Nestlé Marketing Director shares his passion for branding and boats with Business School students

Vernon Bradley, Group Marketing Director for Nestlé, speaks at Imperial College Business School - News

By Tanya Gubbay
Monday 20 June 2011

The Group Marketing Director of Nestle provided an entertaining tour through his impressive 30-year career this week after he was invited by the student marketing club to give a talk at Imperial College Business School.

The audience for Vernon Bradley’s talk seemed more than happy to stay past the advertised 45 minute slot in order to learn about building brands, see examples of simple but powerful messaging in various television advertisements, and think about how to prepare ‘an elevator speech’ - a pitch that is quick and succinct enough to fit into the time it takes for an elevator to reach your destination.

Tanya Gubbay caught up with Vernon after his talk:

Did you go straight into marketing after university?

No, after completing my Economics degree at Portsmouth, I went off to the Caribbean for a year. While there, I did a number of jobs, from working in the sugar cane fields, to satisfying my ultimate passion by working with and delivering boats. However, I knew that I would come back after a year, as I wanted to start building my career. I applied for all the top fast moving consumer goods companies and was offered a job at Cadbury. I didn't realise it at the time, but tales of my Caribbean adventures helped secure this, as the panel recognised that I was able to do things for myself. Apparently they spotted managerial skills in me, especially after hearing how I survived without food and water for six days out there!

How long did you stay with Cadbury?

I was there for five years, before moving on to SmithKline Beecham for six years. Cadbury is an amazing company to work for and I was lucky enough to benefit from world-class training in sales and marketing. By the time I joined SmithKline Beecham, I had a solid foundation in brand management, sales, key account management and area management.

I've certainly covered a lot of areas in sales and marketing and that's probably why I found it difficult to fit all my experiences into a 45 minute presentation today! However, like the focus of my talk, my passion lies in branding. I joined Nestlé in 2001, as part of the team based in China, working on the marketing side.

Where are you based now?

I’m now based in the UK. I came back in 2007 due to personal reasons, and the company were fantastic in offering me short term contracts. During this time, I also set up my own consultancy, before going back to Nestlé to take up the role as Group Marketing Director.

Now that his daughters have grown up, Mr Bradley will focus some of his time sailing

While I love my job, I don't enjoy being back in the UK. I don't mean that disparagingly as I do feel connected to it, it’s just that looking at the country as a brand, I feel it desperately needs to be turned around. I would love to work with the Government and do something about it! I just feel that we have lost the hunger here and are in a comfortable state where we don’t have the passion to drive things forward. In Asia, they have a desire and a hunger to learn as much as they can. Seeing how that world is rapidly developing and prospering is exciting and I loved being part of it.

What would be your tips for anyone looking to go into marketing?

Follow your heart, be passionate, be simple, and use your intuition. Don't get carried away with process but use process to guide your thinking. It can be difficult when you’re bogged down with admin, but you must be able to step back and keep your mind focused on how growth can be achieved.

Have you faced any particular challenges?

Yes, one example that was particularly tough was a major project for a family-owned fish company in Thailand. The business was failing rapidly, so we put together a turnaround plan for the son to implement. While he began to follow the steps, his 80-year old mother, who owned the company, stepped in the way and blocked any changes. This was very difficult to understand as they were losing more and more money. In the end, the son split away and we are likely to meet up soon to try and restore the company.

I love turnarounds, and I believe in growth. Every business has the ability to grow, and when a company has reached a plateau, this isn't a signal to sit back, but an opportunity to see what can change to push it further.

Earlier you mentioned that sailing is a particular passion. Do you have your own boat?

Yes, Jackpot is my mistress! She's a J105 boat - a sports boat made for racing. Now that my teenage daughters are more interested in boys then sailing, I am allowed to let rip in the open seas!

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Students interested in joining the marketing club and/or attending future talks in this series should contact: ania.mirkowska@imperial.ac.uk

Imperial College Business School offers an MSc in Strategic Marketing as well as a number of other programmes. Further information is available at: www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/programmes