What led you to a career in marketing? Was it an early decision or a more recent event?
Curiosity – the continuous desire to learn and develop superior solutions to connect with our consumers. My transition to marketing has been a recent event, driven by the impact of digital on the lives of our consumers. We are challenged with a lot of disruption in this area, and are constantly seeking out new and innovative ways to leverage technology to build and strengthen the relationship between our brands and consumers.
Have you always been a marketer, or did you train for a different role prior to that (and if so, what?)?
I started my career as a Sales rep, and worked mainly in Sales for both P&G and Nestle. During my assignment as a Global eCommerce Leader for Nestle I saw how the lines between marketing and sales, were blurring in today’s consumer journey. This experience changed my career trajectory.
If you could pick out one thing you find most challenging about marketing, what would it be?
In today’s digital reality, the big marketing challenge is to ensure full consumer centricity along the end-to-end brand experience. When it comes to building a unique brand experience where digital and traditional media intertwine, every facet from all communication channels, packaging design, point of sale materials, public relations, and events needs to be tailored to the specific consumer target. Marketers are responsible to ensure that each consumer enjoys a brand experience as personalized as possible. The consumer is the boss: We need to be ready to cater for how they would like the brand to be a companion in their life.
How important is it for anyone joining your team today to be comfortable with data-driven marketing?
It’s a must to be successful in today’s reality. With the right data marketers will be able to identify breakthrough and actionable consumer insight, to better understand their needs state and consumption occasion, provide seamless and personalized brand experiences, continuously improve effectiveness and efficiency of their media plans.
What’s the single most important component of your marketing stack (by description and/or vendor name)?
Salesforce marketing cloud platform.
If you weren’t a marketer, what would you be?
A business coach for young professionals, helping to encourage and push them along their own career track. Youth today bring a lot of energy to the work force, it is contagious!
Read more from Antonio at LinkedIn.
