Data-led strategy, global consistency, and local nuance—this conversation breaks the myths of international marketing at scale.
1. Ivan, you’ve led marketing efforts at several globally recognized organizations—how has your journey shaped the marketing philosophy you now bring to Wall Street English?
I’ve learned that the best marketing decisions always come from data and insight. Use experience to form a hypothesis but don’t assume you have the answer – be humble, and be prepared to change your point of view. And finally, challenge HIPPOs (highest paid person in the room’s opinion) if you know you have the insight to back your plan. Debate enriches marketing!
2. You’ve spoken about the “local-first trap” in marketing. What patterns or outcomes first alerted you to the limitations of this approach?
Marketing and advertising today is increasingly driven by global platforms. We’ve found that the methods and approaches to building brand awareness, consideration, then conversion and retention are common across markets. What can be different is the way the specific message or ad needs to be communicated to the prospect. But the way to understand these pieces of data and metrics are the same irrespective of the market you are in.
Well-executed scaled practices at a global level give teams the time and the credible insight to craft a local message that converts. Moreover, at least in the education category, the drivers of buyer behaviour are remarkably consistent, with the nuance being the emphasis on which aspects of messaging most resonate with a specific audience.
3. In your view, what does starting from a global framework unlock that a purely localised strategy often misses?
I think there are three key things: speed, consistency, and the ability to share and apply insights across markets. A global approach gives you a solid base to work from, so instead of starting from scratch every time, you can build smarter and faster—and learn from what’s working elsewhere and scale.
4. Many leaders assume that regional market differences necessitate fully custom campaigns—how have your insights from 35+ territories challenged that notion?
We have a globally relevant and competitively differentiated customer value proposition, and a target audience in different countries that share very similar motivators, and desired outcomes from improving their English level. Given that starting point we see in research that the variation in messaging or creative to effectively reach a target audience is <20% between markets. That isn’t to say this degree of variation isn’t important – it’s essential to connect with the local target audience, but it means we can start from a common ground and work from there.
5. With over 100,000 students worldwide, how does Wall Street English use data to distinguish real user behavior trends from perceived cultural differences?
We have a granular understanding of prospects’ needs – we do well over quarter of a million sales presentations a year. That’s in effect hundreds of thousands of hours of customer research a year – for our sales teams to create an offer they really do work to understand the needs and wants of the learner in front of them. We are and will continue to be looking to AI tools to enable insight extraction at scale to help with customer understanding and sales performance. Plus, of course, we have our customer base and understand their learning behaviours intimately due to their interaction with our learner management system.
6. What role does your centralized marketing tech stack play in equipping franchise teams to innovate at the local level without reinventing the wheel?
A common martech stack is crucial: competition is often global and digital-first in the education category. We have a tremendous advantage over online providers as we have local teams in specific markets and amazing learning centers, which gives us a retail presence. Proximity to the customer brings trust. However, those franchise teams need to compete to be seen, and considered by the prospect in a very competitive online space. The customer interaction at some point is digital, so we provide our franchise partners with a martech stack that covers the customer journey from acquisition to retention.
7. How do you strike a balance between consistency in global brand messaging and the agility needed to respond to regional market dynamics?
The starting point is to have a 100% clear understanding of your global brand and customer value proposition. All messaging has to align to and reinforce that. Through research and testing, we understand how the specific message needs to change to be relevant, whilst maintaining that alignment.
8. In a marketing world obsessed with hyper-personalization, how do you ensure that Wall Street English’s global voice still resonates deeply on an individual level?
We have an offer we can personalize to the learning goals of the consumer. In the marketing and sales process, we make sure we understand what these are and then tailor our offer to meet them. In marketing, our focus is to use common methods to uncover local differences and then target specific audiences with messages that connect.
9. What advice do you offer to marketing leaders struggling to align headquarters and local teams without creating friction or redundancy?
A hard but absolutely necessary task is to be crystal clear on roles and responsibilities across teams and where decision rights are. In a global/local marketing model, local teams will inevitably feel they are losing some control and freedom, and it’s true. However, the increased support (from creative and technology tools) and clarity on where to play will free them up to really deliver effective local marketing actions.
10. As the marketing landscape evolves, what principles or systems do you believe will define the next era of truly global, scalable, and effective marketing?
There is a gravitational pull towards centralization around common platforms, data, and best-in-class methods. The increased use of AI in marketing will only accelerate this. However, the only way to understand the customer is through executing in a local market and through the people on the ground—sales teams, marketers, educators—who bring the nuance. So success will depend on building systems that leverage global scale while listening closely to what’s happening locally.
The best marketing decisions always come from data and insight. Use experience to form a hypothesis, but be humble, prepared to change your point of view, and always challenge HIPPOs.
Ivan Croxford
Ivan Croxford is a seasoned marketing and leadership professional with extensive experience across tech and communications. He began his career as an Editor at Reed Elsevier before taking on communication roles at Eutelsat. In 2000, he co-founded a broadband content start-up and launched a consulting practice specializing in wireless strategy.
Joining BT in 2003, Ivan held key roles in market development and digital marketing, driving strategic partnerships and small business services. He later moved to Vistaprint in 2010, where he led product marketing and go-to-market strategies across Europe. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Head of Marketing at Pearson, focusing on global online English learning solutions.
Ivan has been with Wall Street English since 2018, and in his current role as Vice President has developed a streamlined process for their dozens of franchises to onboard and begin marketing in their own regions.
