Catching up with Anton Chistyukhin – Marketing professional at Philips

What is your area of expertise within Philips?

“I am involved in upstream marketing, where I am analysing the market and discovering new opportunities. In my case specifically for the grooming segment. We try to identify new ways or unmet consumer needs to develop products that actually cover those needs. Together with our product development team, I coordinate the development of these product solutions. I also control the realization and building of the proposition in a physical form like product packaging and basic communication assets. As such we can deliver a total package to our local team that is responsible for promotion, distribution and selling of these new products.

This role gives me the opportunity to work with both the regional as the local teams. I am talking to people from Canada, Japan, Indonesia, China – something that really drives me. We get access from so much experience from all over the globe. In my eyes that is really something unique.

What are you currently working on?

As Global Manager Consumer Marketing, I am working on the launch of a new shaving solution for generation Z. Youngsters, new to the shaving market, who do not need expensive and sophisticated shaving machines. They are simple in their approach because they don’t have so much hair on their faces. Moreover, they don’t want to spend tons of money on these machines. To meet that need we are launching the first simple electric razor, but with all the Philips quality.

We are also launching a grooming solution for those people that do not care about having a great beard. They wake up in the morning and just want a quick and easy trim. A machine that is simple and affordable, particularly for the emerging markets.

What have you experienced so far?

I’ve known Philips all of my life. It has always been a symbol of quality to me. Apart from the quality, I discovered how deeply embedded marketing is in the organisation. And how sophisticated they are in their approach to identify unmet consumer needs to make people’s lives better. I believe that this combination drives their potential in the market and I am really proud to be part of that.

What drives you?

I really enjoy top skill marketing where you have all the tools available and you are playing a big game. It’s like the Formula 1: who is capable of driving the best driving car in the world? I feel like I am living the opportunity to do so marketing wise right now. I started by career at Procter & Gamble at this level and then moved on to other organisations. Now I am back again in that high street of marketing and enjoying that!

When a company is really fundamental in its approach, trying to make people’s lives better, understanding their needs and providing them with just that – and in doing so expand their horizon –, then I’m there! That is what I am passionate about, whatever the product is. In our team we have data of consumers all over the globe, so we can really dive into their needs. With all of the different professionals in the team, we can basically do everything we want to meet consumer needs and make full skill marketing campaigns and that drives me a lot.

What trends do you see?

Many people are looking for simplification and standardization within the grooming portfolio at home. We want consumers to know all about our products on a professional level, but people are so overwhelmed with information. They just want us to care, understand their needs and provide them with a solution that answers to those needs. Nothing more nothing less. Lots of consumers don’t need highly sophisticated solutions with options for basically every worst case scenario. They just want something that is good enough, that’s it.

So that is what we are doing in my area of responsibility so far. Giving an opportunity to those that want to spend two minutes shaving and grooming in the morning and spend the rest of their time with their families, drawing, painting, developing, etcetera etcetera. Not reading extensive instructions of some sophisticated product trying to understand it.

What are your career goals?

I have about 20 years of experience in FMCG and at this stage of my career I am really still very interested in this area, but I am also open to others. When you are in the business you always want to develop further. I have solid experience in people management and I want to further develop this skill at Philips. I am confident that this opportunity will come over time. What I am looking forward now is to come back to the big professional sport. I am enjoying that – really trying to understand the process from scratch, from the beginning. I am confident that building that solid basis contributes to me being a good manager later on. To be a very good mentor and give the people I manage an opportunity to jump into the job.