Natasha Pergl works with some of the UK’s largest organisations, helping them to tackle the disruption created by digital by shaping solutions to re-address their business models, customer experience and operational processes. She’s passionate about helping organisations bring customers into the heart of the business and using insights to drive better decision making and profitable performance.
Some of the common issues that Capgemini help organisations address include how to better understand and serve consumers, how to evolve business strategies for a digital age and how to adapt business structures so companies can be flexible and responsive to increasingly competitive markets.
Previously, Natasha has been a media planner and then B2B Marketing Manager at Fujitsu as Manufacturing & Utilities Lead – managing large scale campaigns and marketing activity whilst also helping to bring some of their Japanese innovation to the UK market.
Natasha was also selected for the prestigious 2014 Marketing Academy leadership programme and is currently a mentor for graduates at the University of Nottingham, Google’s ‘We are Squared’ Digital Advertising training programme and School of Communication Arts.
Why did you choose a career in marketing?
I’ve always been fascinated by what makes people tick and how things operate which led me into a career in marketing and then consulting, which seemed like the ideal path for someone obsessed with making things better! There’s never been a more exciting time to be in marketing – we live in households with 7.4 connected devices on average and we spend more time on our phones than sleeping so it’s no wonder that organisations are finding it harder and harder to cut through the distraction and get the attention of their desired audiences. As a consultant, I’m now the other side of the “marketing fence” and it’s really exciting using best practice from across industries to help marketers make this happen.
What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?
Always being curious, externally focused on new trends and disruptions in the market and really championing the customer within the business – even when challenged. For long-term success, it’s down to senior marketing leaders to create more opportunities for their teams to take risks so they can be much more responsive to market disruption.
And who is a great example of this?
Through the Marketing Academy, I’ve been lucky enough to meet many inspiring business and marketing leaders from the likes of ITV, Sony, Nike, Diageo and the British Army to name but a few. What they all have in common is a real respect for putting people first (both customers and employees) and a desire to think bigger and more imaginatively than their competitors. I love the TED talk by Simon Sinek “Start with why – How great leaders inspire action” because it’s a really good reminder that people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?
Broadcast communications are a thing of the past and organisations are being forced to communicate in much more dynamic and interesting ways with their customers. There has also been an explosion in disruption from new entrants such as Uber and Airbnb who are completely changing the market and cutting out competition by transforming the way business is done in these sectors. The best brands have strong levels of emotional engagement with their customers and this comes from knowing their audience, creating really exciting, compelling content and sharing insight across the business helping to forge closeness between departments that might not typically speak to each other. Integration across organisations is critical so innovations can be capitalised on as quickly as they’re spotted.
How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?
It’s my job to bring insight and knowledge to the clients that I work with so I spend a lot of time keeping up to date with what’s happening, new ideas and innovations. There is always so much to read so my advice is to narrow your focus to a few areas of interest and expertise and carve out time in the day to digest the content properly and form your own point of view. There are also great apps out there (Flipboard and Feedly) which can curate content based on chosen topic areas. Our thought leadership at Capgemini is at the cutting edge of what’s happening in the digital space. Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are brilliant ways to organise your Twitter feeds into categories or specialism areas especially for events that you can’t attend.
Marc Lewis (School of Communication Arts Founder) said “always be a squirrel – keep learning, it’s the first rule of creativity” which is what I aspire to. Being able to connect the dots and make patterns is a crucial and enjoyable part of my job!
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