DIGITAL CV Partnerships / Brand / Growth
Oliver
Lidford.
Partnerships, brand
& commercial growth.
I build relationships and lead the teams behind the work. Getting to know a brand, shaping an idea people believe in, and bringing creative, production and account management together to make it happen.
The impact at Hypebeast
Relationships built.
Results delivered.
Turning understanding into ideas.
And ideas into lasting partnerships.
Growing the relationships
4.7×
Nearly 5× what those categories booked in the previous five years, in 18 months.
May 2025 – October 2026
Partnership conversion
1st in
EMEA.
Getting people behind the idea.
FY25/26
Opening new conversations
60%
Of partnerships were with brands collaborating with Hypebeast for the first time.
First-time brand collaborations
01 / Recent work
Recent work.
Seven partnerships.
The relationships, ideas and decisions behind the work.
The role behind the work
Hypebeast
Brand Partnerships Manager
APR 2025 — PRESENTI lead partnerships from the first conversation to the final report, coordinating creative, production and account management across my projects. I shape the brief with the client, develop the concept with our teams and bring everyone behind the same direction. I stay accountable for the relationship, keeping contracts, margin, usage rights, approvals and delivery connected.
HypebeastMedia & its verticalsHypemakerCreative & productionHypemindAudience insights
A global media and creative group spanning fashion, culture and lifestyle. I connect brands with the right capabilities for their brief.
About HypebeastRecent work 07Explore the full campaign stories ↘
Wimbledon, with a different perspective.
From a conversation about Gen Z to a cultural moment at Wimbledon. Three creatives, 200 bottle bags and an integrated campaign spanning production, editorial, social and out of home.
7.4m impressions · 27,321 wider-campaign sign-ups
Making space to feel.
From a London community experience to a German ambassador profile. Bringing movement, personal style and editorial together through Space to Feel.
c.US$244.4k partnership · 9.19m impressions
Ten moments. One ongoing partnership.
An ongoing partnership spanning JD’s own campaigns and work with Nike, Adidas, Asics and New Balance. Footwear, music, talent and community stories across Hypebeast and Hypebae.
c.US$156k annual retainer · 10 campaign moments
Puffertech, put to the elements.
Turning technical outerwear into a fashion story. From the creative concept and rooftop production to brand-owned content, media distribution and an extension into US usage rights.
c.US$71.5k production project · US rights extension
Finding a place in culture.
Cheetos orange dust became a streetwear idea with Navinder Nangla. Mirinda’s rebrand brought a different kind of energy to the feed.
Cheetos + Mirinda · Two distinct partnerships
The next generation, in the spotlight.
Taking the Young Chef Academy Grand Finale from the build-up to the live event and the stories that followed.
c.US$79.3k partnership · Content before, during & after
One brand. Two ways into culture.
CARDS through collecting and nostalgia. Wraps through the realities of London Fashion Week. Two different briefs, each with a relevant place in our audience’s world.
CARDS + London Fashion Week · Two campaigns
Selected relationships
300+ brands touched.
One connected industry.
Fashion and luxury at the heart. Sport, beauty, music and more along the way.
- Saint Laurent
- Bottega Veneta
- Burberry
- Gucci
- Celine
- Miu Miu
- Loewe
- Balenciaga
- Moncler
- Brunello Cucinelli
- Ralph Lauren
- Stone Island
- Jacquemus
- Gentle Monster
- Cartier
- Selfridges
- Harrods
- Nike
- New Balance
- Salomon
- Arc’teryx
- Uniqlo
- La Mer
- Le Labo
- Beats
- Dyson
- Alpine F1
- Porsche
- Four Seasons
- 88rising
- Shopify
- StockX
02 / Beyond the campaign
Technical Partnerships Executive
Mile®Building what’s
Building what’s
behind the brand.
Mile is a private shopping app giving members access to luxury, contemporary and streetwear brands through curated collections, archive pieces and exclusive drops.
As Technical Partnerships Executive, I personally onboarded 40 brands, taking partnerships from the first conversation through to marketplace integration. I also led third-party logistics and warehouse expansion, and co-led the inventory and logistics overhaul.
Brand partnerships & onboarding
From the first conversation
to going live on Mile.
A selection of the 40 brands I personally onboarded.
Off-WhiteBrunello CucinelliPalm AngelsC.P. CompanyVetementsBurberryAdidasDuke + Dexter
The third-party logistics transformation
One warehouse to a connected network.
The starting point1 warehouse
A single-site
distribution operation.
What we built
Automated inventory
& logisticsOrder-management integrations
& logisticsOrder-management integrations
UKUnited Kingdom
USUnited States
NLNetherlands
My responsibilityThird-party logistics partners, warehouse expansion and the systems needed to support fulfilment across locations.
Working togetherI brought the teams and partners together to deliver the automated inventory and logistics rollout. The three-month timeframe relates to that systems project.
Technical Partnerships Executive · Mile is now part of Hulcan alongside Matches. Explore Mile ↗
03 / Outlander Magazine
Luxury, with
a cultural point of view.
Outlander is a fashion, music and culture platform founded in 2014, with roots in streetwear and luxury fashion. Its community shapes editorial, brand campaigns and events, with a particular focus on emerging talent.
