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Sustainability that sells - Laura Lamard from Henkel about Embedding Sustainability in the Product
6 Plays19 minutes ago
Laura is a French Global Marketing Leader at Henkel, with 15 years of experience across industrial, tech, and automotive markets. She leads global go-to-market strategies across five regions and more than 30 countries, translating complex B2B technologies into clear customer value. At Henkel, She helped build initiatives like Social Selling (800+ sales people trained), the LOCTITE XPLORE eLearning, used by 40,000+ external professionals worldwide, and led LOCTITE Pulse Global Marketing – the multi-awarded B2B Industrial IoT solution.
Based in Bordeaux and a mum of two, Laura enjoys building things from scratch and connecting strategy, storytelling, and growth.
Outside work, you’ll often find her trail running, climbing, or exploring topics around mindset, mindfulness, and gong sound healing.
About the FutureStrategies podcast and your host:
I’m Florian Schleicher, a marketing strategist. I help brands gain clarity, spark momentum, and turn strategy into something that actually moves people. In 2022, I started my marketing studio FUTURESTRATEGIES. to do exactly that. I currently work with corporate clients from 11 countries.
If you want more, check out my FutureStrategies newsletter – monthly inspiration on marketing, strategy and sustainability.
And if something’s blocking your brand from doing its best work, let’s talk.
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Transcript
Introduction to Future Strategies Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
And every time we design a campaign, we talk about the four pillars. So the messaging should go under each umbrella. That's why for us sustainability is embedded in the campaign, in the product, in the application.
00:00:15
Speaker
Welcome to the future strategies podcast. My name is Florian Schleicher. I'm a marketing strategist focused on sustainability and I'm your host here. You can listen to my interviews with international experts and together we will explore where marketing strategies and sustainability intersect with great examples, insightful stories and a look behind the scenes of some amazing brands. If you're curious how to apply all of that for your own business, I do this for my clients from all around the world.
00:00:45
Speaker
But more on that at the end of this episode. Now, let's jump into today's interview.
00:00:53
Speaker
My guest today is Laura Lamar. Laura is a French global marketing leader at Henke with 15 years of experience across industrial, tech and automotive markets.
00:01:04
Speaker
She leads global go-to marketing strategies across five regions and more than 30 countries, translating complex B2B technologies into clear customer value.
00:01:16
Speaker
At Henkel, she helped build initiatives like social selling, the Loctite Explorer e-learning used by 40,000 plus external professionals worldwide, and led Loctite Pulse Global Marketing, the multi-awarded B2B industrial IoT solution.
00:01:33
Speaker
Based in Bordeaux and a mom of two, Laura enjoys building things from scratch and connecting strategy, storytelling, and growth. Outside work, you'll often find her trail running, climbing or exploring topics around mindset, mindfulness and gong sound healing.
00:01:50
Speaker
Thank you so much for coming on the show, Laura. Thank you, Florian. Nice to be here. We had the first conversation, I think a couple of months ago, and now again, reading your bio, I immediately remember why we clicked so well, because we both enjoy building things from scratch.
00:02:07
Speaker
This is something that I especially learned in the last couple of years, and also this part of connecting strategy, storytelling and growth. So I'm really excited to have this conversation with you today and talk about how you also bring that all together in your role.
Sustainability in Loctite's Brand
00:02:21
Speaker
So let's start with ah one big question. Last week, I had a call with César, your sustainability and lead, and I feel like a lot of marketing teams still treat sustainability as a campaign kind of topic.
00:02:39
Speaker
And for you at Loctite, it seems to be embedded much deeper into the brand, really, and not just something fluffy that you talk about. So I would be curious when you design a campaign or when you design a marketing plan, where does sustainability really enter that process?
00:02:57
Speaker
Sure. So for us, I think what's probably different from Overs is also the type of solutions that we have. So I'm just going to dig into that before I talk about how we do the campaigns, because i could see in your Overs podcast, you're often talking about food, food, like life care products and different types of B2C, let's say consumer products.
00:03:19
Speaker
But for us, we're in B2B and what we do, so we're in the industrial part of the business. So we have the brand Loctite with the adhesive sealing and coating solutions.
00:03:30
Speaker
And what we do, also some infrastructure infrastructure, reinforcement solutions that we just acquired. What we do is we support our customers to innovate and to take care of the big challenges.
00:03:43
Speaker
So climate, sustainability, innovation in general for products, you know, how to build products that are lighter, safer, more re reliable. So that's what we do with our customers.
00:03:55
Speaker
And when we come to the campaigns, we so we have we have a big team. We have a global team of eight people, actually even more with the new acquisitions. and it's It's the status right now that it might change in the future.
