Marketing category winner Julian Horberry/Propaganda

Ask Julian Horberry what he enjoys most about his job and he recalls the time when clients approached his company Propaganda with a brief to develop a new brand for the female market.

The brief did not contain a specific product, strategy or idea: it was up to Propaganda to come up with all those. “They just said ‘we wanted to create something new for the female market’,” says Horberry, 39.

Having so little to go on was a daunting experience but after conducting extensive market research he and his colleagues hit on the idea of make-up and Illamasqua was born.

The brand, which according to its PR blurb has “roots stemming from the dark and illicit 1920s club scene”, is now sold in Selfridges, Debenhams and Fenwick and is about to be launched in America.

“Something like that is fantastic,” says Horberry, planning director at Propaganda. “It’s almost an agency brand.” His other achievements include helping the fleet performance company FMG Support to grow from a small client base in Huddersfield to a national brand that is now competing with the likes of the AA and developing strategies that have helped the bakers Greggs to grow in recent years.

Horberry admits that things do not always turn out so well but the sheer excitement and unpredictability of consulting is the heart of its appeal. “It’s about bringing skills and an objectivity to a company’s business or marketing that the company could not possibly have because they live and breathe it.”

Unlike most consulting firms, Propaganda is based in Leeds. Horberry was born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, and lived in London for 15 years before moving to West Yorkshire to join his current employers five years ago. He graduated with a degree in business studies and worked in market research for five years before entering consulting. He is now a Propaganda shareholder and has no plans to move on.

Horberry says you need to be confident about making far-reaching recommendations to the people at the top of big businesses. “Senior managers have to really trust me, otherwise what’s the point?”

Devising strategies that can affect thousands of jobs is stressful. “Pressure is always there. Having that difficult conversation and wondering whether you could have done anything differently or better is the worst part of the job.”

He says winning the award would be “fantastic”, adding: “Because we are in Leeds we are not as well known as some mega-brands so it would be a big pat on the back for our methods.”

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tim Clement-Jones, a judge in this category, says: “Julian’s a guy you want to work with and that’s important, particularly in marketing. It shows that Propaganda has got the right people and its personal approach is a successful one.”

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