bull
- Managed the consumer growth funnel, increasing conversion rates at key stick points

Marketing Growth Manager

Campus Group

Hired to manage a short-term account with Deliveroo to drive sign-ups for student riders.

- Managed strategic direction of the campaign to align with both the market and Deliveroo key messages
- Management and development of the Account Executive 
- Recruited and managed 44 student ambassadors
- Ran experiential events, leading to 1000 sign ups. 
- Managed Facebook advert campaigns, reaching over 10,000 students.

🚀 As a 'Full Stack' Marketing Leader and Founder, I specialise in scalable growth and setting strategic direction to guarantee long-term sustainability. With a diligent focus on the entire marketing funnel (AARRR framework) my experience ranges from shoestring budgets to Series B, building marketing teams and strategies through the transitional period of successful fundraising .

I am passionate about gaining deep consumer insights and leveraging data-driven decision-making. I’ve spearheaded growth across sectors such as F&B, FMCG, and FinTech, adeptly serving ABC1, student, Gen Z and Millenial demographics.

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Ben Kaye

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