This document outlines the key learnings from six years of marketing trips to Central America working for Clairol. The objectives were to reverse negative sales trends by understanding each country's needs and empowering the regional sales and marketing team. The main lessons learned were: 1) the importance of a global marketing plan to provide strategic guidelines and resources to countries; 2) allowing regional flexibility to adapt strategies to different countries; 3) providing advertising and promotional support with basic messages and content; and 4) enabling countries to refine content to their specific needs while maintaining similar marketing executions. By empowering the regional team and understanding each country, the marketing objectives and budgeted sales numbers were achieved each year.

1. Big Marketing
Learnings
From
Central America
Trips

2. This happens along six years
working for Clairol, Beauty
Care products,
a Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

3. My objectives were quite clear:
1. Reverse the negative sales trend
and understanding the region and
each country needs.

4. My objectives were quite clear:
2. Lead the regional sales/ marketing
team to implement the regional
strategy but with their own business
marketing ideas.

5. I spent a lot of time traveling to
better understand the market,
challenges and issues.
So this are the main lessons
learned:

6. A: Importance of being part
of a Global/Regional
Marketing Plan
All countries in the region wanted
strategic guidelines from regional and
headquarters.

7. Simply to know:
• The target groups for Haircolor /
Haircare products
• Resources Available
• Main creative concepts
• New products launch calendar
• And A&P supports for its business

8. B: Liberty for the region
Having regional Marketing plans meant
tell countries what has to do but not
necessarily how to do it.

9. Sometimes region did not
follow worldwide marketing
strategy as planned, just
understand the reason why.
Sort of idiosyncrasies. Sometimes what works
in Panama does not work well for Guetemala.

10. C: Provide A&P support
Along with resources and strategic
guidance, most loved elements were
Creativity as well as Content.

11. Region look to HQ for basic
messages as a initial point for
plans execution and
tropicalization.
Advantage: all countries in the region speaks
the same language; Spanish.

12. D: Creativity and Content
I learned that different countries
prefer their content delivered in
different ways.

13. Let’s see it in this way:
Headquarters
Worldwide delivered guidelines in a set of content
(tv spots, briefs, marketing studies, etc.)
Region
Enable countries to adapt and refine the content to
their specific needs to address the final consumer

14. As a result, each country’s
marketing plan execution
was almost equal.

15. While one or two countries may
work with similar solutions to reach
their targets, another country may
choose to do some advertising or
promotion to get target audience
directly.

16. At the end, region was able to
reach Sales & Marketing
objectives, delivering Budgeted
numbers every year. Luckily.

17. The challenge for me was to
develop Empowerment with my
team and understand the people
behavior of each country, to provide
effective strategic guidance.
And I got it!

18. The end of the story is:
Clairol was acquired by P&G
and as of today the Clairol
products as such, no longer
exist on the market… sadly.

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