00:04:08
Speaker
And we have also 30 marketers in the markets. ah So it's a very heavy marketing team when you think about it because we localize everything we do. And in the global team, we run ah around eight campaigns, 10 campaigns per year.
00:04:23
Speaker
So how we build the campaigns, we focus on key innovations or key solutions where we want to focus. So for example, hydrogen. We're going to... We work on this mega trend, hydrogen, and we have solutions that support, you know, we do leak detection. We can also reduce, help reduce the leaks because of the sealing solution. So sustainability is embedded in in the solution itself in the in the application.
00:04:51
Speaker
You know if you manage to reduce the leaks of hydrogen with your solution, then you are sustainable. You are bringing sustainability and and safety and so on. So when we design campaigns, by default, we talk about sustainability because that's part of the solutions. And not only it's by default, but also we have a new brand called Beyond the Bond since 2022. The Loctite, it's our Loctite tagline, you know, Beyond the Bond.
00:05:21
Speaker
because we go beyond with customers, beyond bonding, sealing and coating, and we innovate with them. And in this brand platform, which we designed, ah so it's a colleague of mine that worked on it. It's a super cool ah program, by the way, if you want to look at online.
00:05:38
Speaker
you have four pillars. So sustainability is one of them. And you have innovation, you have expertise and you have partnership. And every time we design a campaign, we talk about the four pillars.
00:05:51
Speaker
So the messaging should go under each umbrella. That's why for us, sustainability is embedded in the campaign, in the product, in the application. And yeah, it's it's logically integrated to to what we do.
00:06:06
Speaker
I would be curious because I talk a lot, as you mentioned, with B2C brands also. So how do you perceive B2B markets, engineers, production manager, procurement teams?
00:06:19
Speaker
Are these audiences skeptical of buzzwords around sustainability? And how do you communicate sustainability in a way that actually resonates with them also?
Perception of Sustainability in B2B Markets
00:06:31
Speaker
Good question. So I think it depends who in the B2B market. So for us, we have three or four, let's say, dimensions to our business. So we have, we we're working with engineers that design new products.
00:06:44
Speaker
um So those will be looking for solutions that make their products more reliable, safe to apply, you know, when it comes to adhesive or solutions, coatings or whatever, safe to apply. It's also sustainability when you talk about safety, when it comes to sustainability.
00:07:01
Speaker
But also, you know, the products they sell, they want a product that is also circular, with also ability to be reliable and so on. So for those, it's clearly part of their needs, clearly part of their requirements and also the applications and the safety standards.
00:07:19
Speaker
For the maintenance managers, the second part of the personas we work with, the maintenance managers, you're going to have head of the plant production, you know you're going to have head of maintenance, maintenance engineer, like a lot of different profiles and maintenance operators.
00:07:37
Speaker
I think it really depends. From the top, like if you take the maintenance heads and the senior level, it's part of their target. They need to ah produce with less emissions. They need to reduce safety risk. They need to be more profitable you know and and you know produce more with less money, less damage, less effort.
00:07:58
Speaker
So it's part of their needs. And that's how we actually work with them. We help them reduce downtime, reduce incidents, and prolonged uptime. And then the third part is of the personas we talk to is the vehicle repair audience, which is more the mechanics, the workshops.
00:08:18
Speaker
And for them, it's also about, I would say, the solutions they use. So if you think about electric vehicle, which is somehow the one part of the future of the automotive market. Electric vehicles, we have a huge challenge with battery.
00:08:34
Speaker
you know How do you prolong the life? How do you repair? It's really a ah challenge today. And we have solutions to make the life of battery longer.
00:08:45
Speaker
So we have gasketing solution. And this one, we we actually did a campaign ah last year to promote, to say, we're here, we have solutions. We can even tailor-made the solution for you.
00:08:58
Speaker
And we wanted to say, we we really want to support and to and to build the next generation of batteries that can be circular and so on. So it's new. I think it's it's just the start of it, but it's super important. And I think they really want to think about it now.
00:09:16
Speaker
So yes, B2B doesn't seem obvious, like ah when it comes to sustainability, possibly in in the industries, but it's actually core to their target same as us. If you think about Henkel, we have our own plants, we produce our own products, beauty, laundry and adhesives.
00:09:34
Speaker
And we have a very ambitious target that César was talking about in the last chat. And you could see we are lucky to get someone that is fully deep into sustainability.
00:09:45
Speaker
Sylvie Nicole, but also the team with her, like all the the sustainability team and the leadership. And they are really thinking about how can they embed new technologies, automatization, for example, Loctite Pulse, know, our yeah New smart maintenance solution, they integrate it into the machines, into the equipment, so that they can monitor the health status, you know, the condition of the equipment, and they can keep track of the production efficiency, but also about the failure, the potential failure, and they can detect it early.
