Career Spotlight: General Manager
Adam Ferguson joined Distilled SCH in 2018 as Head of Digital Marketing and has since progressed to General Manager of Daft.ie, overseeing the Sales, Marketing and Commercial functions of the brand. We chatted to Adam about life, career, and the advice he would give people starting out on the same career path as him.
Tell us about your career before Distilled
Growing up, all I wanted to do was quit school and start farming at home. I was obsessed with breeding animals and started out breeding goats at the age of 6, before progressing to dogs, pigs and then pedigree beef cattle (Charolais and Piedmontese). Ironically it was animal classified ads that provided the necessary context to motivate me to learn to read, much to the delight of my parents and teachers who were frustrated by my lack of interest up to this point.
After my leaving cert I studied Agricultural Science in UCD, taking a year out after 2nd year while still in the US on my J1. I never came back to UCD. While in the US I began working in construction. Having spent 3 years working on sites in the US and a few months on the sites in New Zealand, I returned to Cork in 2004 and set up a construction company. The property crash of 2008 forced us to pivot and at this point I set up a machinery auction and export business using DoneDeal and our own site WeSellPlant.ie as the primary marketing solutions.
In 2010 due to dwindling machinery stocks and a lack of construction work I took a marketing role at Buy and Sell (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7KfQXDVK58)! Here I started to learn digital marketing skills, and I also got the opportunity to spend some time in London with Loot.com as the Buy and Sell owners were related.
In 2013 I returned to Dublin to take a role of Online Customer Acquisition manager at Ding.com, an international prepaid mobile top-up provider that was founded in Dublin. I spent 5 years great years at Ding including one based out of their offices in Miami. I left as Head of Online Marketing to join Distilled SCH as Head of Marketing in Jan 2018.
At Distilled I’ve since held the position of commercial director of daft and now general manager of Daft.
Why did you choose Distilled at the time you joined?
I love classifieds, and I use all the sites regularly which was a huge factor; loving the product makes things much more enjoyable.
However, as is often the case in Ireland personal connections played a part; An old boss of mine from Ding, Odhran, said to me in 2015 that I’d really enjoy working with Brian and Eamonn and that there was lots of opportunity in the business which sowed the seed. Then, it was at a lunch with Rob Hume (now Donedeal & Adverts General Manager) that kicked off a meeting with the team at Distilled SCH. Once in the door it was hard to say no to Brian, Eamonn and Laura’s infectious enthusiasm. I’m so glad I’ve joined and it’s been an exceptional part of my career so far I’m looking forward to many more years.
What would be your advice to graduates just starting out their career?
Try to seek out roles and companies that excite and energise you. The more you enjoy work the more successful you’ll be.
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received that has helped you get to where you are today?
I was never great at taking advice, so sometimes it takes a few years to soak in! There’s been a lot of advice over the years, such as when a good friend Sanjeet told me ‘it was time I started working smarter not harder’. However, at the moment the advice that sticks in my head from a career and management perspective was from Mark Roden the CEO of Ding who said “the hires you make will be the most important thing you do”. Since then, I’ve come to realise that the most important asset an organisation has is it’s people, so hiring right and creating an environment for people to succeed are the most important tasks of any manager.
