From Beats by Dre to Saudi Arabia: One marketer on discovering the ‘challenge of a lifetime’
A thirst for new experiences has inspired Danielle Atkins to travel the world from Russia to Saudi Arabia via brands such as Beats by Dre and Kodak. Now as CMO of the Diriyah Gate Development, she believes she has uncovered the “challenge of a lifetime”.
Growing up in Cornwall, Danielle Atkins remembers her father’s advice as clearly as if it were yesterday: “Pin your colours to the mast”.
Inspired by her dad – a surfer and filmmaker who invited the Sex Pistols to play at his club in Penzance in the 1970s – Atkins grew up tenacious and with a taste for travel. After studying for a degree in History of Art and Medieval Archaeology, she travelled alone to Mexico. During her year there she met a woman who had given up her job as an account director to travel the world. Inspired by her success, Atkins decided to pivot from the arts to business.
Flying back to the UK she joined emerging digital agency Presco, hitting the ground running with a crash course in early online marketing, before making the switch to the corporate world at consulting giant PwC.
Next came a move back to Cornwall and the challenge of attracting investment into the county, before going freelance as she travelled the world with her four-year-old son.