00:10:21
Speaker
So they're very deep into it because, for example, if we talk about smart maintenance, not a lot of companies are doing it. But Henkel has done it fully because they have implemented 2000 sensors.
00:10:33
Speaker
So that's quite a big example. let Let's stay a little bit with the sensors because I feel like this is an interesting example. Most people probably wouldn't immediately connect sensor technology with sustainability.
00:10:46
Speaker
But if you implement them, actually, it helps you save emissions. It saves you waste, energy, whatever. Can you walk us a little bit through that process also how you actually get got started with the
Innovations in Maintenance for Sustainability
00:11:00
Speaker
sensors? Exactly. So that's actually one of my, you know, part of a big team. And if you think about what I'm doing in that team, so doing mentioned Loctite Explorer, the e-learning, which I built actually six years ago, and now it's handed over to someone else.
00:11:15
Speaker
The second topic I'm leading since six years is Loctite Pulse. So that's the i IOT, that's the new business of my business unit. And Henkel, it's really how do we ah integrate ah technology like sensors, you know, like how do we integrate it into the maintenance of the equipment and the sensors we have currently two.
00:11:36
Speaker
that we focus on. One is steam trap monitoring. So steam trap, it's about, it's the equipment when you have fluid processing, you can detect loss of energy.
00:11:47
Speaker
It's about um the heat, you know, that goes in the in the process and we're detecting if there is um an irregularity on the equipment. And with this, it's really about looking at the at the process itself and if there is a leak it's hard to detect. You know right now we cannot really do it You have to look at the temperature before and after the the equipment and you have to do it manually. do You have to do your inspection and work for the plants regularly.
00:12:17
Speaker
So it's costly, it's ah labor intensive. And even if you do that, you might not even detect something happens because it's hard you know to to keep track of the temperature.
00:12:29
Speaker
With the sensor, we can monitor 24 seven if there is a loss, if there is um a media irregularity you know in in the equipment. And we can then send a notification to the operator operator to say, look, this equipment, we think something is irregular. You should look at it, inspect it and see if it's working. And by doing that, we're allowing them to, instead of wait for the next maintenance inspection, which could be six months later, Sometimes they do it one time per year, sometimes one per quarter or one per week.
00:13:01
Speaker
But imagine in big plants where you have thousands of steam traps and it's critical to the process because you hit the media, ah for example, for food and beverage, for, um for example, Target in Sweden, where they do the floor, the vinyl, the vinyl, for example, IKEA Vinyl is with Tarket, they heat the media, they heat the vinyl to melt it and then they do the circular ah vinyl floor. So they reuse all material and they recreate and they need the heat. So if the heat does not work well, it's a problem for them for the process. and what what we So we work with them and they have implemented the sensors so they can track irregularity and also CO2 emissions. Because we can tell them if you act early and you cut the CO2 emissions of an equipment with defects.
00:13:53
Speaker
So that's one example. Let me just pause you there for a bit because the interesting thing that I just heard is those are very technical solutions. Yeah. And I think whenever we talk about sustainability, oftentimes it's just fluff or it's super technical. And I think the challenge then in communications and in marketing is to actually translate those technical possibilities and opportunities that you provide as a company to the point that you mentioned before, actually solving problems for your customers.
00:14:24
Speaker
So it's not so much about, hey, look at this super sustainable thing that we have created, but we actually solve the problem for you, dear client. And it's also sustainable, which then also means that sustainability is not that much like on the main stage in communications, but it's more on backstage where it says it's also sustainable, but mainly this is how we help you.
00:14:50
Speaker
Exactly. and And I think I i started with especially steam trap because that's where we have a huge impact on sustainability with the monitoring, because sometimes it's just too hard to keep track you know of your equipment. And there's no solution in the market over than the manual you know inspection.
00:15:09
Speaker
So we wanted to support customers with digital, twenty four seven sensor and app, you know, where they can even remotely keep track of their equipment. You know, they have their mobile with the app and they can look at the status.
00:15:23
Speaker
It will flag any irregularities, not only on steep traps, also on smart rotating equipment. And you have many, like it's one of the most critical equipment in the plant, you know, the big... pumps, compressors, fans, which are part of the you know of the production. Or if you think about oil and gas, food and beverage, steel, mining, um ah wood, you also talk to some wood colleagues, but also the you know when you speak about chocolate, plate or you have these machines in the plant and these machines are monitored with different processes.
