creativebrief: Why did you choose a career in marketing?

Rahul Patel: I completed my Batchelor’s Degree in French & International Management, and Marketing was the part of the course I enjoyed the most. I had always been a relatively creative person and marketing seemed to be the most natural confluence of creativity and commerce.

I was lucky enough to get myself onto a work placement programme at Toyota in their marketing department when I was still at University, something which involved working with their advertising, direct, digital and CRM teams. It also gave me the opportunity to work with their agencies and as soon as I was exposed to the energy and excitement of a creative agency I was hooked, from that point on I knew that’s where I wanted to start my career. I thought maybe one day I’d end up on the client side and, so far, things seem to have gone to plan!

creativebrief: What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?

Rahul Patel: Someone who has a natural curiosity about the consumer, a good knack of identifying unmet consumer needs and using this insight to able to create compelling propositions that solve consumer problems and generate profit in a sustainable manner. The best pieces of marketing of recent times have often come from people or businesses who wouldn’t necessarily define themselves as ‘marketers’ perse (think Google, Facebook), but have identified a product or service that will help improve consumer wellbeing before the consumer even knows they need it.

creativebrief: And who is a great example of this?

Rahul Patel: Sherilyn Shackell is classic example of someone who would never classify themselves as a marketer, but blatantly displays the natural skills of one. The Marketing Academy has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2010. There was a clear gap in the market for a holistic programme to support and develop the future generation of leaders. To make all this happen through a not-for-profit organisation, and attract the calibre of mentors, coaches and organisations to this movement is testament to the fact that there is no doubt that Sherilyn most definitely is an ace marketer!

creativebrief: What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?

Rahul Patel: Challenges are numerous for marketers today, but the basic principles haven’t changed, for e.g. word of mouth has always been and remains the most powerful form of marketing. The proliferation of channels through which consumers form an opinion about your brand make it increasingly challenging. Furthermore, the economic downturn also means innovation tends to be a difficult business case to justify, especially if it is true innovation, as it will be difficult to benchmark and forecast ROI with any real accuracy.

creativebrief: How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms?

Rahul Patel: We ask our agencies to bring us regular updates, subscribe to all the usual bulletins to see how the market is moving and also spend time with our partners to learn from the areas in which they are experimenting.

creativebrief: How does this impact your relationship with agencies?

Rahul Patel: Positively, as they know we are as keen as them to push the boundaries and test new technologies and ways of working.

creativebrief: How do you know if you’re getting the best from your agencies?

Rahul Patel: Aside from business results (as we bonus our agencies on delivery against the same business KPIs that we measure ourselves on) you don’t need a scorecard or framework to know if you’re getting the best from your agencies. It just feels a very partnership based setup; a colleague recently described it to me as ‘an extension of the marketing team’.

creativebrief: Of your recent work, what makes you particularly proud and why?

Rahul Patel: Of course, I’d have to say the creation of the Avios brand, which Interbrand described as one of their toughest assignments due to the multiple criteria the new brand name needed to address. This along with the launch TV ad, created by 101, where we made everyday objects fly as a demonstration of the core benefit offered by Avios. The fact we did this for real in an airfield in the north of Spain rather than rely on CGI makes me particularly proud. The ad has generated over 1 million hits on Youtube and a few spoof ads, which is of course the ultimate compliment!

creativebrief: How do you think marketers can raise the profile of marketing within their organisations?

Rahul Patel: If we think of colleagues within our organisation in the same way we think about how we ‘win over consumers’ we can’t go too wrong. Many of the same principles apply, marketers can raise their profile by spending more time understanding the needs of various business functions and responding with solutions that can address both the end-consumer needs as well as helping solve something for the respective functions such as Finance = more profit, HR = employee retention etc.

creativebrief: Do you see yourself as a generalist or a specialist, does it matter?

Rahul Patel: I’m a generalist most definitely. The best marketers are those people who make it their business to ‘poke their noses’ in to all areas of the business, connect the dots between seemingly unrelated areas to unearth new opportunities that can grow the business but also improves consumers’ lives. However, within a high performing team it is important you keep a balance of specialists and generalists that complement one another. This ensures a balance between big picture thinking and first-class execution of ideas.