Founder and md of The Point.1888, Will Stewart is honoured with special accolade.
With his contribution very much shaping brand licensing today and beyond, Will Stewart, founder and md of The Point.1888, was named Brand Ambassador of the Year at last night’s virtual Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards.
Over the course of last 20 years Will has championed many brands, from stalwart FMCG household names to zeitgeist designers.
Having graduated with a marketing degree he entered the workplace feasting on a smorgasbord of brands, the pick n mix of retail in the Kingfisher group, in roles which spanned health and beauty, homewares and confectionery. This served to provide a solid bedrock for his next move to John Lewis, in buying and strategy roles which resulted in a deep delve into all manner of product areas, not least engineering a deal between wallpaper design brand Harlequin and towel manufacturer Christys, without even realising he’d brokered his first licensing deal.
A move to leading brand licensing agency TLC (now CAA-GBG) followed, before, in 2014, Will left behind the safety net of the corporate world to form his own business – The Point.1888. And the rest, as they say, is history.
In a specially recorded video – taken after Will was surprised with the news a couple of days ahead of the virtual event, he commented: “Wow… so this is really special. Thank you very very much to Ian and Jakki – you guys are phenomenal for everything you do for us and for our industry, keeping us all together in these difficult times.
“I would love to be celebrating with my team and all of you, but as you can see, there is literally nobody else here. I am really honoured and humbled and really proud to win this award.
“I started a company five years ago built on purpose and I was wanting to drive positive change in the industry. And make an impact in an industry that really cared – and this industry is special, it does really care… so, to win an ambassador award within licensing is a phenomenal achievement and a validation on everything I wanted to do.”
Will continued: “I’m extremely proud to be part of this industry and I’m really looking forward to continuing on and continuing to work with you all.”
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