Neil Bridgeman Chief Marketing & Product Officer, Singulart
Previously
Marketing & Brand Consultant, Neil BridgemanVP Marketing & Brand, Kry
Global Marketing & Communications Director, MR PORTER
Company
Founded in 2017 by Véra Kempf, Denis Fayolle and Brice Lecompte, Singulart is redefining the art market, with the goal of making it more accessible for both artists and collectors and bringing more original art into every home worldwide. They successfully raised a €60 million Series B led by Vitruvian in 2021, the most successful fundraise in the history of the cultural sector.
Today, Singulart work with 8,000 artists and designers, based in 120 different countries around the world. They have a team of around 100 people, predominantly in Paris, where the business is headquartered. However, only a very small proportion of their revenues are French, with the majority (50% and growing) coming from the US.
Search Background
Having raised their Series B, but facing a challenging Consumer market, Singulart were looking to hire a strategic Chief Marketing & Product Officer to play a critical role in the executive leadership team. They were looking to supercharge their growth by driving customer engagement, looking to redefine a relatively un-digital, inaccessible and traditional category, and positioning Singulart as a destination within the category.
Separately, Singulart were in a relatively unique position for a European business, where over 50% of their revenues came from the US. However, they were lacking a depth of US experience and knowledge in the leadership team, so were also looking to bring that in with this hire.
Requirements
It was very clear given the unique challenges Singulart were facing that we were looking for a strategic, brand-bias CMO, who had previous experience creating and launching B2C brands from scratch, and who also had extensive experience in the US market, but ideally also experience in other markets internationally. They needed to be entrepreneurial, and comfortable in start-up/scale-up environments. They also needed to be happy leading a small team and taking a more innovated and differentiated approach to growth, rather than focusing solely on high-cost ATL marketing campaigns. Furthermore, they should be able to combine a creative mindset with a commercial, quantitative, and structured approach and communication style. Finally, location was an important criteria. Singulart wanted someone who was in Europe and could either be based out of Paris, relocate there or commute on an ideally weekly basis.
Result
After an international search that covered the US and Europe, we successfully placed Neil Bridgeman into the role. He had extensive relevant experience, having previously spent over 8 years at Net-a-Porter, joining as one of their early marketing hires, progressing from Marketing Executive to Global Head of Marketing. He spent a year living and working in LA as VP Global Marketing of Outerknown, a menswear brand, before returning to Europe at Globally Marketing & Communications Director of Mr Porter. He then spent 3 years at Kry as VP Marketing & Brand, joining after they had raised their Series B, and growing his team from 15 to 80. During his tenure, they successfully raised a Series C and D.
Brice Lecompte
CEO
Singulart’s goal is to establish itself as a global leader in the art market, and we firmly believe that the brand, marketing, and product aspects play a crucial role in achieving this objective. We sought a senior profile to guide us in this endeavour. The complexity of the recruitment process was influenced by various factors, as we were in search of the ideal candidate who possesses both strategic and hands-on skills, a profound understanding of the US market, and is based in Europe. We also required someone with a brand bias and a keen understanding of performance.
Erevena successfully identified Neil, who not only meets all our requirements but is also a pleasant and hardworking individual. Erevena’s experience in the UK market proved invaluable in connecting us with promising candidates. The weekly discussions helped us fine-tune our needs and adapt the search, and I believe this was key to our success.
