@notesonthefly: on marketing as an art and a strategy

I started writing these notes in business trips, frequently on a plane, hence the @notesonethefly name. FMCG marketing these days comprises of so many areas, – from finance and P&L management to media and market research, and from communications to psychology – that in many ways it’s evolved beyond limits of a single function. It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that managing all these elements into a coherent strategy is as much an art as it is a pragmatic process.

Maybe because I started in Market Research and Media, I still believe that to get to the stage in a decision-making process when it’s about vision and creativity, it has to start with clear understanding of numbers, targets and with data analysis and excel models. By the way, dealing with data doesn’t have to be boring. This could be a creative process as well – if in disagreement, just read “Freakonomics”!

The devil is in details

For those of us, working in corporates, when we read articles about our company marketing approach or projects, frequently it’s difficult to fully relate to those, because most of the time internal context makes a big difference vs publication’s textbook approach. One of the first business cases I read in my times in LBS was a Honda case. It actually consists of two cases: one – analysis of consistent and brilliant Honda strategy on capturing US motorcycle market written by a leading strategy consulting firm; and second – a story of several Japanese businessmen, sent to US by Soichiro Honda himself to conquer the market. They lived in a cheap apartment, slept on the floor and reached initial success with their scooters almost by accident, because most of their expensive bikes had production defects and dealers didn’t favor them as well.

Vision without execution is hallucination

To add some context to these notes and to describe myself: I’m a marketer with a PhD degree, – perhaps a bit of a rare combination. In my view, this helped me in finding the balance between keeping view on a big picture, while getting down to details and, most importantly, better understanding what I don’t know and what can be done about that. I was fortunate to work on some of the best-known brands and companies including Gillette, Procter&Gamble, Duracell, Braun, Kodak, Colgate and Marlboro. Most of the time the mantra was about growth. Reaching those next growth frontiers and getting to world-class results – that’s something that still keeps me going. There are some more details about me on linkedin.

Thomas Edison said that vision without execution is hallucination. Managing modern complex, multi-layered brands and portfolios these days requires one to be a generalist and a specialist at the same time: to generate actionable consumer insights it helps to know details about market research; to understand digital it’s really good to get some first-hand knowledge about media in general; to hire and motivate teams it helps to know something about psychology and human interaction and so on. For this reason I’d actually trust more to the opinions of those having built portfolio careers vs the ones who stayed in one company for most of the time.

Read on and get in touch!

When I was at the university if someone told me that I’d work in some of the best global companies and travel all over the world from New Zealand and US to Tanzania, China and Japan, I’d probably just laugh, because the likelihood of that at that moment seemed to be close to going into space. Yet, that’s what happened and my work also helped me see the world and enjoy some of my hobbies: diving in cenotes of Mexico, climbing Kilimanjaro, sailing in South China sea and skiing and après-skiing in French alps. This taught me that if not everything, then a lot of things are possible and shooting for the stars pays off!

If you strongly disagree (or agree) with some of my opinions, please do leave a comment or get in touch via e-mail. I’d also welcome any interesting facts, articles and opinions one way or the other related to the subject of these notes. Read on and let the force be with you!