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Robert Berkeley  0:02  

Hello and welcome once again to IInside Jjobs with me Robert Barclay, where we get to meet in house agency leaders to talk about their lives and their work. Inside Jjobs is brought to you by i have the leading professional association for in house agencies along with the EKCS, who allow in house agencies to create by managing the production of their ideas into compelling marketing assets. Given his life's journey, Carlos Ricardo is surely a man of all the Americas. And I'm delighted that he is also my guest this episode. A polyglot who has had a truly international upbringing with an unwavering ambition, which has been resolutely focused on a career as corporate man. He's a true dyed in the wool marketer who brings an incredibly broad consumer marketing perspective to his direction of HPs in house agency. In fact, you'll hear some operational solutions that Carlos has come up with here that maybe could only come from someone with his experience in the wider corporate world, regular listeners will know that I always trystrive for high recording quality. And this interview coincided with my most recent trip to the US. I was in San Francisco when I learned that Ricardo had agreed to take part. And he very kindly invited me to meet him in person. So I drove out one early morning to Napa to join him at his fabulous Victorian clapboard home. And we sat in his garden to talk over well, tea nature lovers among you might be able to identify some of the more vocal species of local wildlife who decided to join in.,

 

Carlos Ricardo  1:33  

Robert, thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm delighted to be here and eager to get started.

 

Robert Berkeley  1:38  

Carlos, tell us about your family background.

 

Carlos Ricardo  1:40  

I'm Brazilian, but I was. I was born in Rio, but my parents came to the US when I was three years old. And my father came to work for the Voice of America, which is the media company for the US government promoting democracy in Latin America, who's in charge of that programme. And he was a initially a radio guy. So before Voice of America even before he was married, and I was born, he worked for the BBC and then in London, yeah. So BBC London, and then the Voice of America in Washington, DC. So guy, he covered

 

Robert Berkeley  2:13  

Hhe covered something quite substantial in London as well. He did a story. He was

 

Carlos Ricardo  2:16  

He was the first Brazilian while the only Brazilian journalists to cover the coordination of the Queen In 1953.

 

Robert Berkeley  2:24  

Yeah, wow. Okay, so he was sending us a that was? Exactly, exactly. So you grew up, you grew up in the United States, so So from travelling around then, so from

 

Carlos Ricardo  2:33  

Sso from three to 12, we were in the US, then we went back to Brazil. Then he became a diplomat for the Brazilian government. So we ended up going to La Paz Bolivia, which I spent three years kind of this. So this was the beginning of my high school years was in La Paz. So that's where I first got immersed in Spanish, which is right my third language, which I love, and then came back to the US for high school, and then back to Brazil for college. And then back to the US for PepsiCo, where, which was the beginning of my career. So

 

Robert Berkeley  3:04  

So you're truly a Mman of the Americas. Canadian involvement told us to kind of run out,

 

Carlos Ricardo  3:09  

not only the Americas, because before coming to California four years ago for HP, we were in Madrid Spain working I was heading marketing for a bank. Oh, BBVA will probably

 

  3:21  

Wwill probably touch on that. Exactly. So it's Americas but Spain to before we

 

Robert Berkeley  3:25  

Ggo back into history, then just very quickly, then just summarise What's that you're doing at HP right now? And then we'll dig into that a bit later.

 

Carlos Ricardo  3:31  

Sure…sure. So I joined HP four years ago, I had what we call marketing services, and creative production. So think about there's four components to that one is hp.com. So that so I oversee the team that creates all of our digital experience on hp.com. And we have now more sites. So we have omeon.com, which is our gaming sitegaming our site for our gaming products. And then there's a second team which is called HP studio, which is our in house agency. Yeah, it's one of my passions. I love a well we'll talk we'll talk about detail. Yeah, there's a third team which is marketing services. So a lot of the backend more operational work for for the marketing team around the world. And then there's a smaller team called DMT which is our Ddigital Mmarketing Ttransformation. Okay, the team that is helping the markets in advancing in our transformation agenda., okay,

 

Robert Berkeley  4:27  

Okay, as consumers where are we seeing the fruits of your labour then every time

 

Carlos Ricardo  4:31  

Eevery time you go to Amazon for example, and you're looking at our products so the the gold standard Amazon applications of how our products show up that tutorials, what's in the box, pictures of the product on top and front and back. And I'll explain a little bit the process later on, which is really interesting or social posts on LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook. Ddigital assets when you are on a site and you see an HP banner for a specific product or campaign that we have, so basically, essentially, we have big agencies like widening Kennedy developing our campaigns or our marketing campaigns, our studio, our agency HPHQ studio, takes those campaigns and develops 1000s and 1000s of assets, that, that we deploy in marketing campaigns on our social channels.

