‘Perfect’ career for young marketing executive

Press, 26 February 1987, Page 9

‘Perfect’ career for young marketing executive

Vikki Brannagan speaks fluent Japanese, a skill learnt through a quirk of fate.

It’s a language skill that has catapulted her into a business area noted for three peculiarities — the practitioners are generally Japanese, male, and old! Vikki, who is a marketing executive with the Hamilton based manufacturer and exporter, Woolrest International, has just returned from almost four months in Japan assisting with the marketing of Woolrest sleepers. She overcame centuries old tradition as she dealt with the bastion of conservatism — the Japanese business community. Being a woman wasn’t as much a talking point in Japan, as her age. She’s just 23.

"The fact that I’m a foreigner helped in this respect. They know foreigners have differing views from the Japanese and that women do get more involved in the West.”

Vikki says the traditional stereotyping in Japan is slowly breaking down. She met three women who were chief executive officers of their respective companies, and she believes the custom which sees most Japanese women leave the work force on marriage is changing. The age difference is enormous and something

that will remain so, Vikki says. “The majority of Japanese executives are paid not on ability but seniority. It’s not unusual for a younger boss to be earning less than an older subordinate.

"This is one reason why Japanese families are so company-oriented. If they change companies they lose their seniority and go down the pecking order. “It’s something that will probably always remain a difference between west and east.”

Vikki Brannagan had not intended learning Japanese. She had applied for a Rotary Exchange trip to the United States, hoping to spend her seventh form year there.

But when this fell through, she was offered the chance of a privately arranged exchange with a Japanese student. This “accident of fate” started her down a career path that has proved a real success story.

On her return to New Zealand she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Japanese, and a marketing-based Bachelor of Commerce at Auckland University. Vikki was offered a job with a multi-national company but decided instead

to join Woolrest International, in January 1986. She hasn’t been disappointed — especially in her direct involvement with the Japanese market.

Her first months with the company in New Zealand were spent helping in the development of the company’s Japanese mar 7 keting plan. The company had been in Japan for about three years in a test marketing phase, and a year ago appointed a major pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor, Tsumura Juntendo, as a distributor. Vikki had a multiple role for her visit to Japan, starting last July — her major objective was to brief Juntendo executives on Woolrest’s successful marketing strategies and to help them motivate their 1600-strong sales team, and in turn, the 4000 wholesale and retail outlets.

Appearing on live TV commercials and doing in-store demonstrations were also part of her activities.

Contact with the Japanese public via television proved a big success. The sight of an attractive young Western woman outlining the advantages of Woolrest sleepers in the Japanese language, in

a question and answer session with two Japanese presenters caused . the phones to run hot —»the switchboard could not keep up! Vikki is quite at ease talking to Japanese people in Japanese. < This has been one of the more challenging aspects of her latest visit to Japan. > “The only way to really learn a language is to live in the country concerned. “It’s not just a case of learning words r- but also the customs,” Vikki says.

She learnt sufficient Japanese in her year as an exchange student to easily cope with Stage I and II of her B.A.

But talking Japanese at a business level proved more demanding. "I didn’t have a marketing vocabulary or a Woolrest vocabulary, and for the first month I had to converse on a more basic level.”

She recognises that Japanese life, is very structured, and some customs are quite alien to Western thinking. “I dress more formally in Japan than I do here. Having the right introductions is all important, as is knowing when and how to present business cards. “I work harder to avoid

making mistakes, to prevent giving people a chance to say that I made a mistake because I'm a woman.

"When I went to Japan, I was given a heavy schedule. I visited over 50 cities in 100 days, with almost 500 presentations and meetings with wholesalers.

"We worked six days a week often from 7 a.m. until up to 11 p.m. because we had to get to the sales people before they went out on their calls — or after they returned — and many worked late. “On top of this was the travelling.”

Vikki became aware that some Japanese businessmen thought the schedule was hard, even for them. “Of course the schedule got harder still — • other things were thrown in as we went.” Vikki is firmly convinced she has made the right career choice. “It’s perfect I’m doing everything I dreamed Of doing. It’s a real challenge,” she said.