00:16:00
Speaker
But the new technology now is IoT, Internet of Things for Industrial. And here we have ah worked with startups and we developed actually an app that uses the data from the solutions, from the sensor, and that gives the insights to theto in the in an easy, really easy to use friendly app. Because the goal was technology can be difficult.
00:16:24
Speaker
And you know it can be ah some of the competitors, they they give raw data to customers and and they integrate it to their systems. For us, we give them something easy to you know to understand, actionable.
00:16:39
Speaker
And the future that we are thinking of and working on is prescriptive maintenance. So no moving from predictive Too prescriptive, meaning not only we will detect, like if we speak about rotating equipment, we can detect a misalignment, for example, for a pump, because, you know, it's vibrating and with the vibrations, the humidity, the environment, it can move.
00:17:02
Speaker
And when it moves, it misaligns and then it breaks. And then you have a downtime. And what we can do is very early on with the sensors, it's multiple sensors on the machine, we can tell them we detect a potential misalignment.
00:17:16
Speaker
Go check your equipment, you know do the the action, the reaper action that is needed so that it stays longer running. And we do it in the app and we give them like clear indication. And in the future, when we come to prescriptive, what we want to provide is actually this is the solution because Henkel and Loctite, we have the solution to reaper.
00:17:39
Speaker
which is one of the of the value on top, is to tell them this is the solution we recommend so that you can really repair fast and avoid energy loss, you know, in terms of the sustainability and energy loss and also loss of production and safety, of course. Yeah, that's super fascinating how how it all then comes together.
00:17:58
Speaker
In your intro, I also mentioned that you received multiple B2B marketing
Award-Winning Marketing Campaigns
00:18:03
Speaker
awards. So I would now be curious, what do you think made them successful?
00:18:09
Speaker
ah Because I feel like probably there's a challenge of translating all of this technical information to your customer base. So, yeah, very good question. So, yes, we're very proud in the team. So we got actually multiple awards, i think up to 15 in the multiple campaigns we do with my team because we, you know, we have quite a good budget to do marketing. So we're able to work with big agencies, high level in terms of the creativity, but also bold in terms of how we do the marketing. We're also empowered to do it fully. so you know, we have... um
00:18:45
Speaker
Hero videos that are quite amazing if you think about even the past. People know Loctite because of know the fact we are ah bold in in the way we we we show the value. And if you think about the past, we have videos that have millions of views. ah Take ah the hybrid solution, which is the adhesive that can bond anything. you know It's sometimes hard to bond plastic with ah metal.
00:19:13
Speaker
We can do it. And the hybrid is the w range which was like showing the versatility you know of the of the application. And back then they did a video about a train being um actually bonded, like two parts of a train being bonded with adhesive, with a few drops of hybrid. And it went through America to show like the power of the you know of the bonding with just a few drops. It was like that in terms of the drop, like it was a a V, you know? yeah And that's an example of how we do it. For Pulse, we did the same. So Loctite Pulse, we um took the angle of being ambitious. you know It's a new business. It's not our core. It's not just adhesives, ceilings and coatings. It's Vs plus technology.
00:19:58
Speaker
So technology, which was actually even external. So we had to brand it. So we built the brand Loctite Pulse. with a special color coat, the green, that you can see, green emerald, because we wanted to stand out and we built videos ah to make the solution simpler. So we wanted to simplify what the technology is and we used 3D. It was during COVID when we launched the solution. It was in 2019, in the middle of COVID. And we were like, how can we do to show the solutions in a way
00:20:32
Speaker
that is disruptive and engaging. We couldn't shoot in a, you know, we were all remote, all at home, locked. So we said to our agency back then, BBDO, we said, Germany, we said, let's do something.
00:20:44
Speaker
um Bring us some ideas. You have a white card. Bring us some ideas how we can launch. And they said, let's use 3D. So this was a while back. And we did that. It was amazing what they could do with it. we fred It was like really looking real.
00:20:58
Speaker
and premium. And we said, OK, let's do that. So we demonstrated the two first solutions like that. And the more we grew, the more we realized our team was actually a young team, kind of a startup inside the company, um you know full of energy and and wish to to grow the i IoT inside Henkel.
00:21:19
Speaker
So we felt then let's do the marketing as we are. you know Let's represent the team with the marketing. And we really made it entertaining. um you know The way we spoke was really like making things simple know in terms of the the technology.
00:21:34
Speaker
with a premium look. And I think all of this generated the impact we wanted. And when we actually pitched for awards, you know, if that's how you do it. You pitch your case, you explain your project, why it should deserve an award in sustainability, innovation and marketing.
00:21:51
Speaker
We got actually five of them, Global B2B Awards, because of the recognition of Henkel doing this innovation first, but also the way we position the products, you know, with low-type pulse branding, with the heartbeat, with the the DNA inside the the campaign and the the program.