 

Robert Berkeley  5:25  

So really any where you see pre digital CDHP the HP brand being promoted as a consumer with seeing the work from Yeah, it's

 

Carlos Ricardo  5:31  

Yeah, it'syes, it's the it's it's the amplification of those campaigns. The big creative, we don't do Yeah, it's taking that creative and making it and blowing it out to a number of different formats and languages.

 

Robert Berkeley  5:45  

Let's go back then let's talk about your career starting, I guess, as a child, so you are growing up obviously influenced in two different countries. Do you remember the world of marketing and advertising? I

 

Carlos Ricardo  5:55  

I mean, it's, it's interesting. I knew when I was even way before high school that I wanted to be in the world of brands and products and marketing and advertising. I knew it from the start. I was just fascinated by Brandsrian, you like jingles. He liked the

 

Robert Berkeley  6:09  

Yyou liked jingles. YouHe liked the graphics. And I enjoyed watching advertising over the best bits of TV.

 

Carlos Ricardo  6:15  

Maybe, but I knew it. I knew it. So I so as in my under graduate was in business administration, I knew I wanted to become a marketer. This was in Brazil. Yeah. I knew that I wanted to join a multinational company in Brazil and then eventually be transferred because I had that international global vein. I think it was obviously influenced by my yes father and yes, so I knew I wanted to have not only become a marketer, but I knew I wanted to become a global marketermarket,

 

Robert Berkeley  6:43  

Rright? Yes. Because the world was already your oyster. I guess you travelled and as you say, it was kind of part of the family fabric. I presume the house was filled with artefacts from all over the world as well, which is which so often happens as well. So you you went to college where then again, so

 

Carlos Ricardo  6:56  

So in Brazil, in the south of Brazil, a college town called Blumenaubloomin Oh, okay. And and what did you study? So I studied Business Administration there. Yeah. Okay. And then, and then I started. So my career was pretty much three phases. So it started in consumer marketing, the company that defined that first phase was PepsiCo.

 

Robert Berkeley  7:14  

And so this was straight from college. Is this your first job?

 

Carlos Ricardo  7:18  

There were two, like internships beforefor that.

 

Robert Berkeley  7:22  

But it wasn't like a by the way, just as a side note, it wasn't a creative background. You had here. No marketing background....

 

Carlos Ricardo  7:27  

No, it was yes. So the career I wanted was in your traditional product management. career. So I joined PepsiCo, in Brazil.,

 

Robert Berkeley  7:38  

Wwas that exciting? It was super exciting.

 

Carlos Ricardo  7:41  

It was super exciting. Especially because, well, similar to other places in the world. We were in the middle of a colad war between Coke and Pepsi. And Pepsi made a huge investment in Brazil in the early 90s. Yeah. And so I joined a team that was super energetic, and it was pumped and, and it was probably one of those things that I realised I always say that that the best brand beyondto be on is for me, is the number two and number three, I love being a challenger.

 

Robert Berkeley  8:13  

Hhaving to try harder. Exactly. What was that that was a car rental campaign wasn't there along those lines?

 

Carlos Ricardo  8:18  

It was It was ages, right? Or?

 

Robert Berkeley  8:22  

Number three? Number two?

 

Carlos Ricardo  8:24  

Exactly, Yeah. And there was so so it was it was a company that it was a brand that I fell in love with because of its challenge or situation. Yeah, we were much smaller than coke there. And we had to make every every dollar every dollar of investment count.

 

Robert Berkeley  8:41  

So it wasn't about fractions of a percent of market share as it is in the United States in there, you could actually make a difference potentially, we could,

 

Carlos Ricardo  8:47  

Wwe could, I mean, really make a difference. And, and so so. And then from there I was, we did an interesting programme around sports marketing during the World Cup, where Coke was the official sponsor of the World Cup. And we used because we didn't have the official sponsor, we took Brazilian players who were edgy and controversial, and that had a so we use a lot the personality. Yeah. And in New York saw it and thought, hey, this is a cool campaign. This is interesting.

