Consistency across every touchpoint is what turns messages into meaning.
Hisense USA’s newly appointed Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah Larsen, knew she was a marketer before she even knew what marketing was. At one of her many soccer tournaments at just 10 years old, she arranged for her team to take a shuttle to a neighboring hotel to join a soccer party—not to socialize, but to gather market intelligence on the other teams and give her squad an advantage in the next day’s game. It’s safe to say Larsen has carried that same spark of ingenuity throughout her career.
As the brand architect of Hisense, Larsen is excited to leverage the company’s innovative technology and challenger brand status to take creative risks and drive consumer-centric marketing. She will guide integrated marketing, digital marketing, performance marketing, earned marketing and brand strategy as well as product marketing and retail/trade marketing across all product categories and owned brands.
What are you most excited about as you step into this role—the growth and the things you’ll be in charge of?
I’m most excited about being CMO at Hisense—the company itself, the product and the people. We have such a cool story. We’ve been pioneers in color technology and laser TV before anyone else in the industry was even thinking about it. Because of my background in consumer electronics for 15–20 years, being with a company that got its start innovating in technology—especially in consumer electronics—is super exciting.
And we’re a challenger brand. This is the fun stuff. This is what marketers live for. We get to take risks, push the envelope and try new and different ways of doing things quickly. I’m a firm believer in failing fast. It’s OK if it doesn’t work. It’s not OK if you don’t learn from it. As long as we’re monitoring, measuring and course correcting, I feel like you can try anything as long as it’s based in insights and a theory for why you think it’s going to work.
Where do you see the biggest white space for Hisense to own—culturally and emotionally?
Consumer electronics as a whole is a bit of a sea of sameness. There is white space, but it takes very clever, creative, outside-the-box thinking to figure out where you want to play. It will be through collaborations and partnering with unexpected partners who share the same demographics and mission but show up differently in consumers’ lives.
I am extremely consumer-obsessed. I want to know everything about our shopper and make sure we’re removing our biases. I often say, “We have to follow the research, not the me-search.” There are so many meetings where someone says, “Well, I think…” and they’re projecting their own experience. I always go back to the numbers. We have to be the voice of the consumer. That’s the white space—innovating and delivering benefits that make consumers’ lives better, easier and more convenient, rather than focusing on patting ourselves on the back as a brand.
You started on the agency side and moved into leading huge brands. What would you say has trained you—from agency days, call center days or that day you led with kindness?
A couple of things. First, shoutout to all my agency people—that is by far the hardest job. Everything you do needs to be justified, measurable and tied back to numbers. You have to be scrappy with your budget. My agency background makes me capable of multitasking, looking at things from different perspectives, and eloquently explaining my point with rationale based in research and insights.
Second, the secret to my success is that I got my start on the PR side. Everything we do should be earned-centric. PR teaches you not only how to promote a brand, but how to protect it. I automatically assess risk before anyone else is even thinking about it. I can look at creative and simultaneously think about whether it will drive purchase behavior and whether it could trigger backlash from different demographics.
And overarching all of that: I lead with kindness. I got fired from being a telemarketer because I was too nice on the phone, and I have no problem with that. You don’t need to be mean to motivate people. Kindness builds loyalty and affinity, and people want to deliver their best when they feel appreciated. I learned a lot from bad leaders—they taught me how I never want anyone to feel.
When did you realize you’d gone from being an advisor to being the owner of a brand’s direction?
I had never really thought about it before. “Advisor to owner” hits the nail on the head. I personally love it—not for the control, but for the consistency. We’re more effective marketers when we can influence every aspect of the marketing journey.
On the agency side, you can give great advice, but if you’re not the decision-maker, it can be frustrating. You usually only get one piece of the pie. As a CMO, I can make sure everything works in concert. It takes a person seven times to hear a message before it sinks in. If you don’t have consistency through the line with all your marketing vehicles, you get lost in the shuffle.
What’s a habit or routine you’ve kept through most of your career that actually helps you lead?
I’m extremely well known for going to bed super early—lights out by 8 or 8:30. If I’m up till 9, that’s a wild and crazy night. I naturally wake up around 5 every morning.
That’s my recipe for success. I use the morning to consume media for myself. I love reading—marketing, psychology in the workplace—everything. Huge shoutout to Morning Brew. I start with that and The New York Times (global section). Then I do every NYT word game. No one in my family will play Scrabble with me anymore because I’m too competitive.
Then I work out, walk my dogs and start my day. It’s a perfect, peaceful way to set my mind and get my creative juices flowing.
You’ve been in this game a long time. What’s something you’re still getting better at?
Oh, so much. I never want to be the smartest person in the room. I’m an eternal student and constantly curious. I love asking questions and learning new things. I want to expand my mind and perspective—it makes us better marketers and better humans.
Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.
The post Inside the challenger-brand playbook of Hisense USA’s new CMO appeared first on PR Daily.
