Neil McCallum, CEO of JAC Vapour, caught up with Nine Twenty Client Engagement Manager, Chris Lowden, to chat about his role at JAC, plans for the future and adding to the team…
First things first, can you give us a brief background on JAC Vapour?
JAC was formed in 2010 by Andrew Logan who identified the opportunity to develop a product that really is an alternative to smoking. The fact that the Institute of Physicians and NHS England now state it is 95% safer than smoking is testament to this point.
At JAC we plough our own furrow. We design our own devices and we have our own range of e-liquid. We are control freaks; we wish to own the full end to end process.
We design all hardware in Leith, release up to 7 new products per year and sell all our products online, wholesale, retail and internationally.
Organisations critically acclaim our products such as Gizmodo and GQ Magazine. The brand is not widely known. In a post Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) World, it is our mission to be the brand of choice.
How and why did you join JAC Vapour?
I was a vaper before I joined. I understood the benefits of vaping over smoking. I feel the benefits every day. When I was introduced to JAC I immediately identified that the products we sell are high quality, designed as an extension of self, and potentially could fill an untapped area of the market.
The products are absolutely corkers, which is the hardest part in developing any business! That is not the challenge here; the challenge is increasing sales and creating a brand. The rest was just me desperately wanting to be involved and working with a team of nice people to fulfil JAC’s obvious potential.
What’s the difference between your product and your competitors?
Style, quality, warranty, and traceability are the differences. As we control all the processes we will not allow any product that does not comply with our values. We believe it is our mission to get people away from continuing to smoke. We are an organisation that always does the right thing. Our work with Government, NHS Cessation Services and Trade Associations is testament to this.
What is the key message for JAC Vapour in 2017?
We want to grow by a minimum of 50%
We want to be in 4 new countries
We want to launch 7 new products
We want to open new retail locations
We want to have fun along the way!
So why should people work at JAC Vapour?
This market is growing at over 20% per annum.
We have a head office function with 16 staff. We turnover £3.6million per annum and want to grow this significantly.
No massive chains of command and no strategy meetings, no hours at meetings. It’s about being swift and quick to implement and getting things done.
The ability to make an immediate impact and grow with a fast-growing innovative product led business, nationally and internationally, is why people should join.
Lastly- It’s a whole lot of fun…
JAC Vapour is currently looking for an experienced Marketing Manager to join their team in Edinburgh. Can you see yourself working in a growing company like this? You can read full details on the job here.