 

Robert Berkeley  9:18  

And these these ideas were coming from an agency or coming from within the marketing team.

 

Carlos Ricardo  9:22  

It was a combination, I would say is a common issue. But we relied a lot on a really, really good agency at the time. Oh, Matt BBDO which, which was instrumental at the time. So then I was invited to go to New York to help on the on the Pepsi global team. Wow, where that became not a promotion. So soccer. We used to use the the American word became a big platform like music was at the time. And it's a platform that still there.

 

Robert Berkeley  9:47  

Hhow did this come about? You mentioned very calmcommonly I was invited to go to New York, you were transferred to New York. Yes, I was. So how did you apply for that or did someone put their hand on your shoulder and say, Carlos we need you.

 

Carlos Ricardo  9:57  

Nowknow, it was it was basically there were a lot of interesting things. Same things going on in Latin America, nownot only in Brazil. Yeah. That caught the attention of the headquarters and

 

Robert Berkeley  10:05  

you put your ad like 23 24 25 or something.

 

Carlos Ricardo  10:09  

I can't remember the age. But so then I, I ended up spending what it was two. It was nine years in the US. Okay, with Pepsi totally different roles. Yeah. Okay. In New York, and then a little bit in Miami too, because of the Latin American. Okay. All right. Yeah. During that, I would say the most interesting thing was being in New York, and then having the opportunity of managing a brand on my own, which was 7 Upseven up, which was cool. Wow. It was like no longer part of a larger team. Because yes, it was a large a large team. Yeah. 7 UpSeven, it was a smaller brand. So the CMOSsays Hey, Carlos, would you like to manage this brand? globally? I said, I'd love to. Would you

 

Robert Berkeley  10:53  

Would you like to manage. So, seriouslysee, I got to ask how old were you though? When when this question was asked?probably,

 

Carlos Ricardo  10:57  

Probably, I would say probably early 30s.

 

Robert Berkeley  11:00  

Okay. still quite young for such a thing.

 

Carlos Ricardo  11:03  

And, and it was great, because we, we had this concept of global Task force, which was you you had, you were overseeing the brand globally, and you had different people in different parts of the world that are part of your virtual team. Right, right. Where everything we did we did with them. So I had somebody who was overseeing 7seven Uup for let's say, Argentina, which was on the task force summit in Mexico, somebody in Ireland, because it was a big seven market somebody in India and in China. And and we developed everything from our innovation platform packaging, the camp clotheslines. Yes,

 

Robert Berkeley  11:42  

so it was it was command and control globally. Yes. But it wasn't it wasn't put out to the

 

Carlos Ricardo  11:47  

No. So so the the way we did it at the time was with this team, this what we call the the global Task Force. Yeah. Which allowed, of course, that while we were developing it, we had input and from representation from around the world. Yeah, by the time we launched the Global Initiatives, they were very much they had the input from almost everyone. Right. So that was a fascinating experience. And you travelling a lot? I guess Oh, yeah, it was it was when I, I think the time in my life where I got more miles.

 

Robert Berkeley  12:25  

And were you married at this point?

 

Carlos Ricardo  12:26  

We were Yes, children. Sophia was born in New York and Valentina when I was in Miami on a Latin American roll. So yeah, both of them. Yeah. So you really well, that kind of corporate guy. They were. It was fun. It

 

Robert Berkeley  12:40  

It was travelling the world and bringing up a family. And

 

Carlos Ricardo  12:43  

it was it was a super company. I really enjoyed it a lot.

 

Robert Berkeley  12:46  

Right. Right. okayAnd then so

 

Carlos Ricardo  12:49  

and then PepsiCo took me back to Brazil. On the snacks. Ppart of the business, became a VP of Marketing for the snacks, which is Lay's ruffle, is

 

Robert Berkeley  12:59  

Iit solve a problem in Brazil? Or was this just just moving people around?

