Portrait of a Marketing Manager – Interview with Canon’s Darren Ryan

Every now and then at Switched on Media, we are privileged enough to learn from experts in the higher echelons of marketing. Last week, we had the opportunity to ask Darren Ryan, General Manager of Marketing for Canon in Australia, seven burning questions:

1. What is the biggest challenge you’ve ever had in marketing and sales?

Over the last 4 years, we have shifted Canon from a relatively sleepy place to a more dynamic organisation. During this time, we took what was a poorly performing business, the PIXMA inkjet brand, from a mere 20% market share to market leadership. Our share results are now pushing 40%. Our success has been about finding out what consumers want and don’t want, energising our Marketing and Sales teams as well as redefining how our customers view the space.

Throughout this journey, I have had moments where I thought we were making tremendous progress and other times where I felt like we hadn’t moved very far at all. Ultimately, I learned that we only have to be better than we were yesterday and if we have a clear plan to move forward, we can continue to move ahead of the competition.
2. What result in your career are you most proud of?
It’s interesting, if you had asked me this question a couple of years ago I would have referred to some project I’d led or some business outcome we achieved, but the thing that I am most proud of today, is the people that I have helped to achieve more than they thought they could. To watch people grow and to see them develop new skills is the most rewarding experience you could ever have. It’s challenging at times, but “awesome” to see people realise their full potential and to know that you have had some small part in making that happen.

3. What are your thoughts on digital marketing in general?

It is clear that digital marketing is becoming far more important as a medium given its widespread usage and its unique ability to service consumers. I can see that in the immediate future, digital marketing will continue to gain a larger share of corporate marketing budgets. However, as the world continues to shift, marketers need to remain flexible with how they implement and execute their strategies.

However, I do think that too often the discussion around digital marketing is framed incorrectly. In my mind, the most important thing about digital marketing is to know your customer and what they are looking for. Once you know how to build a relationship with the consumer and maintain it for the long term, then your only challenge is to get to them through the various channels you have at your disposal as a marketer. 

4. Which brands and people do you look up to and why?

I admire brands like Virgin, Southwest Airlines, Nike and Crumpler that have successfully taken their brand positioning and leveraged it in everything they do. These brands seem to have gotten it very right and their financial performance is well ahead ahead of the market because they are so clear on what they offer – you know exactly what you’re getting and the customer can choose to either relate to the promise or not.

I also like Apple for the way they have reconfigured the industry, taking some relatively flat markets and dominating them. Even though I could get better functionality out of other MP3 players, I have a love affair with my iPod which is difficult to break – it’s that strong. Earlier, when I checked out of my hotel room in Malaysia, I made sure I had 4 things with me – my wallet, my passport, my laptop and my iPod – everything else I can live without.

As far as people go, there are so many influential people whom I admire. Winston Churchill is someone who just forged ahead in spite of opposition. He always just turned up and did what he thought was right. I respect Barack Obama for his continued belief that he can change a country and a world with significant problems by talking of the promise of a better future. If he implements just half of what he promises, his legacy will be immense. I could go on forever, but another great hero that springs to mind is the paralympian who just crawled the Kokoda Track, Kurt Fernley. I had the pleasure of meeting him recently and hearing his story. I have never met a person who just refuses to not achieve his goals – he simply stays more committed than everybody else. He also reminded me that life is awesome and I am blessed with so many great things.

5. What do you think is the future of marketing? What will be most important next year, where will brands win and where will they lose?

As the world speeds up, corporations are losing the ability to lead the marketplace exclusively through product innovation, so marketing will play an even more important role. How similar products are positioned in the marketplace and how you build a total brand experience will push you out ahead of the pack. This is the key to ongoing sustained profitability and substantial market share, but unfortunately there is a significant gap between business and marketing to be able to pull this off. This creates huge opportunities for those who can make it happen. By and large, what determines which brands win or lose doesn’t change…it is more about who gets out ahead and continues to innovate to sustain their advantage. Knowing your consumer and delivering better than anyone else will continue to set the winners apart from the losers.

6. If you could meet any business person at a dinner party – who would it be?

For me, it would either be Lou Gerstner, the former President of IBM or the current head of Sony Worldwide, Sir Howard Stringer. Both of these gentlemen took over traditionally successful global companies that had been on their knees and taken on the enormous task of turning them around. I am sure they have/had people at every turn telling them that they are wrong or don’t understand, but they are still driven by their passion to make their businesses work. In Lou’s case, he got a call from the US president telling him it was his duty to take on the role and to stop the business from collapsing. Now IBM is a hugely profitable market leading firm again. Meanwhile, Sony are working their way through the transition.

So, Gen Y – how on earth do you work with them?

What have you found that works? They are an ambitious lot who don’t always appreciate the time required to build foundational competencies which will sustain them into the future. More often than not, it’s only when they move into senior positions that they come to realise that maybe they should have focused a little more on development. Having said that, they bring great energy and passion to what they do and that has an infectious result on those around them. I find challenging them to take ownership but show good thinking and process wins out in the end. If shaped the right way, they can have enormous impacts on the success of our business as they have a strong ability to challenge the status quo and innovate.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 12:26 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.