Samara Jones is a British national born in 1974 who has over 15 years of experience in marketing roles, primarily in the Middle East. She has held positions such as Marketing Manager for Victoria's Secret and House of Fraser, where she implemented strategic marketing plans and initiatives that increased sales and customer databases. Her experience includes launching new stores, managing budgets, and building strong relationships with stakeholders.

1. Samara Jones
Date of Birth: 23rd March 1974 Nationality: British
Marital Status: Married Mobile No: +971 56 836 3813
Email: samarajrmcleod@yahoo.com
Personal Profile
Energetic, self-motivated and experienced Marketing Manager committed to marketing activities that add value and impact
bottom line business results. Able to deliver all aspects of marketing on both strategic and operational levels, I have an
excellent overall strategic view, with a hands-on approach to implement corporate marketing, and highly driven to achieve
results. I have a high level of interpersonal expertise and English communication both written and oral. Implementation of
all Marketing processes on both strategic and operational levels. An individual who is ambitious, creative, entrepreneurial
and enthusiastic, can apply excellent managerial, interpersonal skills to any business.
Employment History
Marketing & Visual Merchandising Manager October 2015 – June 2016
Multi-brands, Retail Arabia International, Dubai (House of Fraser, Oscar de la Renta, Pretty Ballerinas, Moss Bros)
 Built the marketing strategy to include all elements of PR & Marketing with an emphasis on social media across both
department and luxury stores covering all concepts – Ladies, Men's, Kids, Beauty & Home
 Working alongside merchandising created & implemented the promotional/floor set marketing calendar for all
concepts with supporting in-store POS sign packs resulting in +15% versus annual business plan YTD 2016
 In line with Beauty partners & fragrance launches built up a comprehensive activity calendar in mall and store –
podiums, make up artists, demos, in store animations/promo areas
 Managed brand partnerships organizing weekly customer events across all concepts in store to drive traffic & sales;
e.g. beauty events achieved 10% of total weekly beauty sales in the one day of event
 Organized private beauty sales event with royal connections & their family/friends resulting in long term customer
base & supported sales to be +15% versus annual budget
 Managed data capture/loyalty card sign ups in store & externally with total database increasing from 8k to 14k over 5
months
 Daily communication to our card holders showing a 10% conversion to sales
 Implemented card promotions to induce loyalty resulting in 12% of sales YTD from loyalty card holders & an average
visit of x 4 per month
 Introduced more definitive criteria for customers to fill in on database cards in order to analyze customer profile
 Excellent relationships with key stakeholders in media/PR and achieve monthly free editorial of Dhs 300k & efficient
management of external agencies
 Built excellent relationships with brand partners gaining 70% of brand participation for concessions & consignments
for sales & promotions
 VM processes implemented to ensure that promotions/sale are executed efficiently and in line with the launch
 Implemented VM calendar to reflect window changes bi-weekly & floor moves based on sales across all concepts
resulting in +300% uplift in sales versus previous week
 Taken the initiative operationally & implemented a weekly trade focus to cover all departments to ensure store teams
are focused on driving daily KPI’s
 Excellent relationships with complimentary third parties in Malls & externally arranging mutually beneficial &
successful in store events
 Built very strong relationships with Malls; House of Fraser was selected as the sole partner for the launch of Yas Mall
magazine
 Through aggressive clearance promotions reduced the aged inventory by Dhs 3 million over 4 months.

