“In the mess lies the magic” – 60 seconds with Ken Robertson, CEO, The Tenth Man

What was your first job?

Working in a record shop at Dublin Airport.

What pushed you to pursue a career in this field?

My second job was as a marketing intern in Xtra-vision (for readers under a certain age – this was basically the Netflix of the 1990s). In this role I found myself at the intersection of marketing and entertainment which made it abundantly clear to me that the first and most important role of any good marketing campaign is to entertain your audience. Fun first, sell second.

What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?

Depends on your definition of ‘Great’. During my 18-years with Paddy Power I wrote the most complained-about advertising campaign in British advertising history (you can look that one up). I set in motion a chain of events that led to Denis Rodman hosting a basketball match in North Korea for Kim Jong Un’s 30th birthday. I also narrowly avoided spending a night in an Italian prison for taking bets on the next Pope in St Peter’s Square the same year as recruiting Professor Stephen Hawking for a Paddy Power World Cup advertising campaign. All of that stuff was amazing but to be truthful, setting up The Tenth Man and six years later seeing the incredible team and business we have created together is the clear winner.

Career wise, would you do anything differently?

Not one thing.

In one sentence, how would you define success?

I’ll give you that in one word – Happiness