Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, talks to Haseeb ur Rahman, Marketing Manager-Dressings at Unilever UKI and Marketing Academy 2012 alumni.
Haseeb started his career with Unilever Pakistan in Karachi as a graduate marketing trainee a route which led him to to work for the Beverages business for Lipton Tea where he became the Brand Manager. His next assignment was in the Personal Care business where as Senior Brand Manager he looked after Lifebuoy Soap. After this role, Haseeb was expatriated to the Unilever Global Office in London in the Chief Marketing Office (CMO) team as Global Project Leader-Marketing Excellence looking after Best Practice Marketing which he enjoyed working on for a few years.
However, he wanted to come back to an operating company role specialising in Foods Marketing, so when he was offered the role of Senior Brand Manager by the Unilever UKI Spreads business he was happy to take on the challenge. He did this role for a while looking after Bertolli, I can’t believe its not Butter, Stork, and Elm Lea after which he was asked to lead the Dressings business as the Marketing Manager. In his current role he looks after the P&L, Value share and Brand Equity of iconic brands like Hellmann’s, Colman’s and Maille.
Haseeb has recently resigned from Unilever UKI and is in the process of moving to Nestle UK to work as Business Unit Head for the chocolate and confectionery business and is excited to be taking on this new challenge as he has been a fan of Nestle brands like Kit Kat, Aero, and Milkybar for many years.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
I fell in love with marketing at a very young age as I read about it for the first time in my Business Management book when I was studying for my A levels. It made so much sense and clicked with me that end of that chapter I decided that I would be a marketer. By the time I graduated from Business School, I had taken every single course in marketing that I could, I had worked in the marketing departments of Colgate, Reckitt, Philips and Ogilvy, became the vice president of the marketing society and won gold medals in marketing so I knew marketing was my destiny and I never wanted to work any where else.
But the reason I work in marketing today is very different to why I joined it in the first place. I believe that marketing makes a huge difference in consumer’s lives and through the products/services we provide to our consumers we can make a big impact in their quality of life. When I worked on Lifebuoy in Asia I realized that I was not just selling a bar of soap but if we could get rural consumers to regularly wash their hands and those of their children we could actually reduce the levels of infant mortality. Today I believe that if through my brands, I can take people from hungry to happy, make people smile and laugh, bring families and friends closer, create beautiful memories, make life a little bit easier etc then I make my own life more meaningful in the process.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
For me a successful career in marketing means 4 things which I like to think of as the “Haseeb Square” through the lens of which I evaluate myself every year. First and foremost is the ability to get results. Brilliant marketing equals results driven marketing. There is tremendous pressure on marketers to convert the creativity in marketing to concreteness in business results and that is essential for long term success. Secondly having the ability to recognize and inspire marketers around you. As you progress in an organization, you have to let go of things and leave it to others who have the same passion, energy, desire to succeed to deliver on those. Thirdly the ability to be what I call a “thick skinned rhino” which is the ability to take unprecedented pressure but not lose your cool and continue to remain focused, optimistic and energized. Lastly and most importantly to always have time for those you love. Whether your parents, you wife, your kids, your friends, your dog or things outside work that really matter to you.
And who is a great example of this?
There are many people I have come across who have inspired me but one person who is a great example of the “Haseeb Square” for me is one of my former bosses a lady by the name of Nora Costello with whom I worked for 2 years. Nora is a veteran marketer in Unilever who has it all. She is passionate about results, inspires everyone who works with her, never cracks under pressure and always makes a point to be there for her family. For me Nora epitomizes what an ideal marketer should be (though I know she is too modest to admit this) and someone who I know will delight consumers regardless whatever brands she may be working on and these days those brands happen to be Knorr, Colmans and Pot Noodle.
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
There are quite a few challenges. Firstly is the economic uncertainty which is constantly forcing consumers to think price rather than brand and the intense price rivalry between retailers who are trying to convince consumers about their value proposition being the best. Secondly the speed at which things need to be done these days. Excellence takes time but the world of today needs speed hence there is a constant battle between trying to do something phenomenal vs doing something within the time frame. Thirdly a lot of people talk about Digital as a challenge but for me its an opportunity. The challenge is building the expertise to leverage this opportunity.
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