Inside the Mind of a Marketing Leader: An Interview with Ioan Cusmir

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ioan Cusmir, a seasoned professional with extensive experience in brand management and marketing within the business industry.

Curious about his career journey, I asked Ioan to share the reasons behind his choice to pursue a career in business, his experiences along the way, and any valuable advice he might have for those aspiring to follow a similar path.

Mr. Cusmir could you please first start by introducing yourself?

Hello, my name is Ioan Cusmir. I’ve been working in marketing and commercial roles for the past 25 years, across various companies of different sizes and types, from private to public, including private equity, smaller companies,, and large corporations. I have worked in Europe, Canada, and the US, and have experience on both the client side and the agency side. 

What inspired you to work in the Business Industry?

Before I went to university, I had a fascination with great business stories. I was passionate about figures like Henry Ford and Andrew Carnegie, who took an idea and built something extraordinary. I was captivated by how Ford built his cars and how successful people transformed a single concept into thriving businesses. The whole concept of entrepreneurship excited me the most. I wanted to be part of an organization where I could help build and grow their business.

You first started working at Unilever Central Europe as a Brand Manager and then you switched to Marketing…Why’s that, What made you interested in Marketing?

I went to business school and, after graduating, my first role was with a research agency, where I worked for six months. Then, I was recruited by Unilever through a program they have for university graduates. This program allows graduates to work across all departments and functions for the first year to familiarize themselves with the business, as what you learn in school is only so specific and not always directly applicable to the real world.

During my first year at Unilever, I worked in various departments: sales, trade marketing, finance, HR, warehouse, supply chain, and marketing. By the end of that year, I had the chance to witness what each department and function was about. I really enjoyed marketing. At Unilever, marketing was seen as the hub of the wheel in the organization. As a marketer, you manage all aspects of a brand, not just the creative part. This includes ensuring you have enough product to sell, making sure the product is on the shelves from a sales perspective, and working with supply chain logistics. You collaborated with all other functions and departments to ensure your brand was in good shape. In essence, you were the owner of a brand.

This role aligned perfectly with my vision and passion for building businesses and entrepreneurship. I felt that marketing was the function that would allow me to be closer to my entrepreneurial dream. , At the end of the first year with the company, I had the opportunity to take a position in marketing. I am happy I made that choice because, even after 25 years, I’m still  passionate about building brands.

You spent over 16 years at Ferrero, rising to VP of Marketing. What kept you motivated and engaged for such a long tenure?

I held the position of VP of Marketing, but it was a journey to get there. Ferrero is a fantastic company with a great culture, and I enjoyed it a lot. Culture is a crucial part of an organization, as it makes employees feel like they belong and aligns with who they are as individuals. This is very important to me, and I appreciated the culture at Ferrero, along with their fantastic products. I'm sure you've tried some of them, like Kinder, Tic Tac, Nutella, and Ferrero Rocher. Each product is of superb quality, and they put so much attention and passion into ensuring they create products of great taste and quality, providing consumers with a phenomenal experience.

For a marketer, this is a dream come true. You start by working with products that are already enjoyed by consumers, and your job is to make these products known through brand building and other marketing efforts. If you work for a company with inferior products, it’s much more challenging to convince people to buy something you know isn't great. Ferrero's high-quality products were a tremendous asset for me as a marketer in building those brands.

Another factor that kept me at Ferrero was the opportunity to grow. I held many different roles there. I started working in Canada on Tic Tac, the smallest brand the company had, and eventually became VP of Marketing for one of the most prestigious categories, premium chocolate, for North America. I moved between the US and Canada, continuously growing and experiencing new opportunities. This opened new ways and perspectives on building brands, keeping me excited and interested over time. It was a combination of culture, phenomenal products, and the opportunity to grow and develop that made my experience at Ferrero so fulfilling.

What skills do you consider essential for someone aspiring to be a successful marketing leader?

I think it depends on the type of marketing role you're doing. Of course, creativity is a critical component because, in marketing, you're trying to find ways to connect with your target consumer. Creativity is a universal quality you need to have. However, I've always thought of marketing as a general manager type of function, akin to the owner of a small business. A marketer needs to have all the skills required to run a business. For example, understanding numbers and the financials of the company is important.

