(and why that still makes a difference today)
Many of my current projects revolve around complex marketing setups:
international brands, multiple agencies, tight timings, numerous stakeholders.
What often surprises people
My view of marketing was not shaped in the meeting room—but at the POS.
My training as a visual merchandiser was not a detour.
It was a very early, very clear decision.
Because there you learn something that is often neglected in traditional marketing:
how brands are actually perceived – at the moment of decision.
Shopper marketing is not a channel. It is a perspective.
Those who work in shopper or trade marketing do not deal with abstract target groups, but with real situations:
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limited space
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limited attention
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clear buying impulses
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immediate effect or none at all
At the POS, it quickly becomes apparent whether an idea works.
Not theoretical – but measurable.
This perspective continues to shape my work to this day:
Don't think of marketing as an end in itself, but rather as concrete activation at real touchpoints.
From POS to brand management – without losing sight of the big picture
Later, brand management, campaign management, international projects, and agency management were added.
The complexity increased, but the fundamental question remained the same:
👉 What do you really want your counterpart to understand?
👉 Where does impact arise—and where is it just effort?
Especially in large organizations, I often experience the following:
Strategies are clearly formulated, budgets defined –
but the connection between concept and implementation breaks down along the way.
My early POS experience helps precisely here:
I think marketing in terms of results, not from the process.
Why this is a real advantage today
In my current role—often interim, often plug & play—I connect:
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Shopper & Trade Marketing Understanding
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Brand and campaign management
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stakeholder coordination
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KPI-based management and process clarity
In concrete terms, this means:
I don't just manage projects,
but keep focus on brand impact, feasibility, and efficiency simultaneously.
for me, KPIs are not just a reporting tool.
They help to make visible:
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where processes are blocked
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where impact is lost
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where adjustments need to be made
Not abstract—but based on real measures.
Marketing works where it becomes tangible
Perhaps that is precisely the common thread running through my career:
Always think about marketing where it matters visible, tangible, and assessable is.
Whether on the shelf, in the catalog, in the campaign, or in the international project setup –
in the end, it is not the idea alone that counts, but its implementation.
And that's precisely why good marketing management often starts earlier than you might think:
with clarity, structure, and a realistic view of impact.
Conclusion
My experience in shopper and trade marketing is not a separate chapter of my work.
It is the foundation.