2. Marketing Manager, Victoria’sSecret, M H Alshaya Co LLC, Dubai September 2011 – September 2015
 Recruited, set up & led the Marketing & PR team across MENA (6 countries) for VS Full Assortment
 Led the expansion and launch campaigns for VS Beauty & Accessories and managed the wholesale business with
third parties
 Excellent business experience & in depth knowledge of setting up a new brand working across functions with finance,
operations, merchandising, HR, finance & logistics.
 Very successfully launched 13 Victoria’s Secret Full Assortment stores in the GCC & Turkey, resulting in record sales
 Plan & implement the VS Marketing strategy working very closely with other function heads to ensure KPI’s are met &
we deliver an excellent & consistent customer experience.
 Manage all VSFA PR and Marketing activities across MENA and expansion and growth in Turkey and Russia.
 Built and driven data capture to 500k in 7 months
 Oversee all execution of CRM activities with a very strategic targeted approach resulting in record campaigns within
the business; involved in high level CRM projects within Alshaya
 Ability to react quickly to sales through promotional activity with measurement
 Consistently assess the effectiveness of in store marketing always striving for improvement
 Excellent knowledge of asset management overseeing implementation of bi-weekly in store campaigns, managing the
work flow of all creative elements from transcreation, translation through to execution
 Excellent communicator & built strong relationships with mall managements, local production companies, media & PR
agencies/third parties always striving for brand quality
 Leverage brand PR tools & implement strategy through media relationships & events resulting in a supermodel event
in December 2013 generating an advertising equivalent of over $1million
 Manage budgets of +$4 million efficiently and effectively
 Selected as future talent of & passed Level 5 for the Institute of Leadership Management 2013, ‘Led By You’
 Coach & develop the team to recognize potential, improve performance & grow within the business.
Marketing & PR Manager, H&M, Alshaya Co WLL, Kuwait March 2009 – August 2011
 Manage the strategic planning & delivery of innovative & impactful marketing & PR campaigns through ATL & BTL
activities across MENA in 8 countries to deliver weekly sales targets.
 Devise internal H&M annual marketing calendar working closely with the planning, merchandising & visual teams.
 Managed a portfolio of 50 stores across the Middle East (successfully opened 30).
 Launched H&M in Lebanon with strategic outdoor campaigns, opening events & shopping incentives resulting in
record sales.
 Manage & control annual marketing budget of $12 million including PO system
 Created and maintain the customer database from 0 – 350,000 customers through CRM initiatives, direct mail & social
media platforms.
 Successfully launched 4 designer collaborations across 3 markets, achieving record daily sales; also ranked number 2
within H&M globally.
 Implement successful tactical marketing campaigns re-acting on weekly sales v targets.
 Outstanding relationships with all external suppliers, malls & media agencies across the Middle East.
 Created the PR department now resulting in $15 million of free advertising per year.
 Plan and implement the annual H&M PR & Communication Plan for each market.
 Manage all PR events in store or external locations e.g. seasonal Press Shows.
 Working alongside the host brand, create, organize and implement all Marketing POS to stores within tight deadlines.
 Responsible for the CSR strategyand implementation; Media trained in order to deal with crisis management.
 Produced & distributed the seasonal (4 issues per year) H&M Magazine withone of largest circulation in the region (150,000
copies)
Sunday Times ‘Style in the City’ – London
 Developed & implemented marketing strategy for ‘Sunday Times Style in the City’ Birmingham
 Executed the marketing plan ensuring all media relations, advertising, online, promotional events & PR activities were
provided generating maximum exposure & ticket sales

3.  Managed all external relationships with suppliers, advertising agency, PR, online
 Worked very closely with retail associations, individual retailers & media partners obtaining maximum exposure & ticket
sales opportunities
 Created and developed the event website managing it on a daily basis
 Produced, maintained & analyzed daily ticket sales
 Established excellent contacts with industry specific media, personalities and brands
 Managed & controlled the marketing budget
 Produced marketing material for retailers to use in-store to assist in promoting the Style in the City brand
Sales & Marketing Consultant @ Deploy demi couture Women’s wear, UK Feb 2008 – May 2008
 Trade shows
 Constant contact with international boutiques & department stores growing the wholesale database
 Weekly press releases and mail shots to sales database and press
 Customer shopping evenings
 Corporate events with city businesses
 Third party tie ins
 Constant contact with Press
 Relationship marketing
PR & Marketing Manager @ Joy Ltd Jul 2007 – Feb 2008
 Manage a team of five people including website and graphic design
 Create & implement international PR & Marketing strategy across the UK and Ireland
 Increase brand awareness within the fashion and property sector of the retail industry
 Concentrate on creating and building relationships with all Press achieving maximum coverage in the National and Regional
publications
 Constant evaluation of PR activity
 Product images sent to Press on a daily basis
 Having identified key publications write press releases and send to relevant media on a weekly basis
 Following the current trends with regards to websites have focused on PR opportunities on the websites of all fashion
publications, national and regional
 Create and maintain excellent relationships with companies that will compliment the company, organising regular in-store
events. These events would be advertised to journalists ensuring coverage in the local press
 Working alongside regional editor’s and PR’s organise local fashion shows in conjunction with new store openings, offering
promotions and incentives to guests
 Maintain excellent relationships with store managers, encouraging them to improve on data capture using incentives
 Email the database on a weekly basis notifying them of new products in-store, forthcoming events etc
 Evaluation of performance at a store level taking action when necessary
PR & Marketing Director @ Phase Eight Ltd Sept 2003 – April 2007
 Creating the seasonal themes, managed & coordinated seasonal photo shoots (in studio’s and on location) working
alongside well known fashion photographers and stylists
 Plan & buy media space in national and regional publications, managing budgets efficiently
 Maintained excellent & continued to create new relationships with all Media
 Increased the level of product placement to achieve advertising equivalents of £2 million per year
 Off the back of a very strong relationship with the magazine, placed two editorial campaigns with a weekend supplement (at
no cost)
 Design & produce look books for the Press
 Each season organised the Press Show showcasing the forthcoming collections
 Press releases written on a monthly basis, sent to press highlighting new product in-store
 Designed and produced direct mail which was subsequently sent to the database
 Create & Design Point of Sale Materials used for window imagery, in-store imagery and promotional material at till point

4.  Designed and produced look books for stores to help with merchandising and used as a selling tool
 Affinity Marketing – Alongside relevant companies create exciting original events and promotions
 Managed the customer database
 Weekly analysis of customer database; where she lives, how old, what magazines she reads etc
 Responsible for Market Research supporting business objectives of attracting consumers and build loyalty
 Oversee the design of the website.
Qualifications
 8 CSE’s inc English & Mathematics
 2 A Levels in French & Geography
 Teaching Diploma ( Hons)