00:22:11
Speaker
And I think all of it somehow made us stand out versus some of the programs. yeah and And we succeeded to get yeah quite a few awards after three years of launch.
00:22:23
Speaker
That's amazing. and and And I would really recommend all our listeners also to check out the videos because I find what they do so but well and what you achieved is you really show what the product can do and not tell it like this show, don't tell.
00:22:40
Speaker
ah paradigm and also the simplicity because we have so much content coming at us and and if you would say if you would have a person there explaining why this actually is such a great product it would never have been as successful as just gluing those two train parts together and just driving them through and North America and I really ah think you you are onto something there so Before we go to the ah final part of the conversation, I have one more question that I would be super curious ah to hear your answer on, which is we are in a time when marketing is under a lot of pressure.
00:23:17
Speaker
um There is ah sustainability pressure. There is also a lot of budget pressure and expectations that are rising. So I would be curious, especially for B2B brands, how do you think B2B marketing needs to behave or adapt to to stay on track with everything that is asked from marketing at
Balancing Boldness and Success in B2B Marketing
00:23:39
Speaker
the moment? For me, it's all about the impact of of your program, like showing the impact in terms of revenue, new business, awareness. Like if you think about the funnel from awareness to conversion and you know closing. somehow measuring all this.
00:23:57
Speaker
ah You cannot close without a awareness. So you need to to do also a bit of views, a bit of and traffic to your site and so on. But for me, what matters is the the last part, like the conversion, really.
00:24:10
Speaker
yeah So how we do that, like in B2B and in general, like it's really, you know, you asked the question about what are the three things to to focus on for good marketing, being bold.
00:24:22
Speaker
ah So being bold means be memorable in terms of your brand, in terms of your content, in terms of your approach to the content. Disrupt. Like for Loctite Pulse, we were disruptive because we made it simple and we made it look premium and fun also somehow. We also injected some people dancing on the video. We had our VP go in seven locations for one day. We shoot it in like... um an actor, we said, you're going to tell us what what is Loctite with your own words. You're going to go with us. You're going to put your shoes, your safety shoes. We go in the plant and you demonstrate what is TeamTrap doing. You're going to demonstrate how it brings value. And we did that for one day.
00:25:02
Speaker
And somehow we had fun. You could see him it's called Behind the Pulse, by the way. It got 2 million views in four months because so it was fun. It was disruptive. It was brave, you know, taking your VP and saying, you're going to be fun today and authentic and talk with your own words.
00:25:23
Speaker
Because you were the one behind this innovation. so And he wanted to be the voice of it. But it's bold. My agency was in fear. When we did the shooting, they were like, it's not an actor. And like how well is he prepared to talk about it? And actually, he was amazing. So I think he was even better than an actor. Because we nearly did everything in one shot, which was amazing. It was with Kourosh Barami, our previous director.
00:25:49
Speaker
a business head, right? is now he has now left Henkel and is leading Teza. He's the CEO of Teza now. But he was really like spot on in the way he did it. And I think for marketers, it's finding those people inside the organization that are ah bold, that are believing in the marketing and also, you know, able to to participate to build the DNA of your solutions.
00:26:14
Speaker
So that's one. When I spoke about measurable, you cannot build big programs with with impact if you don't have the right the right tools, the right investment, the right people.
00:26:27
Speaker
When I say people, I mean talents, you know, having people that are passionate, that really wants to change the status quo, that can challenge a technical team on how we position a product or a technology.
00:26:41
Speaker
that can bring a tagline that is centered on the customer, or not on the technology, kind of a mix, you know, and can really senior enough to sharpen the campaign and the content to to get the impact, but also integrate within the systems and in big organizations like Henkel.
00:27:03
Speaker
It's sometimes hard. We have so many gatekeepers um to get things done fast and with the best approach. um For example, think about ai yeah It's really hard to integrate AI right now um when you think about Vibe coding and the new kind of ah space where we can do things faster and stronger.
00:27:26
Speaker
It's hard in big organizations. So it's also about being brave, senior enough, but brave to challenge status quo, to go in the unknown area and test out fast, fail fast, pivot fast.
00:27:41
Speaker
So that's, I think, all of it that can make an impact at the end of the day. and And also because what I see and I'm super frustrated with that is we often seen as cost center in marketing because we cost, right? It's quite an investment.
00:27:58
Speaker
But if you do it properly, you also become a growth center. And for example, for Pulse, Loctite Pulse, we generated with marketing and everything we invested, ah we generated 25% of the revenue of of the of the business we generated generated over the past five years.