 

Carlos Ricardo  13:04  

Yes. And I had never I had always worked with in beverages and soft drinks. So this was an opportunity also in snacks, which I'm not going to bore you but with beverages. You work through a bottling system in in the world of snacks. It's a fully operating company. So PepsiCo produces distributes. So yeah, so it was also an opportunity for me as a marketer to have more levers to pull. So I go to Brazil not only had the marketing but I had marketing, R&Dr&d and innovation. So you could launch a new flavour so so we were developing all flavours, we were developing new textures, we were developing new packaging size. So it gave me a more of a of a three. Did you think you were heading

 

Robert Berkeley  13:45  

Did you think you were heading with this? So just just to take a step back? Were you literally just moving from one thing to the next to the next? Or did you do a grandag brand plan that you might he had a wall chart with bits of string pointing if I go here and there and then this is my move? And

 

Carlos Ricardo  13:58  

No, now I knew that I knew that the snacks business would give me a broader view because you have the product component and the R&Dr&d and innovation. Yeah, so that was part of my plan

 

Robert Berkeley  14:08  

plan. Well, you ambitious within, like I'm going to become CEO PepsiCo one day,

 

Carlos Ricardo  14:12  

I've always been interested in pushing the boundaries and doing things that would add to my career. So the ability to go into snacks with a fully operating position with the R&Dr&d and the innovation and marketing was a was a benefit for me from from a career standpoint. And I took it and I said okay, I I would have liked it to be another country not necessary reserve because I already I've done that one off the list. But it wasn't Iceland. Yeah. But it was something that came up and I took but but but interesting enough is that I started to get at that time I was enjoying myself. I was loving it. But I was also starting to feel that there was a change going on in the world that I wanted to be Part of so you're talking about a plan, right? Yeah, I knew at that time very clearly that I needed to, I wanted to be part of the digital transformation that was going on in the world. So we nearly when the 1000s, then, and what happens was, in consumer business, it's very hard for you to have a digital transformation. Because what you produce is right, you produce something tangible, you don't sell it directly. You don't sell it, directlyright? You sell it to Carrefour and to Walmart, and to Safeway and what have you. So you don't control also, the data and the information coming from a donor who buys your product. You it's, it's, it's hard to sell a beverage in an app, right? It's something tangible that you're producing, and you're distributing. So I started to notice I thought, wow, I want to have loads of fun. I could continue doing this for a long time. But I said no, I want to go to a place where there is a true transformation going on. So there was a headhunter who called me about an opportunity in Spain, with that was going through that was preparing itself for a huge transformation going from a retailer to an online and to do so I said, the Spanish bank, a Spanish bank. And and it's interesting, because I go, wow, first of all, how did you guys find me? Why did you lend on melearn? And? And at the time, at the time, Robert, I had a very active marketing blog. Oh, okay, that I wrote a lot. And we're embracing the digital world. Yeah. And I had a I had a blog that was pretty active. It was fun. It was entertaining. And it was your own thoughts on Yes, observations and things that were going on in the world, mark in the comments and

 

Robert Berkeley  16:42  

Were you outed as a Pespipetty executive at the time it was it was.

 

Carlos Ricardo  16:47  

I mean, it was it was known in my profile that I was but I was talking about so many other things. Yes. That were that intrigued me that interest me products that I would see and that I would love the experience or, and so, so in Spain, they were looking for a professional that was from Latin America, because the bank is very strong in Latin America. Okay. But they have a huge presence in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and what have you. Yeah, they were looking for someone who had experience in sports marketing, because they were the title sponsors of LaLiga Liga, they had, ah, there were the official bank of the NBA, first name terms with Brazilian professional and so and interesting, they were looking for someone who did not have final financial service background that was coming from consumer marketing, marketing.

 

Robert Berkeley  17:35  

Okay, so.

 

Carlos Ricardo  17:37  

And for me, it was fabulous. Because when I heard Oh, they want to go from a traditional retail bank, yeah and become a strong online and mobile bank. I thought, wow, this is exactly the type of wow, how cool is that?  lLike, and it was stretching me because after so many years in consumer marketing, here, you have an opportunity to go into financial service. I go, wow, this is

 

Robert Berkeley  18:01  

Sso in a different blog, they found out about you. Yeah yeah. Was it the bank themselves that had found you or did

 

Carlos Ricardo  18:08  

they know was the headhunter? And then they presented me to the, to the recruiter inside. Yeah,

 

Robert Berkeley  18:14  

Nnowadays, those days rather, that meant putting on an aeroplane or flying into Madrid for the need to sell.

