Marketingmag.com.au chats to Natalie Forsyth – vice president, marketing and strategy, Asia Pacific, of Premiere Global Services. If you would like to see a certain
marketer profiled, please email your suggestion to Sean Greaney on [email protected].

What do you do?

Vice president – marketing and strategy, Asia Pacific (Premiere Global Services). I am responsible for sourcing new market opportunities as well as the development of Premiere Global’s go-to-market strategy. This includes overseeing the introduction of new products to market, pricing, sales segmentation, demand generation, PR and communications for the Asia Pacific region

What was your first job?

My first real job out of University was as a sales executive in a computer software company. They had no marketing department so all lead generation activities had to be handled by each sales rep – this invariably meant hitting the phones and cold calling every day.

I absolutely loathed cold calling and I used to come up with new and innovative ways to generate contacts using email, fax, DM and press – this is when I knew I was destined to be a marketer!

 What did you study?

I have a double major in political science from Sydney University. When I realised that chilly Canberra and stuffy politicians were not for me, I continued my education with postgraduate qualifications in marketing.

Describe a typical day?

I will be honest, I am not a morning person! Unless I have a 7am call with the US, I am usually in bed until at least 7:15am. I drive to work, pick up breakfast and a coffee at the café and the day begins about 9am.

I clear as many emails as possible in the morning and spend most of the day in meetings, so many meetings! If I am lucky enough to sit at my desk, my office door is usually a revolving door of people asking questions. I am a people person, so I wouldn’t have it any other way. I finish up the day attending to deadlines and clear as many emails as possible. I try to get home before 7:00pm as a rule so I can spend quality time with my husband.

I would like to say I finish up with a drink or two, but I am pregnant at the moment, so I just try to chill out with dinner, conversation and cleaning (a terrible side effect of being pregnant – nesting!).

What is on the agenda for the next year?

Premiere Global has aggressive growth targets for 2010 and we have a solid three year plan to enable us to get there.

I look forward to playing a pivotal role in the development of the business as well as learning a new key skill – juggling being a full-time executive with motherhood; the latter part is freaking me out more than anything!

What brand do you love the most? Dislike the most? Why?

I know that Apple has had a lot of hype in recent years, but I do love the way that they have re-invented themselves. They took a brand that was primarily targeted at graphic artists and made it a mass consumer name. The brand is clean, cool, funky and resonates across multiple generations.

Hate is a strong word. Sometimes the brands you hate the most are also the most memorable. You gotta have a love hate relationship with Doors Plus, Doors, Doors, Doors, can’t get it out of my head.

What do you believe has been the most significant moment in the history of marketing?

Ah, I am sure that everyone would say the internet and social networking… All forms of electronic media, the radio, tv etc. really created the marketer.

Where can people find you?

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.premiereglobal.com.au
Linked in: www.linkedin.com/in/natalieforsyth (recently joined to fit in)