Dog Portfolio Manager (Mars Petcare)
Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, talks to Carrie Osman, Dog Portfolio Manager (Mars Petcare) and Marketing Academy 2010 alumni.
Carrie has been with Mars almost 7 years and is responsible for a £200m+ portfolio of brands including Mars’ biggest global brand, PEDIGREE.
Carrie runs a team of 5 people & before this has worked at Brand manager & Senior brand manager level on a number of Mars Brands. Carrie joined Mars on their Fast Track Management programme in 2006.
Prior to this she worked for 2 entrepreneurs in the events & hospitality industry, including 6 months shadowing Peter De Savary. During this time she learnt how to approach things differently – always with passion, determination & belief.
Carrie was recently named one of marketing magazines 30 under 30 & featured in Marketing Week for the Marketing Academy (of which she is an extremely grateful Alumni). Carrie studied Political Science at Nottingham University and has represented England Internationally in the Dressage arena.
Carrie Osman: My dad always worked in greetings cards (hallmark, then american greetings) and he said to me from 10 that I should go into ‘marketing’. Naturally I wanted to rebel but whilst doing my shadowing for Peter de Savary I realised I loved the intensity with which you could interrogate the consumer and their wants. I then joined Mars as I had always been told their fast track management scheme was brilliant (I’m still not sure how I got in seeing the calibre of graduates) but luckily I did. The training, passion and values of the business are immense. Passion and individuality are cherished and that’s why I bounce into work everyday. Marketing has been so much more than I bargained for – in mars you run the business and are a growth manager. I love that. I didn’t want to just make ‘ads’ – even though I really enjoy communications. I want to grow a business, inspire people and make a difference.
Carrie Osman: Passion, Curiosity, Seeing a future and rallying your organisation to believe in the future you see
Carrie Osman: Both Craig Inglis at John Lewis & Phil Rumbol (now 101 ex Cadbury) both changed the way we think about Brands and Marketing. They rallied their organisations to change and that is something that inspires me everyday. I met so many amazing people through the Marketing Academy and I took something away from all of them; Sue Farr, Justin King, Sherylin Shackell, Andrew McGuiness….it is the most amazing programme so it is quite hard to give just one example!!!
Carrie Osman: 2 big challenges I see people facing are:
1. Rational v’s emotional – there is so much data today, we can test everything and know everything about peoples behaviour – I think the challenge is to know when to stop and to balance rational data and facts with your gut feel to make great decisions fast
2. I see people becoming such Marketing experts that as they climb higher and really need to be fantastic managers it is hard for them. I think as Marketers we need to foster great talent and develop people to become the best they can be.
Carrie Osman: Try to generally hang round with agency peeps who are much cooler than me and know what is going on! I also stay in to loop through blogs, magazines & reading. I have some authors I am very loyal to. Seth Godin and Simon Sinek to name a couple.
Carrie Osman: It builds a great relationship as they help us see things differently and understand how things are changing. They also know that is what we want so don’t feel bad for pinging examples through & sharing in our all agency meetings work or ideas that inspire them.
Carrie Osman: I think you feel it…..
I work with some amazing people at our agencies and it is better than it has ever been. We have worked to build really strong relationships and put the time in. I genuinely feel like we are one team.
Carrie Osman: Pedigree Adoption Drive
It is a commitment we have made for 5 years and raised over 1.2m to help homeless dogs. We have always changed the campaign but stayed true to making life better for dogs.
Carrie Osman: Treat themselves as they would a brand. Know the commercials and talk in a language that makes you heard.
Carrie Osman: I am not sure it does matter. If I went into general management at some stage in my career I would see that as another challenge and a way to inspire people on a greater scale (albeit easier said than done)
creativebrief partner the Marketing Academy is a non-profit organisation which provides a unique forum for industry leaders, marketing gurus, entrepreneurs and inspirational people volunteer their time to inspire, develop and coach the next generation of future leaders. The Marketing Academy gift a maximum of 30 ‘Scholarships’ each year to the fastest rising stars in the marketing, advertising and communications industries. A team of high profile mentors and coaches develop these stars through a process of mentoring, coaching, networking and personalised learning. 86 mentors, 30 Coaches, 20 Judges, 36 companies and an owl called Merlin all provide their time, resources and knowledge to assist in shaping the minds of our future leaders. Furthermore as a vital part of their curriculum all Scholars volunteer at least one day per year through our Donate28 initiative to work with charities who need bright young marketing minds. For a full list of the individuals involved, see the Sherilyn Shackell interview.
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