00:28:19
Speaker
And we generated the two biggest customers with marketing. Meaning we could track, you know, when when we enter the customer in the CRM, we could track the source and the source was SEA, LinkedIn, you know, like depending on the on the campaign.
00:28:35
Speaker
And we generated the two biggest like Target, ah for example, one of our biggest customers right now for Pulse. They got to know us through the campaign. yeah Of course, we also need sales to close and we need the ah the partnership between the customer and the experts.
00:28:53
Speaker
But I'm really proud to say that somehow we also contributed. so make and And I feel like that, I say this often when ah when I teach at the university or when i when I coach clients, is in the end, marketing has the role of changing behavior of people.
00:29:11
Speaker
it needs to have an impact. If marketing doesn't change the behavior of people, if it doesn't create real impact, as you said, then it's a hobby. And if you can afford to have a hobby, then you're a lucky company. But otherwise, marketing always needs to perform. um And that's why I think also performance marketing and brand marketing need to come together because performance can't do anything without a brand. But if there is just a brand and it doesn't perform, it also doesn't work.
00:29:37
Speaker
So before we go to the three final questions that I ask everybody, i would be curious, do you have any questions for me, Laura?
Staying Relevant in Marketing
00:29:44
Speaker
Yes, I do. So one of the questions I had is I saw, I listened to your podcast, you met quite a few companies. I know you're also with your own business and you're quite active at getting to know new new companies. You're very deep into sustainability and marketing. My question to you would be a bit wider, like when you interact with those organizations that you meet,
00:30:10
Speaker
What do you think is the most inspirational right now when you get to exchange with them? Like what's the big idea or the big thing that you see that keeps you energized, let's say? You mean when it comes to specifically also sustainability?
00:30:26
Speaker
No, in general, like marketing-wise. I'm very drawn to big brands. um I've worked for McDonald's, I've worked for Greenpeace, then Too Good To Go.
00:30:38
Speaker
And I find it fascinating how a company can have an impact on so many people's lives. And at the same time, this challenge of staying relevant, which I find very fascinating, because if you are a super cool startup, like Too Good To Go is, was, um it's easier to generate awareness.
00:31:00
Speaker
because everybody loves you, you have a great story to tell, you're new, you're the new kid on the block. But if you are a company like McDonald's, like Henkel, likewise, or other big players that I talk to, it is quite a challenge to stay on top of things and to stay modern Because you can't fall into the trap of just being comfortable with, yeah, we've built this amazing company. We've built this brand. Now we can just benefit from it. And I had a conversation with a friend of mine. He is the head of marketing at a big Austrian company. And he told me that if we would stop marketing now, we wouldn't feel an effect next year.
00:31:38
Speaker
But in two, three, five years, our brand would become irrelevant. So this challenge of staying relevant, of putting great ideas out there to really connect with your audience. And the thing that you also mentioned is actually solving a problem for your audience. And I feel like this is a very interesting challenge because many companies at one point in their history, they lose sight of what they're actually doing for their customers. Because oftentimes it's not the actual product that you're selling, but it's an emotion.
00:32:10
Speaker
It's a thought. that you provide them with peace of mind, security, um excitement, autonomy, whatever. And really lot of companies then come to me and say, hey, can we go back to our core? Can you help us rediscover our core and then translate it into the actual output?
00:32:30
Speaker
Because I'm not a fan of big philosophical strategies, but more of like, okay, what can we actually do to have an impact for your business in the upcoming months? So I would say this is something that really fascinates me and working with amazing people. um Whenever I come into a company, I work for a big coffee producer, for example, I'm not the expert on the product.
00:32:52
Speaker
This is my client's job. What I'm an expert is in like providing them with an outside perspective. challenging their thoughts, bringing their thoughts back again to, okay, what do our customers really want?
00:33:04
Speaker
How can we stay relevant for them and not just produce the kind of content that we find interesting? Because the honest truth is, and this is also something that I always say to my students at university, nobody cares about your brand.
00:33:19
Speaker
And when you work at a company, I myself, you sometimes fall into that trap of just thinking, yeah, we're so important. But really, you're just a tiny part and you're solving. If you solve a problem for a person, for a customer, whether that's B2C or B2B, think that is the important thing to come back to.
