Responsibility for the Sales & Marketing Strategy

As General Manager he is responsible for the whole marketing strategy, go-to-market, branding, pricing, design, and channel strategy, which means he has marketing managers coming to him with their ideas on a regular basis.

I wanted to know how marketing managers successfully share their ideas with him. Christoph told me:

You have to be able to sell me the idea in 20 seconds. If you can't explain it in that time, then it's likely not fully thought through yet.

He breaks it down into touch points i.e. the first time you pitch the idea and then the follow-up pitch:

1. First Pitch: You should be passionate and fully convinced about your idea. You must be able to convey the uniqueness and market need.
2. Second Pitch: You should come with a solid business case and all of the details.

I always have time to brain-storm and contribute to ideas, but my expectation is that you have your own opinion. Never expect me to give you all the answers.

Think "Stylist First"

I asked Christoph what Marketing & Sales strategies are working in the industry.

You need a 360-degree marketing package, with a strong focus on digital. And for Professional brands it's key to use a "stylist first" approach.

He says that it's important to involve stylists from the first idea. Stylists are professionals and they have different expectations and usage requirements to end-users, but he says the royal discipline is to develop products that appeal to stylists and end-users.

He believes the product has to address the unmet needs of a stylist to be a successful Professional brand. And that brands should focus on functionality, ease of use and building an emotional connection.

The Influencer trend during the pandemic

I wanted to know about the shift in marketing strategy during the pandemic. I think we've all noticed the shampoo adverts with celebrities doing their own hair colour from home. And I have to say, this did more to convince me than the usual ads.

So, I asked Christoph if he thinks this new wave of marketing - and not just celebs, but social media influencers too - is here to stay and whether it's the demise of big brand campaigns.

First of all, Christoph told me that Influencers like to be called "creators" these days. He goes on to say that while they can help to raise brand awareness, educate, win new accounts and sell products, the right fit between brand and creator is important. The creator's interest and advocacy for the brand needs to be authentic, or the relationship won't work.

He believes in joint campaigns where brands work very closely with their co-creators and develop relationships that last beyond one or two social media posts.

I don't believe that Influencers (creators) are the demise of big branding campaigns. They are a vital part of such campaigns.

Christoph made a valid point that the use of creators is platform-dependent. Where you may see more creators in social channels, like Instagram, you are less likely to come across them on a brand's website or their eCommerce platforms (yet).

As far as he is concerned, there is still a role for tentpole, brand-equity focused campaigns, like the one we did for Kenra Signature Style.