A conversation with Maile Carnegie, Managing Director Australia ...

ADVICE FOR SUPPLIERS• Work to better understand shopper differentiation in this channel. That wayyou can help retailers to understand why shoppers are actually in the store.• Coordinate plans with retailers to generate genuine category growth.Retailers are not interested in a pie that stays the same size.• Define more clearly what your point of differentiation is, with shoppersas well as with retailers, and start to generate some insights.ADVICE OR RETAILERS• The convenience channels represent a major growth opportunity, not just inAustralia, but globally. No-one is saying it’s easy, but retailers should focuson the opportunities that the impulse and convenience channels offer,rather than worrying excessively about risk, pressures and downsides.• Focus on your shopper. Become “shoppercentric”• Find your point of difference in the retail landscape anddon’t lose sight of it. That is your key business driver.“I did a lot of history and science atschool and enjoyed a diversified rangeof subjects later at university. I alwaysenjoyed the practical aspects of thingsand was fascinated by the balancebetween the analytical and creativeapproaches to solving problems. Thesedays in business, BIG DATA often takesover and we often find that people getso tied up in data analysis that theyforget about creativity. In marketingterms, it’s easy to lose sight of thecustomer. I think you need creativity ifyou want to get to any new worthwhileplace. Gender and ethnicity areproxies for diversity of thinking, whichis the starting point for creativity.“I was fairly average at school, OK butnot great until my final year, whenI made a real effort. So I scored wellenough for all the universities andCareer path“My fist job with P&G was as atwenty‐two year old brand assistant.The company had been in Australiafor only six years at that stage andwas still quite small. But the familyback in the USA were terribly excitedabout me snaring a job with anorganisation that was a householdname in America and had such awonderful reputation, especiallyfor their social responsibility.“My path through P&G was fairlytraditional, becoming assistant brandmanager after a year or two, thenbrand manager for Olay after that.Then associate director for Vicks,Pringles and some other brands, beforebeing transferred in 1999, pregnantwith our first son, to Cincinnati asan issue. We just made do with whatwe had and there was never anysuggestion that my sister or I shouldenter the business world. It was awonderfully pleasant childhood.“Mind you, by the time I was ateenager I had become fiercelyindependent and I don’t think careeradvice from my parents would havegone down too well anyway. I wasadamant about what I wanted to be.As it turned out, we were encouraged,but never pushed. We were alwaysencouraged to develop a socialconscience. It was great preparationfor me in parenting our own twoboys as well as in my career.Social conscience“Procter & Gamble has always beena major supporter of charities worldwide and the company supportsquite a number of programshere in Australia including Savethe Children. That’s somethingI am very happy about.”Maile Carnegie is a director onthe board of the Australia Food &Grocery Council (AFGC) as well as theadvisory board of the University ofTechnology Sydney (UTS). She alsohas a history of supporting childrenrelated causes, having spent manyyears on not-for-profit Boards andas a patron of education programs."... as well as being one of the world’s biggest soapmanufacturers, P&G produced and sponsoredthe first Radio and TV serial shows"settled on a double major in businessadministration in economics andmarketing at the University ofTechnology in Sydney. Being theindependent type, I Ieft home assoon as I could and worked parttime to support myself though uni.“So there I was, working two or threedays a week, with my own apartmentand paying my own rent. It was toughbut I think I ended up with a broaderlife experience than the typical unistudent. In my last year I picked upa no-strings scholarship with P&G.marketing director for the newlyacquired Tampax brand. I looked afterthe USA, Puerto Rico and Canada.Oppportunities“It was early days in figuring out howto leverage the internet in marketingand we broke new ground with agreat website www.beinggirl.comwhich was a wonderful resourcefor girls and is still popular today.“Then I got moved to a P&G start‐upcompany called Tremor (nowREGISTER NOW FOR C&I 2013 | MELBOURNE | 13-14 MARCH 2013February / March 2013 | C&I | www.c-store.com.au17