Developed one of the strongest marketing teams in the automotive aftermarket

JR

Building up and working with one of the most awesome marketing teams in the automotive aftermarket industry. 2000. ZF Group. Singapore

I wrote the job descriptions from scratch, hired, trained and integrated seven marketing staff for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia. A sales colleague in Taiwan served as a part time marketing colleague for both Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The development of the marketing function took about two years before we became a stable team. Throughout the process, we worked together to develop marketing guidelines and policies for the company, working closely with our german headquarters.

I can attribute all of my successes in my marketing career to my hardworking and wonderful team. They pushed themselves and went the extra mile every time to be better, faster and further. We helped each other, learned from each other and became a close team. At its peak, we were one of the strongest marketing teams in the automotive aftermarket in Southeast Asia. Here are some milestones:

  • We invested in a digital marketing automation software called Marketing Central to manage our growing marketing activities. This was not very common twenty years ago.
  • We developed a marketing toolkit for brainstorming integrated campaigns with our sales and product management teams.
  • We developed a customer loyalty program called “ZF Achievers” in the manner of the airlines’ frequent miles and was a first in the industry.
  • We worked with governments, technical institutions and industry partners to create a new marketing platform for one of our product brands and called it “Sachs Masters”, a world-class skills competition for the automotive trade.
  • We moved away from advertising and invested instead in developing media relations and selling good stories to build strong and sustainable brands.
  • We milked headquarters’ motorsports sponsorships such as Formula BMW, Porsche Carrera, V8 Super Championships and F1 locally for additional mileage.
  • We set industry benchmarks, shared best practices with other market players and became a highly respected team in the company and the industry.