As Partnerships Project Lead, I was part of the three-person team that built Outlander’s commercial business from launch to c.US$845k in revenue. My work covered new partnerships, creative proposals and partner relationships for bespoke content and events.
About OutlanderSelected brand partnerships
Saint LaurentUggLacosteCelineLouis VuittonBottega Veneta
04 / Practical AI at Hypebeast
The thinking behind
a better proposal.
I built a proposal tool for the EMEA team that turns a brand enquiry into a media plan, a presentation and a reply email. It brings the brief, previous work and rate card together, so the thinking stays connected from the first idea to the final proposal.
The team reviews the approach and approves the scope before anything is built. Colleagues adopted it for their own partnerships.
Built for the team. Adopted by colleagues.Up toUS$150kSupplied-asset campaigns
3 outputsMedia plan, deck and email
12 rulesApplied throughout the workflow
6 checksBefore the handover
One brief. Three connected outputs.
Media plan, presentation and reply email, grounded in the rate card and ready for the team to review.
- 01Read the brief
Confirm the ask. Flag formats or combinations that fall outside the available scope.
- 02Check the history
Look for previous proposals and relevant work with the brand.
- 03 / Team sign-offApprove the tiers
Explain the pricing, choices and assumptions. Pause before building.
- 04Build the proposal
A house-format spreadsheet, Hypebeast deck and email in the partnership lead’s voice.
- 05Run six checks
Check the rate card, brief, figures, sources and consistency across the outputs.
- 06Update CRM
Record the figure and move to the “Proposal Sent” pipeline stage.
My contributionI mapped the team’s rate card, proposal process and commercial rules into one reusable workflow. I defined the approval points, connected the document formats and built in checks for pricing, deliverables and consistency.
Useful beyond a new proposalThe tool also audits existing media plans, answers rate-card questions in GBP, EUR and USD, and models changes to a proposal. Its rules cover product limits, permitted formats, added value and increasing paid social investment across tiers.
Inside the workflow
A walkthrough, step by step.
03 / Seller approval. The proposed price tiers are explained and the workflow stops for sign-off before building.
Illustrative screenshots of the internal workflow. The figures shown are not Hypebeast rate-card pricing. This walkthrough is a case study; the internal tool is not connected to this website.
05 / The relationship assistant
Good relationships.
Better follow-through.
Built for the EMEA sales team across
Hypebeast, Hypebae and Hypemaker.
A lot of the real work happens between the campaign and the next conversation. A client needs an answer, someone owes you an update, and the CRM hasn’t quite caught up. I wanted a clearer view of where things actually stood.
I built a relationship assistant around gmail and CRM for the whole EMEA sales team across Hypebeast, Hypebae and Hypemaker. It brings email threads and client touchpoints together, flags what I owe and what I’m waiting on, and turns that into a daily list of priorities. It also compares the pipeline in CRM with what’s happening in the conversation, so the next step stays clear.
The useful part is what happens next. It prepares daily follow-up drafts in gmail for me to review and send, and surfaces sourced news that could give a client a relevant reason to talk. I built it to support the judgement behind a good partnership: knowing the context, choosing the right moment and having something worthwhile to say. I still decide what goes out.
- 01 / Read the contextgmail + CRM
- 02 / Find the next moveClear priorities
- 03 / Prepare the follow-upgmail drafts
- 04 / Keep the judgementI review and send
A little more headspace
The relationship desk
Illustrative demo · fictional data
Today / 3 next steps
Start with what matters.
- Draft prepared
Example Brand A · Owed by me
Return the revised outline
The latest thread asks for a tighter creative scope before the next conversation.
Review in gmail - Timing to confirm
Example Brand B · Waiting on client
Check the launch timing
A date confirmation will help the team plan the next stage of the campaign.
- Team input needed
Example Brand C · Internal handover
Bring the production update together
The client is waiting on one joined-up answer about feasibility and next steps.
06 / A bit about me
Commercially minded.
Curious by nature.
I’ve worked across publishers, brands and retail, from Hypebeast and Outlander to helping build Mile. The part I’ve always enjoyed is getting to know people properly: understanding what matters to them, finding the opportunity and building enough trust to take an idea somewhere.
I enjoy leading a team through the work: giving people a clear direction, making space for their expertise and staying close when the tricky bits come up. At Hypebeast, that means bringing creative, production and account management together across my projects. At Mile, it meant leading the warehouse and logistics work as we expanded internationally. I like getting stuck in and taking responsibility for seeing things through.
The roles that interest me next are Head of Partnerships, Brand Lead and commercial leadership: bringing people behind an idea, shaping the work and taking more responsibility for how a business grows.
Outside work, I completed the London Marathon and raised c.US$32,500 for Diabetes UK.
Where I’ve been
Apr 2025 — Present
Hypebeast
Brand Partnerships Manager
Brand and agency relationships, creative development and project team leadership.Oct 2024
Outlander Magazine
Partnerships Project Lead
Luxury, culture and building a commercial business.Jan 2024
Mile
Technical Partnerships Executive
Brand onboarding, technical partnerships and international expansion.Mar 2023
Heat
Business Development and Technical Partnerships Executive
Retail partnerships, customer experience and stock-management technology.My roles at Heat and Mile overlapped as Heat became Mile.
Contact
Get in
touch.
↗Partnerships, brand and commercial leadership.