Laurie McAllister

"Laurie McAllister is a force to be reckoned with. 

 Despite having a successful marketing career for the last ten years, the defining moment of her life and career to date were the two years she spent trying to stop drinking alcohol. Following a period of low mental health and excessive alcohol consumption, Laurie decided to change her life - and to help others who were in the same situation. 

 In December 2016, Laurie stopped drinking and set up her blog – girlandtonic.co.uk – to share her journey, create relatable content and provide self-accountability. At this time, she also left London and her role in marketing and media, struggling to navigate the boozy media lunch landscape and her alcohol-free journey. 

 Fast forward seven years, and Laurie is now 2490 days alcohol-free and Head of Marketing at Talon - responsible for UK, APAC, MENA, as well as Talon owned brands, Talon International and Grand Visual. She is also a key member of the UK management team. 

 Since joining Talon at the end of April 2022 as Head of Marketing, Laurie has transformed the marketing team. Joining mid-year is never easy, especially when the team is down to one person. However, Laurie rebuilt a stronger and more agile team (the most engaged team at Talon – 2022 engagement survey results), shifted Talon’s marketing approach from reactive to proactive and built a function dedicated to Talon’s mission: to grow Out of Home spend as advocates for the medium. 

 Towards the end of 2022, Laurie spearheaded Talon’s brand transformation - rebranding the company and its products, bringing two business units - Talon International & Grand Visual, closer to the Talon family and building a new global website. Collaborating with Talon’s global teams, alongside managing multiple freelancers and three agencies to ensure this was a success. It was no easy task, in essence completing three rebrands in one – whilst continuing to maintain marketing’s day-to-day output and support the planning teams with their end-of-year activity. An achievement Laurie is fiercely proud of. 

 In 2023, Laurie focused on elevating Talon’s profile externally – with a huge increase in press coverage (Campaign, The Drum, CEO Today, Management Today) and significant award wins and shortlists including the first shortlist for Talon’s Adtech – Digiday Tech Awards – and 7 awards for our talent – 30 under 30, Adwanted’s Future 100 and more. 

 This year, Laurie’s focus has shifted to driving the OOH channel forward. She launched OOH’s ACES (Audience, Creativity, Effectiveness and Sustainability) to brilliant feedback from key stakeholders across the industry and is now sharing this initiative across Talon’s agencies. Talon was also the first OOH agency to ever be shortlisted at Campaign’s Agency of the Year Awards – for Independent Agency of the Year."