Aline Santos: leader of year?

Aline Santos Q&A
A sneak peek at who's in the running to be Marketing Leader of The Year 2017 - we interview Aline Santos, Global EVP Marketing and Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Unilever.

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve discovered about banishing stereotypes?
We are in the middle of a gender revolution. We ran a study which showed that 40% of women do not identify at all with the women they see in advertising, also we learnt that only 3% of ads feature women in leadership/professional roles, in most of the ads women are confined in domestic chores. This is staggering, and we need to do something about it. Advertising can be a real agent of change and a force for good, by using our ads to inspire people with positive and progressive portrayals. Banishing stereotypes goes beyond the misrepresentation of women in advertising. This is about creating multi-dimensional people in our ads – ‘unstereotyping’ people as a whole. This isn’t only a moral case it is also a business case.

What are you learning through your collaboration and connections with the start-up community through Unilever Foundry?
There have been plenty of learnings since we launched The Unilever Foundry three years ago. I would call out the following: 1) Adopting a Founders Mindset – learning from startups to truly own something from ideation to launch. 2) Utilising limited resources to get the most of your plans. 3) Finding and adopting new technologies to improve efficiencies and effectiveness. 4) Harnessing the opportunity to quickly test a product or tech idea in a real world scenario. 5) Risk taking – to quote Mark Zuckerberg, the biggest risk is taking no risks at all!
 
What does bold marketing leadership look like?
It’s about being brave, taking risks and pushing boundaries - challenging the status quo. It is also about building equities in the connected world. It is about constantly challenging the way we approach and market our brands – you need to have a view that helps to drive your company and the industry forward. As one of the largest advertisers globally, we have a responsibility to continue leading the charge around areas that impact our brands and business.
 
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done at work?
I have always had a personal passion about the progression of women in the workplace and in advertising. During the start of my career in Brazil, there was a real lack of representation of multi-cultural women across the advertising industry. We launched a new range of Vaseline Intensive Care products specifically targeting black Brazilian women in the country. In the 90s, it was rare that advertising featured black women as female protagonists. Our amazing campaign with McCann Erickson celebrated black Brazilian women as strong, elegant and chic leads. It was the first FMCG product and brand to cater for black Brazilian women at the time. Being able to achieve this impact set the direction for my career and many other moments followed. I was also lucky enough to be a part of the amazing team, which launched the Dove Real Beauty campaign over thirteen years ago. 
 
What’s the hardest part of your job?
Looking at how we develop brand equities in this connected world. The way we engage with people is constantly shifting and evolving in the digital space, which whilst it presents so much opportunity to evolve – it has never been more important to have a brand that stands for something.
  
What advice would you give others earlier in their career looking to become successful marketing leaders?
Be passionate about people. Be almost obsessed about people’s tensions, passions and hopes and with that knowledge create brands and campaigns that stand for something meaningful.
 
What’s the biggest challenge facing you in the year ahead?
The digital world is evolving at such pace that it is a huge task to upskill our marketers. Digital never stops, and it will continue to evolve. Last year, we put 5,500 marketers through a comprehensive learning programme including 90,000 online lessons from basic skills such as search through to optimising mobile content.
 
Looking to the future, what will the marketing department look like in five years’ time?
Digitisation is influencing everything, how we live, work and play. AI will dramatically change the way in which we organise our marketing functions. From processing content to ideation and media buying. There will be digitisation of the function. There will also be a much better balance between global and local. Our relationships with agencies will reflect these changes. And although the tools and channels continue to evolve – connections to the consumer has to remain central. A constant in all of this - knowing your consumer, including their drivers and passions – will never change. 
 
Marketing Leader of Year 2017: voting now closed
Follow the conversation @themarketingsoc #MSOCAwards
 

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