Who makes the best marketers?

Under the Spotlight with Damian Mooney and Celina Ma was up close and personal and drew seasoned marketers from world-class companies as well as founders and marketers from startups - industries ranged from fin tech to lifestyle, fashion and luxury brands to energy management. The society's chief executive, Gemma Greaves asked some very direct questions and got revealing answers from the panel.

Key takeaways for me that evening were the mix of bravery, humility and curiosity in successful marketing. But what keeps popping up in my head even a week later was the comment that people leave firms because of bad managers and not because of the firm. 

And equally surprising is that the best leaders in marketing teams are often introverts…because they know how to motivate their team.

What is the bravest decision you made and is bravery important?

Damien is currently head of Digital Wealth at Blackrock with 21 years experience in financial services between Europe and Asia. He started as CMO, turned business head and then digital expert. He constantly seeks innovation and is open to reinventing himself. 

He views bravery and a willingness to listen as critical for successful marketing. 

Celina Ma spent 20 years in luxury brands/fashion after an unlikely start in Australia studying auditing. Despite parental pressure, she realized early on that she was not interested in becoming an accountant and bravely took the first steps towards entrepreneurship – selling fashion items in Chinatown. Bravery is also a recurring theme in her life and she is re-inventing herself by actively seeking change. Fastwind to Celina becoming Head of PR at Gucci, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein as a result of a pioneering and ‘can do’ spirit.

The restructuring experience at CK however was ‘crushing’ and Celina took time off to regroup and rebalance herself - after a three year break, she came back in education, a far cry from the competitive world of fashion.

What did failure teach you?

Damian made an interesting distinction between what hurts you personally and what hurts the team and company.

A mistake at work where the buck stops with you can have significant repercussions but if met face on, much of the damage can be controlled.

This happened to him at Fidelity and squarely landed on his shoulders. But failure, when you hire the wrong person and put that person in a role of leadership is dangerous and negatively affects the whole team and company.

He found that being Irish and living in Asia for 12 years, made him initially gravitate toward candidates who spoke perfect English. He learned the hard way that this was not so important, because a marketer must be effective in the language used when marketing and interacting with clients.

Celina agreed that people are a company’s greatest assets and emphasized the importance of knowing how best to inspire the team. 

‘Empower them and make them take ownership’. 

Finding even small ways to motivate staff can make a big difference – for example, someone dropped out of a conference and she chose to offer that place to someone who had recently joined her team at the school.   The trust placed in this individual inspired him to be proactive and take more initiative.

Who makes the best marketers?

Follow Damian’s rule of thumb with the three Cs: 

Content - interesting and relevant content drives the experience and makes the customer ACT. Empathy creates that link between marketer/sales and client, inspiring insight and action. And then it’s critical to have followed through and to link the data that is being created.

Commercial - talking to customers, knowing their pain-points and being at the forefront of sales.

Creativity - if business leaders want to drive change someone has to hold the ‘magic’ pen and take the initiative. Damian saw a lot of marketers waiting around to be told what to do and then execute. But that isn’t a good marketer – there has to be something that makes them stand out in the crowd.

Unsurprisingly, Celina took a different approach:

For her humility was the most important element in making someone a good leader and a top marketer. Being humble doesn’t make you a doormat but to the contrary actually empowers you to be resourceful and savvy. She felt that her life and work experiences repeatedly proved that it was more rewarding to be humble and participate as a team member. Inclusion is a valuable tool…

Celina would be the first to agree that curiosity doesn’t kill the cat – it creates a pioneering mentality not just at work but in all aspects of your life.

Work and life are holistic and finding that balance is key to success. 

Bravery, curiosity and the ‘can do’ spirit.

By Barbara Yu Larsson, founder & CEO, Pakt