00:33:35
Speaker
Thank you. I agree. Yes. and And that's why also for us, it's quite, would say easy or marketing has been quite smooth in my team because we have a big brand, Loctite, and we have taken care of it. Like we have someone dedicated to it. um with a big program, with a really cool assets. And as you said, focused on the emotions we bring, the values. It's a brand for 70 years. So, you know, it has been taken care for 70 years. Like it's not something that we just did. We have always done marketing for the brand. yeah
00:34:13
Speaker
And I think you're right. If I didn't have that, if I were working for another company, I have seen some of the companies, for example, in tech companies, where they're not so strong in the brand and I can see it's hard for a marketing team to to perform. you know like um I with some ah people in like in this company and and they were telling me it's hard, they don't have the right tools, they don't have the right brand, the identity is not clear. So somehow some some business head, they still think, oh, but we sell because we have the right technology, we have ah you know
00:34:49
Speaker
people buy online and it's fast to and they know the product. and But actually, you're still losing, as you say, you're still losing a lot of audience because you're not top of mind, because your marketing efforts are lost you know into the crowd. And with AI, geo and all the topics, if you don't create a strong brand that differentiates,
00:35:10
Speaker
you're going to be gone in few years. like You're going to be disappearing into the crowd. And that's what is the biggest challenge B2B, B2C, is how do we stay, how do we cut through the noise? How do we stay visible with less budget, with less people, but with more impact?
00:35:28
Speaker
And that means taking bold decisions and sometimes yes also taking decisions that are opposite to what you think. For example, me, When i worked I started working for Henkel 10 years ago, as you said, I was starting with social selling.
Return to In-Person Marketing
00:35:42
Speaker
How do you use LinkedIn to engage your audience, to network, to you know to seek for opportunities and and bring your expertise online?
00:35:50
Speaker
I was doing that for key accounts, BDMs and top leadership. Super cool. I did that for two years and we grew a team of 800 social sellers at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. And then I moved into campaign and global marketing with with my business units. My focus was always digital. I was like, let's do less customer visits. Let's do more online network. let's Because we can scale faster. We can do more with less.
00:36:16
Speaker
But what I'm seeing now is the reverse. And I'm also experiencing it myself. like I'm also looking for the reverse. I'm like, I prefer to go to an association, like when we talk to industries.
00:36:28
Speaker
Now I'm closer to associations in my region, in southwest of France, where I can really connect and understand the customers, their challenges in the economy and so on. And this doesn't happen online, you know, to connect with people victor at the strategic level, but also um connect in person. It makes a total difference. And in B2B marketing, there is an impact.
00:36:51
Speaker
Like if you go to events, conferences, huge impact. And now I changed my mind on that. Yeah, yeah same for me. like I started also working in a digital advertising agency when I when i got started with my career.
00:37:03
Speaker
And one of the things that I wrote in my trend report, Friction Reloaded, was this return to in real life activities to because people are just hungry to connect in a real life event and and just meeting people in person. It provides a different feeling. like I try to do all my meetings with clients in person because it's it's just a different atmosphere. I would never run a workshop virtually. It it just doesn't work. And there are so many brands like Zapier, for example, software company, and and they also moved into non-online presentations of their new product. But really inviting people for a special occasion, you can experience things so differently. And it's kind of a magic that develops when people meet in real life.
00:37:51
Speaker
really agree. And I think gets a it's more and more. And I don't if it's the post-COVID effect or if it's always been there, but I can see now the the need to review how we do marketing and even come back to old practice. I'm thinking about teleprospecting, which I will never have said like a year ago. would have not said that I believe in teleprospecting.
00:38:15
Speaker
But now I'm telling you, i think it's worth trying because people are actually answering the phone. I think it's it's a pendulum. It's swung very far to the digital side. We do everything online and now people become more and more tired and exhausted by digital media. So they are moving back to a different era and and and behavior.
00:38:37
Speaker
Laura, I think we we could go on and on. We should do that over a virtual coffee chat one
Personal Inspirations and Connections in Marketing
00:38:42
Speaker
time. But I would like to to finish us here with the three final questions that I ask everybody. And I would ask you to provide as short of an answer as possible to kind of make this like a quick fire question round. So number one is what is good marketing to you in three words? So already responded before and I said it's ah it's ah bold, impactful in terms of measurable. And the third one was brave.
00:39:11
Speaker
Yes, I like that. We also talked about the second ah question already, but what is your your short summary on what the future of marketing is? I think it's about exploring new areas, um new in terms of digital, like AI, geo, live coding and all those things, but also um the previous traditions offline, doing more offline, trying different things. looking what's doing more with less.
00:39:41
Speaker
I think it's also one of the big things. And we see a lot of trend of the one click, you know, like a lot of things are changing, the 5G, AI coming into the place so we can work more efficiently. So it's about testing, seeing what works for you um and thinking about the users, like how they also seek information, trying to adapt to that and and and explore and what works build on it, I would say.
00:40:07
Speaker
Yes, I like that exploring what works and then build on it. And one more thing, ABM, which I haven't talked about, but that's something we are really strong at in adhesive, like in Henkel Adhesive Technologies. It's about really working on key customers, you know, the the top of your pyramid, like the customers that generate the biggest revenue where you need to be close and really help them ah explore account based marketing.