 

Carlos Ricardo  18:18  

I did. So yes, I went there. And I and I absolutely fell in love with with the challenge and the opportunity. And the fact that it was stretching me completely outside of my comfort zone. Yeah. And but it was

 

Robert Berkeley  18:31  

kind of building on everything that you knew, but applying it in a completely different context. Exactly.

 

Carlos Ricardo  18:34  

Exactly. And and those five years were absolutely magical. And, and then towards, on the fourth year, I took a sabbatical of six months. So what before I get there? So at the banquet, what we did is I had to rethink everything, which was we had a marketing department marketing team that was all about generating traffic to branches. And now we had to generate traffic to our, to our sites to our mobile app, we had to stimulate people to download the app to become a client digital transformation. Absolutely. Absolutely everything you wanted. And we had to bring in talent that were as experts in UX and SEO and it was this is all new to you. This is all yes, it was fabulous. To the point that towards the fourth year, I took a sabbatical three months and I went to Stanford to for their executive programme.

 

Robert Berkeley  19:29  

So they had they dispatched you for that they..

 

Carlos Ricardo  19:30  

Eexactly they supported that. Absolutely. And it was all about so the Stanford executive programme is really designed for company for executives that are or going through a transformation or in companies that are being disrupted by external challengers. And, and, and I thought, Well, what a great opportunity to network and interact with we were 150 executives from around the world. Yes, that that We're going through similar challenges. So that's a network that I still have today. I love them. It's it's fascinating that we, and so so then going back to Spain, after that experience really opened my eyes to so many other experiences that other companies were going that was interesting, because while I was here, I ended up interacting with my former boss, who was the CMO of PepsiCo, he was at HP, he was the CMO for HP. So I go back to Spain, and going back to my my work. And a few months later, he calls me goes, Hey, wait a second. We have a great position here to to run, print marketing for the Americas for the US, Canada. And

 

Robert Berkeley  20:42  

last. So these are the consumer level printers and

 

Carlos Ricardo  20:44  

yeah, and commercial and all the Yes. And the commercials, yes.

 

Robert Berkeley  20:48  

Not the Indigo and stuff, though. That was

 

Carlos Ricardo  20:50  

That was part of that too. But it was. So I was I was head of marketing for print for all of the Americans. Okay. And so I told my wife, Hey, would you like to go to California? So this was exactly four years ago? And what did she say? So she said, Yeah, sure. Let's do it. So so we came for so. So that the pretty much these four years, the first two were in print, marketing, and then the other two, we're now in this role, which is a global role. Providing services, as I mentioned, to all of the marketing community of we have 800, marketers in 60 countries

 

Robert Berkeley  21:27  

and any 1000s of schools, I should think.

 

Carlos Ricardo  21:31  

1000s, I don't ask me the number because it changes every month.

 

Robert Berkeley  21:37  

So let's talk. Let's talk about that with HPhp. And the in house agency that you you're running now, can you can you tell us whether it existed when you got into? Or did you create it

 

Carlos Ricardo  21:47  

create it? No, no, it already existed, it existed as a pilot. So…

 

Robert Berkeley  21:52  

So Iinitiative from the CMO. So

 

Carlos Ricardo  21:55  

So he was initially the CMO today, he was running global print marketing. So he and his background was from agencies. He loves the agency world, and he understands how important that is that partnership between agencies and clients to develop great creative work. So the first year, it was a pilot only with print. It was a very small team. The concept was let's put together a an in house agency offshore. So it was it's based in in outside of New Delhi, and Gurgaon, India,

 

Robert Berkeley  22:35  

which is where our offices as well in Gurgaon.Oh, it is! yeah. Okay. Okay. And this was for marketing production, right? Yeah. So so.

 

Carlos Ricardo  22:43  

Yeah. So so.So the first year was what we call proof of concept. It was an experiment only for print, and a small team in India. And after your one, it was like, wow, this is working? Well, we're getting some benefits. We prove the case, it was proven the case that the model worked in terms of savings versus doing all that work with agencies in the US or Europe. I joined after that proof of concept. And my objective was okay, Carlos, how do you expand this to other stakeholders in the company? And how do you think about this? How do we take this to the next level?

