Sergio Zyman

Customer confidence is in the tank; cost cutting is in vogue; geo-political uncertainties remain; non-traditional competitors are proliferating; unemployment is rising; housing and personal wealth are at generational lows; greater than $100 a barrel oil is here to stay….it’s no wonder consumers “are on the sidelines.”

Are consumers really on the sidelines or do they just need better reasons to buy you? Sergio will detail how economic times like these are golden opportunities for strategic marketers. He will outline proven models/approaches that require marketers to change their mindset from “inside out” (selling what you make) to “outside in” (make what you can sell); from aspirational goal-setting to aspirational planning; from capturing share to capturing potential; from being positioned by others to controlling the dialogue. And why it’s the restless and discontent that are the first to benefit.

Changes in external factors are driving new challenges for the private equity industry, forcing it to move beyond transactional thinking and embrace transformational and value-creating investment opportunities. With deal flow on the decline and liquidity/credit challenges, there is a need to evolve the approach. Quite simply, PE firms must go beyond managing the business (operations, supply chain, efficiency) to running (driving acceptability, affordability and availability) and growing the business (creating demand and new sources of growth). Sergio will help audiences understand how, by focusing on the consumer and not only the financials, with transformational vs. transactional growth, PEs can improve the profitability of the portfolio of companies.

What do candidates and brands have in common? What can a brand strategy mimic from a campaign strategy? What can marketing learn from a campaign that has an expiration date? Businesses keep reminding themselves: “It’s all about the customer” but politics never needs the reminder: “It’s all about the voter”. Sergio will show audiences differences and similarities between marketing a brand and marketing a candidate, but most importantly he will lay out the principles and guidelines to successfully apply the political model to your brand to create breakthrough strategies.

9/11, the Tsunami in Thailand, Katrina, Globalization, and the Internet, among others, are events that increased pressure over environmental issues and have raised the awareness of “Going Green”…but has “Green” really gone mainstream? Are SUV sales really down? Are companies really investing to undergo Green transformation? Sergio will give you an interesting perspective on the myths and realities behind “Green Marketing” and the potential opportunity this endeavor will create for companies pursuing “Green”, thereby enabling them to play a protagonist role in the future.

Too many things to do, few resources to do it…don’t fall into the trap and use scientific marketing to accelerate the value creation. Marketing is too important for Fortune 500 companies, and even more important for a smaller company’s growth. Having worked for a large corporation like The Coca-Cola Company for so long, the question is constantly asked of Mr. Zyman, “Coke, yes. But how does that apply to a small business?” The reality is that the principles that apply to small, medium, and large businesses are the same for all, commercially speaking. In this presentation, Mr. Zyman discusses the principles of marketing that have evolved over the past 30 years, and how they apply to businesses ranging in size from a one-person entrepreneurial company, to a three-store pizza chain, or a medium-sized business

Many companies rely too heavily on innovation to solve their problems. When a brand gets old or tired, the impulse is to scrap it and start over with something fresh. But more often than not, innovation simply doesn’t work. Sergio knows this firsthand-he was the Chief Marketing Officer at The Coca-Cola Company during the ill-received launch of New Coke. So what’s the alternative? Sergio preaches the power of renovation-recapturing the essence of your existing brands, products, and core competencies and doing more of the things that made you great in the first place. Too many managers are so obsessed with innovation that they launch products no one will buy. Pre-moistened toilet paper or smokeless cigarettes, anyone? Sergio delivers the solutions managers need to revitalize their strategies to improve growth, and he challenges conventional business wisdom to help companies make smarter, profitable decisions.

Learn how to increase your value proposition to your customers by helping them sell more product to their customers. Sergio demonstrates the importance of understanding what your customers and the end users need and how to properly position your product. By understanding this, you will differentiate yourself from other suppliers, therefore becoming the preferred supplier (and maybe charge that elusive price premium). Everyone wins when you demonstrate to your customer how to use your product to sell more to their end customer.

Everyone knows that Hispanics make up a large, growing, and increasingly wealthy demographic, but very few companies are getting it right when trying to market to them. It’s not about sombreros, mariachi bands and Chihuahuas-or what is commonly known as Hispanic marketing. It’s about Marketing to Hispanics-a deeper and more meaningful way to reach this market which entails understanding Hispanics’ needs, motivations and purchase drivers, and then creating strategies and solutions that meet these needs. The companies that get it will benefit significantly. The ones that don’t will miss a tremendous opportunity. Sergio, a Mexico City native, will show audiences how to better understand this important market and provide best practices for successfully creating breakthrough strategies. He will provide strategic and executional guidance to successfully penetrate the Hispanic market to build true brand loyalty for long-term profitable growth.

Marketing is serious business. It’s about increasing sales and profits, through rigorous deployment of strategies to grow your business. So it’s time to replace the “art” of marketing (you know-using instinct and gut feel to communicate to your customers) with a scientific, data-based approach to driving sales. Sergio will help audiences understand how, by transforming marketing efforts from the product of guesswork to outcome of a disciplined process, their businesses can “sell more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.” Sergio offers his unique observations about who gets it, who doesn’t and what it all means for your business.