Toyota CMO: Since losing 70% of our marketing team, we’ve grown our market share
Toyota’s chief marketing officer Wayne Gabriel says shedding 70% of the brand’s marketing team has paid off, despite the immense loss of talent.
Last year, the automotive brand moved its operations down to Melbourne from Sydney, which saw the departure of Toyota stalwart and CMO Brad Cramb, as well as the loss of 70% of the marketing team.
Gabriel, Toyota’s CMO, arrives at Mumbrella’s Automotive Marketing Summit
Gabriel, however, says the big change gave Toyota the opportunity to bring in fresh talent.
“We moved our sales and marketing function from Sydney to Melbourne, and with that we had about 70% attrition within our sales and marketing group,” he said at Mumbrella’s Automotive Marketing Summit. “And we brought in a lot of new, young people.
“Now, we lost a lot of fantastic minds and experience as a result, but at the same time we got a new, young group of people who were excited about it as well.”
The refresh, he says, has already paid dividends.
Gabriel: Toyota is growing its market share
“I have to say… I’m really proud [of the new team]. Our market share in private – which is what we measure marketing success on, private market share – is up nearly 2%. And that’s with a group of people that have less than two years experience in the auto industry in some instances, and some of them had six months with Toyota.
“I think for Toyota, it’s really good. I think for the automotive industry, it’s really good. We’re really excited… It’s going to be one hell of a ride.”
Gabriel is a 20-year veteran of Toyota and succeeded Cramb – who was apparently unwilling to relocate to Melbourne – as the brand’s CMO.
Cramb was briefly announced as sales director for Audi, only to jump across to mortgage broking giant Aussie in September as its general manager of distribution.
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This article reads very insensitively about the staff that were made redundant or didn’t relocate to Melbourne. This doesn’t reflect well on the culture and attitude of the new CMO.
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Hi Mike,
I think Wayne meant this more as an endorsement of the excellent work of the new team, rather than as a slight against those who departed (willingly or otherwise).
He did note the losses, and said: “We lost a lot of fantastic minds and experience as a result” – which is included in the article. I also noted the immense loss of talent at the top end of the article.
It was not my intention to be insensitive to those who struggled as a result of the shift.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
“Now, we lost a lot of fantastic minds and experience as a result, but at the same time we got a new, young group of people who were excited about it as well.”
I interpret this as ‘yeah we lost some great people, but easily replaced them with younger (much cheaper) inexperienced people, and look what we achieved, aren’t I awesome’.
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also perhaps of note is that during this period they have relied more on their agencies and their recommendations without the same amount of human infrastructure at their end
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His arrival to AC/DC in the title electric car – so The Office
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It comes across to me as an individual big noting them-self. If it is just about the improvements and results, why not just talk about the improvements and the results. It’s really light on how the results were achieved.
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Hhmmm,
I see my comment about Gabriel being the “last man standing” didn’t make the list? There you have another example of “selective editorial” from Mumbrella – depending on the size and scale of their client – oh, especially if they have been asked to speak!
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What has age got to do with success?
Great ideas and work can come from anyone. I think a team that is diverse will perform better then just a “young team” unless young was meant to mean the age of the team rather than the individuals themselves.
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Knowing Wayne I’m pretty sure the way this has been reported is not exactly how he would have said it/meant it. But what is not here is the acknowledgment of the hard work that was put in by both the outgoing team and the incoming team over the preceding 12 months prior to the move to Melbourne that ensured a seamless transition and that the upward trajectory of Toyota’s market share did not skip a beat. I’m sure the competition were all waiting for Toyota’s market share to fall over, given the number of people leaving at once, but the fact that this didn’t happen and the company continued building upon its (already considerable) success is a testament to the hard work and dedication put in by both sides, particularly those who weren’t going to be around to see the results but wanted to leave a positive legacy…
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