 

Robert Berkeley  23:25  

And what was stopping at that point? What was the motive for the pilot? What were they trying to achieve? By setting up a small office in Gurgaon? It was

 

Carlos Ricardo  23:33  

It was. iIt was the ability, the flexibility to control much more the output for our development of assets, number one, number two is agility. And being in house, the idea was we know our products and our service better than anyone else. We are very connected to the marketers in the countries. And there was a cost aspect to could we produce at scale with cost efficiencies versus doing it in the EU. And

 

Robert Berkeley  24:11  

And up to that point, you'd been working with a production agencies in the US? Oh, yeah. $50 An hour or more, or whatever it was, and, and without, but also not having that agility and that brand insight that you needed as well. Exactly. So you weren't you weren't you having your offshore production, but you were linking it, presumably, with some sort of creative element was on show which was like,

 

Carlos Ricardo  24:32  

it's always been the model has always been using the creative, the creative concepts that come in from the big advertising campaigns that has always been there. But it was about flexibility, agility, and cost efficiency. Okay, so then, when I went so when I moved into my new role in marketing services, and and part of that is overseeing HPHB Studio, a few things came up one is okay, how do we now that we've already serviced Part of the organisation was, which was print? How do we offer our services to all the other stakeholders? Right? That means Personal System, which is all the team that develops, right that all our PCs, laptops, our 3d printers, corporate, so there's corporate comms the corporate communications. So all the stakeholders in the organisation, so how offering that so how

 

Robert Berkeley  25:25  

Sso how do you do that? Okay, well, it's working with a small pilot with a relatively contained team, it's kind of it's pretty linear, and you can kind of get your arms around it, but you need pretty robust processes to scale that up. So how did you do that?

 

Carlos Ricardo  25:35  

So we're, I would say that we are probably 60-70%60 70%. There, we are now servicing. So as we finished this fiscal year, we finished our we ended our fiscal year on October 31, doing a recap, we now serve as every single business unit in the company, we have expanded our capabilities. Andy Oh, we also in that process, I forgot to say, we also incorporated two other teams that were kind of separate, we incorporated the photography team that does all of the production. Every time we're launching a product, all of the photography, product and lifestyle. We also incorporated packaging. So all the team that does all the packaging. And we started to increase the capabilities in India, but also started to increase the team of Account Services here. Yes. To deal with the Expand expanded marketplace, the marketers and especially because there's a large concentration of stakeholders of clients marketers in the US because of the global team. Yes. And the other thing that we did was, we did a few things. The other thing was, we said, okay, let's because you can do, as you know, right? And it just, it can do a number of different things. We said, Okay, we're never going to be successful. If we do everything for everyone.

 

Robert Berkeley  26:56  

everyone. Let's choose you define yourself by what you're not doing.

 

Carlos Ricardo  27:00  

So we so we said, Okay, we are going to choose a few things and be the best that we can and bring the best expertise to do a few things. Well, yeah. And those three things are and not necessarily in order. But the three things that we're doing right now that we're focusing on is one is digital and social assets. Right? So the ability to take a creative campaign and blowing that out to all the different media outlets for both digital campaigns and and for so

 

Robert Berkeley  27:31  

Aand is this is this to a media list that you're given? Or you also, is there a degree of strategy? Where are these can align?

 

Carlos Ricardo  27:38  

The media? The media is interesting, because parallel to all this story that I'm telling you exactly four years ago to we also decided to bring in media. So we have good for you well done in house media that follows report to me. Yeah, there's an in house. And that's, I think, a very healthy thing. Yeah. So so so we said, okay, let's focus on what we call etail assets. And I'm separating that because it's a world in itself suddenly is started by saying, okay, Amazon gold standards, so they're pretty much 13 to 15 different things that we have to do there, right? tutorials, what's in the box, the carousel, the description, I mean, every single component that goes into Amazon and we're extending that to Mercado Libre in Latin America, media market in your jd.com in China. Right, all of those and developing Okay, these are the gold standards and these are all the different for every single SKU, how do we the third thing we said is, let's be the best in CG product rendering.

