My Best Marketing Tips #16: Unilever / Tugce Aksoy / Senior Global Brand Manager, Magnum Ice-Cream
Tugce says she’s “not born a marketeer.” She actually wanted to be a writer but studied
engineering to “find a job that pays,” then began work in product development at
Unilever before going into marketing while keeping writing as a hobby. This combination
of practical and creative thinking is helping her drive her passion for purposeful
marketing.
One of Tugce’s most eye-opening experiences as a marketeer has been learning about
innate biases in product development and communication, which lead to women or
different societal groups being ignored when new products and services are created. She is
trying to change that in her work and beyond.
What would be your best marketing tip?
I love this Winston Churchill quote: “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The
optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
I think you cannot get to progress without challenges, so I actually relish times when
difficulties arise in any project, as a learning opportunity and an opportunity to improve.
How have you put this marketing tip to good use?
I’m lucky to work with a great team at Unilever and to be able to bounce off them and get
energy from them whenever things are tough. This is why I would also advise to always
involve the people that give you good energy on your projects.
So, every time I work on a new project, I remind myself of this tip. People and some distance
always give me the strength to do It, too. By distance I mean taking a breath when things
don’t work out. Learning to reboot gives you a lot of energy and it helps you see the bigger
picture.
What marketing tips does the industry need most right now?
It is extraordinary how much of our technology and marketing is built around an average
user stereotype, who is generally a middle-aged white man. This is visible in the physical
products – for example, a smartphone has been built to fit that size of hand, so it’s giving
women muscular problems! It’s also prevalent in how we communicate in adverts. In fact,
advertising is entrenching stereotypes because it has such a big influence on how we think.
So, to counteract this, I think we need to focus on purposeful marketing. It’s not just about
selling a product and making people feel bad so that they think they need your product to
sort their problems. We first need to start creating products and services that respond to all
consumers’ needs. And we also need to use communication to change perceptions.
What is the marketing tip you give most often?
Always challenge – say no to normal! Without challenge, you cannot get to a better place
with your products and services. Question the biases and just think about the opportunities:
what we have right now vs. what we could have by de-averaging.
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