Rowena Holland
Managing Director
Rowena (Row) Holland has more than 35 years experience of publishing and
public relations. As a journalist she worked on a broad range of
publications in the agricultural, catering, food, inflight and travel
retail sectors including International Tax Free Trader and DFNI. From
1988 to 1996 she acted as a consultant within UK PR company, The PM
Partnership, specialising in food and catering accounts.In 1996 Rowena
saw a niche for an agency that would specialise in duty free/travel
retail and Essential Communications was born.
Ben Holland
Media Coordinator & Social Media Manager
Ben joined Essential Communications in 2010 after taking both PR and
social media marketing courses in London. Ben’s role is wide-ranging and includes monitoring press coverage,
writing and issuing releases, managing our social media presence, and providing general assistance to clients
and the media.
Tilly Holland
Marketing & New Business Development Manager
Officially joining the team in 2015, Tilly is already well known in the
travel retail industry having attended TFWA World Exhibition &
Conference since 2006, along with visits to the Duty Free Show of the
Americas, TFWA Asia Pacific, MEADFA and ARC. With an MA in marketing,
Tilly began her career with design and marketing agency, EMG, focussing
on B2C PR & marketing as well as travel retail. More recently, she
has worked in the marketing department of top ranked Professional
Services company Grant Thornton in its London office.With a broad based marketing skill-set including branding, product
design, designing and producing marketing materials, event planning,
account management, social media, advertising and PR, Tilly enables
Essential Communications to broaden its offer to both existing and new
clients within the travel retail sector.
Jayne Cooper
Events Manager
Jayne has some 20 years experience of the travel retail industry having
first joined Tax Free World Association (TFWA) as PA to Sarah
Branquinho, then Commercial Director, in 1995.
Since then, she has served in various roles for TFWA, including the
assistance and management of conferences and the organisation of TFWA
World Exhibition in Cannes and TFWA Asia Pacific in Singapore. Jayne
also has experience working as a freelance events organiser and venue
finder for various companies including London-based agency, Financial
Marketing. Jayne continues to provide editorial texts for TFWA.
Florence de Margerie
Events Organiser - France
Florence (Flo) brings a wealth of
events organisation experience and contacts to Essential Events. She has over
20 years experience orchestrating operations for Exhibitions, Conferences and
Fairs in various industries, including TFWA World Exhibition & Conference
for ten years. Project management is her forte from taking an initial brief to
venue finding to temporary recruitment, invitations, onsite coordination,
logistics, security and meet-and-greet. From a lunch for four to a conference
for 400, Flo takes it all in her stride. Bi-lingual in French and English,
Flo’s contacts are second to none. Apart from Travel Retail she has also worked
extensively in the Luxury, Nautical and Pharmaceutical industries.
Tom Aspel
Creative Consultant
Tom
is Essential Communication’s Creative Guru. For the last six years, he
was the creative director for a design agency where he provided creative
leadership, ran the team of designers and controlled the creative
output of the studio. He
has masses of experience in all types of creative work including web and
digital projects such as designing interactive brochures and bespoke
websites
and microsites. Clients he has worked with include; Toyota, Greenpeace,
Savills, WaterAid, Deutsche Bank, Lotus, Caffé Nero, Save The Children,
British
Land, NHS, Seiko and King’s College London. Prior to this,Tom worked for
PPS
Publications where his brief included the TFWA Dailies in both Singapore
and
Cannes.
Rebecca Mann
Accounts and Social Media Manager
Rebecca is well known to many in the
industry, having worked in the travel retail arena for over years 20 as a
writer, commentator, editor and blogger. She began her career as Fragrances
& Cosmetics Editor at Duty-Free News International in 1996, rising to the
role of Managing Editor. She joined The Moodie Report as Associate Editor in
2003, before being named Executive Director – Editorial in 2013. Rebecca left
the company in 2015, to work within the B2C sector. She was appointed
Marketing Creative Copywriter at Courthouse Clinics, where she now works in a
freelance role. She is a consultant for leading luxury interiors agency
Homestyle PR, and oversees all social media for Central School of Dance &
Drama.