 

Robert Berkeley  28:44  

I was gonna ask about that because you have your photography department, and I'm just gonna have one I was wondering where that was coming in you you nailed I can't imagine every product doesn't have a virtual counterpart.

 

Carlos Ricardo  28:53  

So what happens now is that before a specific printer or laptop is launched, we have to start producing assets when we don't even have a physical necessarily the physical product off the line. So we're using the design elements from the design team, what texture what this and my team is taking those together and developing the product renderings, so that we place that into so for example, we do lifestyle photography and in workplace environments and home offices and all that we have studios with no product and then it will just be inserted. Okay.

 

Robert Berkeley  29:31  

Okay. So that the montage so

 

Carlos Ricardo  29:33  

So so so that is a skill that we said okay, let's let's really, really put emphasis on CG and product rendering because of all of our new product introduction agenda. And then the other the fourth one is AVv is audio visuals so and not, we're doing a lot of a lot of internal right so it's videos for product launches videos for some of the events that we do with the press or just more obviously, the big, big heavy lifting video is done by the agencies, but we do a lot of,

 

Robert Berkeley  30:08  

Bbut you'll take those as well and adapt those assets. And we do…and we do From there.

 

Carlos Ricardo  30:11  

We do editing teen, we do post production, we do creating different versions for different countries based on their knee. And then I said we were doing a few other things. What we're doing now is also we are expanding beyond India, which is kind of obvious after after three years. So. So the first country we identified that has tremendous, very local needs, and is a huge market for us. And huge growth opportunities, China's so so we now we put five individuals in the Beijing office, and we were able to hire with an account/ slash creative profile. So they are inside the marketing team, they're listening to the different needs, creating those briefs working on so sending that that need over to India producing quickly. Yeah, and then they're translating, translating, put it into Chinese, for that specific market. So…

 

Robert Berkeley  31:11  

So so very responsive to the marketers needs, while still having that kind of global control and brand oversight. And there is obviously some workflow, some management system underpinning all this, that you've deployed,

 

Carlos Ricardo  31:26  

I would, I would love, I would love to say that we're at a place where we are completely, I mean that we're fine with our tools and processes, I would say we're in the process of one of the things that we did deploy two and a half years ago was we're using a CMPcmp, globally called percolate content marketing platform where everything is uploaded in terms of briefs and all the workflows, and then all the assets with a common metadata architecture so that marketers can find and retrieve, download,

 

Robert Berkeley  32:02  

and track work in progress as well, or they can use it for that. So is that this? So does that you've got this team spread out around the world. And I presume you're here in your office here in Napa, and you can press a button, and you can see who's working on why. What the volumes are, what the forecast is where you're going to run out of staff, and you know, which month What's it providing all of that?

 

Carlos Ricardo  32:23  

Yeah, so so we're not at a point where we have, we're still looking for the right technology to help manage all the production within our team in India. So I would say, the CMP, we got a lot of emphasis to get up and running. But I still feel that we're not at a position where we have the right, right, I would say software to track the activities that are going on at a very individual level. We don't have that yet. Well, we're we're looking at options and trying to evaluate that my head of HPB studios now kind of mapping the market to understand, okay, what are those pieces of software that are missing for us? Right, but

 

Robert Berkeley  33:08  

you clearly have where you don't have it, you have the intent to have it. And you can do those things I was slightly tongue in cheek suggesting but you actually do. So when it comes to things like forward planning and budgeting a. And that kind of thing devolves on you as well, that falls on you. So can you get visibility as to what's coming up next year? And are you able to harness the the marketers information? And

 

Carlos Ricardo  33:27  

I wouldn't say the planning, is that robust? Because the marketers in the countries have the flexibility to use us or to use somebody?

 

Robert Berkeley  33:34  

So you're not you're not a mandated results? Absolutely not. And we don't want to be? Well, that brings me to another question.

