My Best Marketing Tips #8: WW / Wesley Boas / Head of Consumer Products
This week’s Best Marketing Tip comes from Wesley Boas who is the Head of Consumer Products at WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers. Wesley’s career spans multiple roles in consumer packaged goods and has given her many tips and quotes she enjoys using in her day-to-day work as well as when coaching her team.
Just like Virgin Red’s Euan Brown, who we interviewed a few weeks ago, Wesley found inspiration from the 2000 Olympic Men’s Eight Rowing Team and their motto, “Will it make the boat go faster?” In work and in life, she’s adopted the power of saying “no” and she sticks by it with ruthless prioritisation in everything she does.
What is the best marketing tip you’ve ever received and who was it from?
“If you aren’t uncomfortable, then you aren’t doing your job.”
My former colleague and mentor Matthew Ball said this to me a while back. It applied to communication and pushing the envelope with our message, but it also works in many other scenarios.
How have you put this marketing tip to good use?
Being uncomfortable is all about getting out of your comfort zone and reaching higher. This can be in marketing, but also in how you approach career opportunities and how you evolve and push yourself every day.
For me, I found it applies a lot in career progression. The best roles I’ve had, where I’ve learnt the most, were the ones I was uncertain about going in, where I took a risk.
I also believe in tough love and pushing my team to own up to and learn from mistakes, and that’s related. My dad told me once: “The best love you can give your child is tough love” and I think that applies to inspiring people to get out there, take everything as a learning opportunity, and push boundaries.
What marketing tips does the industry need most right now?
We need to accept and embrace the “no” – prioritising and asking whether the output is going to outweigh the input. I’ve been lucky to work for big, ambitious companies who always want to do everything, but the truth is no one can do that. You either don’t have the mental capacity, or the financial resources, or the time. So prioritising is key, and one of my favourite phrases around this is: “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”
Basically, any marketing initiative will give you some juice, some result. But is it worth the effort? This reminds me of the Olympic Rowing Team and their quote: “Will it make the boat go faster?” It’s sort of the same message.
What is the marketing tip you give most often?
It’s all about prioritising and asking if the “juice is worth the squeeze.” Alternatively, in one of my old roles, I used to ask: “Will it sell one more pack?” If you are obsessing over one small detail that, in the grand scheme of things, is inconsequential, move on and you’ll have made the right decision. But always pick what you think will have the most impact.
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