Helen Whetton: The Marketer Building BT Business' Brand

BT this week announced a year-long brand partnership with ITV to sponsor the broadcaster’s flagship soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale in a landmark deal that will see the BT brand embedded within both series.

Led by brand and marketing director Helen Whetton and devised by WPP Media, this is the latest element of the Behind Brilliant Things campaign. The new initiative includes four bespoke ads that will feature during the breaks for both soaps, featuring BT employees demonstrating how the company helps keep Britain connected. They will bring to life BT's mobile and broadband networks alongside its support for 999 services, cyber security, and small business support.

BT will also be visible to viewers of Emmerdale and Coronation Street through broadband routers in the Rovers, Wi-Fi signage in the Woolpack, bus stop posters, BT vehicles and other products and services integrated naturally into their surroundings.

“I’m incredibly proud of what the collective team has delivered through this partnership because it represents the kind of marketing we want to create at BT: ambitious, culturally relevant and rooted in the role we play in everyday Britain," Whetton explains. "Bringing two of the nation’s most loved programmes together for the first time in a partnership of this scale gave us an opportunity to do something genuinely different, taking BT beyond traditional advertising and putting the brand into the stories, businesses and communities people already care about. It’s a brilliant example of what can happen when a strong brand idea meets equally ambitious partners."

The deal complements the May launch of BT’s biggest campaign in over a decade, Behind Brilliant Things which quickly proved a success. According to YouGov, BT’s Ad Awareness score is at its highest in two years, rising from 6 per cent to 13 per cent during the summer.

And that's not the only nationwide campaign she's launched this week, with another campaign running to raise awareness of BT's new AI offering for the UK’s small businesses. 

Whetton is vastly experienced at growing brands in the telecoms sector, having previously held marketing roles at Vodafone as head of regional marketing and then at Three where she built the B2B division.

She joined BT initially as its customer solutions director, ensuring customer-first product development before becoming global brand and marketing director for BT Business in 2023 and then taking up her current role in October last year.

Helen Marshall, SVP for WPP Media and Open Connect lead, comments: "Helen has a rare ability to combine creative ambition with real commercial focus. She sets a clear vision, challenges partners to think bigger and creates the conditions for great work to happen. What makes her stand out is that she never pursues innovation for its own sake; every idea is rooted in a deep understanding of the brand, the audience and the impact it needs to deliver."

"The BT and ITV partnership is a great example of that approach," Marshall adds. "It was a bold idea that brought together brilliant partners, but Helen's leadership ensured it remained true to the role BT plays in people's lives and its position as the backbone of the nation, connecting homes, businesses and vital public services every day."

And perhaps that sure-footed leadership is no surprise when it comes from a woman widely acknowledged to be a bold, innovative client not afraid to back her instincts and give her agencies the confidence to run with their best ideas. As Marshall puts it: "Helen is collaborative, courageous and relentlessly focused on raising the bar, making her not only an exceptional marketer but also a fantastic partner to work with."