 

Carlos Ricardo  33:40  

We don't want to be I'll let you finish this point. We we believe that it's all we're only going to be successful if we become an option that marketers love, because we are very well connected to the brand to send their needs. Were fast. And we have good costs, rather than they

 

Robert Berkeley  34:00  

rather than they resent having to use, because they're told to use

 

Carlos Ricardo  34:02  

Sso. So I so going back. So I don't have the visibility of everything that's not common in the 12 months, because that is fluid. But is there it's absolutely fluid. Well, let

 

Robert Berkeley  34:11  

Well, let me get back to my question there. Again, as a global company with all these people are working in their various markets. Yes, you want them to volunteer to use you because they want to come to you it's an attraction rather than a kind of compulsion thing. But how on earth do you get them to know you exist, and that you can bring them value?

 

Carlos Ricardo  34:30  

Oh, we do that constantly? How? every time every first of all, we have reviews that we do constantly to showcase the work. So every quarter that goes by we have the opportunity of showcasing to marketers around the world. Oh, by the way, this is this is the latest and greatest ponytails on digital and social. These are some of the videos we've done. This is work from CAD and CGI, so So we have been doing that constantly. And, and it's always and you have to continue to do it because of obviously, your turnover and new people.

 

Robert Berkeley  35:09  

So you having to get in front of people, you yourself have essentially be an ambassador for the

 

Carlos Ricardo  35:15  

it's a lovely role to have. I mean, believe me, and but but we do that constantly. And but I like to say very transparently is we I love the fact that it's not a mandate. Yeah, at all, at all at all it should be. And and there are things that, you know, sometimes country will, that is requesting to do something that is in our capability and decides to do it elsewhere. That's fine.

 

Robert Berkeley  35:43  

So where are you today? Then? Very quickly, how big is this department? We've got these various parts to it. But how many people have you about?so

 

Carlos Ricardo  35:50  

Wwe're about 90 right now. Okay, including the all the offshore? Yes. But I have to say that a big portion of that 90, obviously, they're not all FTEs. Some of them are contractors. Yeah. But it's around NDP, and you

 

Robert Berkeley  36:03  

And youhaving to show the value of these 90 FTEs on a regular basis into HP? Because obviously there are savings being made by you being there.

 

Carlos Ricardo  36:11  

Yeah, we do. We do have are? Well, first of all, we're, we're we're pretty much self sufficient right now. So the what stakeholders are paying for our services versus our cost to operate is it's pretty much neutralised right now. So so this is not a costhostile creative for the company. And, and and we are expansion is always very careful. It's an expansion based on, you know, more stakeholders come in and the growth of so we manage that very tightly, just so that we are we are expanding based on market needs. And based on the example I gave to you from China was one that there was definitely a need from the China team saying, Hey, I would love to have this, but we need people inside our offices, and we work together with the Chinese team to kind of make that happen. We're very, very close to the different margaree integrated, right. Yes. And and listening to their needs. As I mentioned before, we're not pushing our work, we want to make sure that the work that we're doing is good enough for

 

Robert Berkeley  37:15  

Yyou're clearly seen as an extension of the marketing teams themselves. Right? You're just there for me told me about China really brings to that, that those people are now right there at the elbow of the marketer's.

 

Carlos Ricardo  37:26  

Yeah. And then the other thing is, I think, which we didn't talk about so far is we take feedback very, very tell us about that. So that was that structured? And so yes, it is we have, in fact, is structured in a very, very nice way. Internally at HP we have we call internally, it's the HP agency spotter. So all the marketers have it's one digital location where they go and they rate all the agencies that provide services to us what is global and local in all the different types of agencies and obviously HBCUs in there.

 

Robert Berkeley  38:03  

I have to say, Carlos, thanks so much for your time and insight. Thank you podcast. Now, thanks to the listeners and to Carlos Ricardo, HP for allowing me into his exquisite home to be part of Inside Jobsinside jobs. I've met few in house agency leaders who have had such a dynamic and wide ranging corporate career. A big thanks to our fabulous partners IHAFI have especially Emily Foster, my producer Amy MacNamara for making all these things possible and PrernaPrena ChabraPriyanka Chopra he KCS for handling the editing work. If you haven't heard the podcast before then a very warm welcome to Insight jobs, do take a chance to visit us at our website at IJ podcast.com. With the ever growing back catalogue of episodes, there is something for everyone there. I think you can also subscribe to our newsletter and do also feel free to link in with me. Just say hello. It's great to hear from people in and around in house agencies. And you know quite often I'm always up for a chat. Thank you for joining us until the next time