There will come a time when you'll want to invest more in your brand, but the organisation might not have the financial power to support that level of investment. As a marketer, it's crucial to maintain a healthy bottom line and profitability for your brand. Investing wisely behind the brand is one of the key attributes of a good marketer.

The idea of performance management is also important. Organizations are increasingly viewing marketing as a performance function. It used to be more about massive TV advertising campaigns where you'd invest millions and see the results years later. Nowadays, with the prevalence of social media, you can invest smaller amounts, like $10,000, and measure the outcome immediately. Knowing how to manage every dollar you invest and having the right tools to measure return on investment is critical.

Additionally, strategic thinking is essential. In my career, I've learned that even if you have great creativity, execution skills, and diligence, without the ability to put all the pieces together in a cohesive plan, it's hard to be successful. You need the ability to zoom out, extract yourself from the actual task, and think about how each part of your plan fits into the bigger picture. Ensuring all the pieces work together to guarantee the success of the brand is crucial.

So, in my mind, key qualities for a marketer include creativity, performance management, strategic thinking, and management skills. There are many other important aspects, but these stand out to me.

Why do you believe storytelling is an essential component of brand-building?

when you think about a brand, at the beginning, it's just a product. Take gin, for example. If you put five bottles of gin in identical transparent bottles on a shelf, you won't know which one is better. There won't be a story to make you feel loyal or interested in any of the brands. Then, someone comes along and puts labels on the bottles, builds a website, and communicates a strategy or message about each of those brands.

You start building a brand through storytelling, creating a narrative around what your brand stands for. This narrative may or may not connect with consumers. Once you start building something that consumers find interesting, they begin to associate with it and become interested in that story. Suddenly, the taste of the gin—assuming all products are of quality—makes the most difference based on the relevance and ingenuity of the story you create. It's about how relevant your message is to the consumers and how they identify with it.

I chose the gin example because one of the most famous brands built through storytelling is Hendrick's Gin. This brand started from nowhere and became one of the best-selling gins in the world. They created a phenomenal story around the brand. There's a very good book written partially about this brand called " Brand Mysticism ." It's fascinating to see how they built an entire universe around the brand, starting with the type of bottles they used, . They incorporated botanicals and herbs into the gin, which became part of the story. They created a quirky brand with images and messages that intrigued and fascinated the consumers.

All that storytelling made Hendrick's one of the most successful gin brands in history without taking a century to build it. Storytelling is all about taking a product that consumers would enjoy and bridging the gap between an unknown product and a beloved brand through a compelling narrative that consumers relate to.

What emerging trends do you see as game-changers in the marketing industry over the next few years

I think consumers are continuously evolving, and one of the most important things for marketers is to understand how consumers interact with brands, consume media, and comprehend the messages that brands are trying to communicate. We are witnessing an incredible fragmentation of media right now, and I believe this trend will continue. Consumers can no longer be simply fed advertising. Although many companies still invest millions of dollars into TV advertising, which works to a certain degree to create brand awareness, its effectiveness in terms of engagement and interest is limited.

Brands and companies need to find the most relevant ways to give consumers control over the brand's story and allow them to participate in building it, rather than just being told what the brand is. The way media functions today, with social media fragmentation and other factors, puts the consumer in the driver’s seat. They can choose what they see and what they are interested in. Brands that create content relevant to consumers, beyond just delivering a message about the brand, will be more successful by capitalizing on this trend.

One brand I admire the most is Red Bull. Red Bull has mastered the approach of using its brand platform to convey messages to a relevant audience, but the message is not solely about the brand. It's about sports and activities that interest a certain generation. This creates a natural connection with the brand because it aligns with the consumers' interests.

Technology will continue to evolve, bringing more and more interesting advancements. Understanding and capitalizing on these advancements—from how you use search engines to social media and other new technologies—will be crucial for marketers. Marketing is increasingly becoming a function at the confluence of technology and creativity. These are some trends I see continuing to shape the way marketing works.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I have learned a great deal and gained a deeper understanding of the true qualities of a successful marketer. Marketing is one of my passions, and your insights have truly inspired me to think more critically and start creating impactful strategies.