00:40:35
Speaker
Final question. I like to read a lot. So I always ask my guests, what is a book that you would like to recommend here? I'm not going to talk about the book because I like books, but it's more like and life books and and stories of ah of life philosophy. I'm going to talk about the podcast.
00:40:55
Speaker
kind of a book, but oral. And for podcasts, so I'm listening quite a few. I'm really fan of podcasts. And one ah one I would recommend is the one from Pauline Legno.
00:41:07
Speaker
Pauline Legno, she built a company called GEMEO and also a space for learning called Demian. And she's she's one of the top podcasts in France right now because she's really, really good at that. She's actually meeting with different types of personalities that achieved something interesting. thing And she's going deep into how did it work, what were the failures, and so on.
00:41:31
Speaker
And one of the best podcasts or one of the latest I really enjoyed was the one with Sophie Gickel. She's an ultra trail runner. So, you know, i in the introduction, you said I was running and I did my first half marathon last year. I'm 36. And what's super about her is that she started to run at like to run like a professional at 36 also. But she's one of the world champions of ultra trail now. And she's like 43. And she was explaining what it takes to build the strength, which is going outside of comfort.
00:42:11
Speaker
And you can do the parallel with life. um How do you achieve big things when you accept to lose the comfort, when you have a structure and you follow, you stick to the structure, the discipline. She said it's all about the discipline. And so discipline is hitting well, sleeping well, ah focusing and putting effort when it's tough. You know, like it's tough, but you continue.
00:42:35
Speaker
And she managed to run 250 kilometers in 24 hours. So she became the first. Oh gosh. French woman to do that. She got the champion title. And she, ah so it was in 2018.
00:42:49
Speaker
In 2021, she got hurt ah in the street. And she the doctor said, you can't you won't be able to run again the same way. But she was so bold and so strong that she continued and she came back to the level she was and she actually achieved more. And if you follow her, like there are some movies on her. She used to work in law. She was like with a different life and sport was probably aside until she moved completely back in sport.
00:43:16
Speaker
And now she's working with science. to study how we can push the limits of the body, of everything. And she said, i really love how she does it because she she's really into exploration, the same like like us. And she's in into, um you know, it's hard, but you continue.
00:43:34
Speaker
And it works. So she's proving that it works. And she said, the body can adapt. All the body can adapt to the effort, except one thing, the stomach. That's the only thing you cannot stretch.
00:43:46
Speaker
So you have to manage this limitation within your competitions and and and runs. But super interesting in this one. Like it's a one hour talk.
00:43:56
Speaker
Fascinating. that That really sounds very inspiring. And I just ordered a my first pair of running shoes this week. I plan to get into running a little bit. So that sounds like the perfect inspirational example, even though I don't think I'm going to run 200 kilometers. So for me, I'm planning a marathon next year. i'm hoping to be sure I'm doing 25K. It's going to be my biggest run in Saint-Emilion where it's up and down. So it's in one month.
00:44:28
Speaker
So think about me when you read like if i will I will, I will. It's a good process. to it It feels good. Like for me, I started a few years back. I mean, a year and a half back.
00:44:40
Speaker
So I'm feeling very close to what st what Sophie did. I'm not saying I'm going to replicate, but I'm taking her as an example. Yeah, I think it's always great to have people who can inspire us and who can also push us a little bit to to ah reach the next step, whatever that be, might may it be professional or or in private life.
00:45:02
Speaker
Laura, thank you so much for coming on the show, for taking time and speaking with me. I really appreciate it I've had a great time talking with you as always, ah very inspirational. And yeah, I look forward to speaking with you soon again. Thank you, Florian. I'm also very admirative of everything you do. I'm following you on LinkedIn and i see a lot of your content, like the newsletters and your conferences. And I wish you to succeed and to continue distribute the you know the high energy and the and the trends and everything to the to the many companies you work with.
00:45:37
Speaker
Thank you so much. That means a lot to me, Laura. Thank you. Bye. bye And that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, please forward it to a friend or a colleague. This would mean the world to me as I pour my heart and a lot of energy into producing this podcast with all the brilliant minds that share their perspective here.
00:46:00
Speaker
And if you know the value that a great marketing strategy brings to really connect with your target audience, give me a call or send me a message. I'd love to get to know you and your projects.
00:46:12
Speaker
You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or through my newsletter, where I write in-depth thought pieces that help you build a successful and exciting marketing strategy.
00:46:23
Speaker
Again, thank you so much for listening. I really look forward to sharing more with you in the future.