Here is a transcript generated by otter.ai of The Content Mix podcast interview with Enrique Moreno Deckler, global brand expert on maintaining your brand value as you evolve:

Carlota Pico 0:13
Hi, everyone and welcome back to The Content Mix. I’m Carlota Pico, your host for today’s show. And I’m excited to introduce Enrique Moreno Deckler, who has worked as chief marketing officer, brand and communications director at world-renowned companies like LaLiga, Telefonica, and Sanitas, and also has almost two decades of experience in marketing and communications. Welcome Enrique. And thank you so much for joining us today on The Content Mix.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 0:43
Thank you for counting on me, Carlota, for this interview.

Carlota Pico 0:46
The pleasure is ours, Enrique. So tell me, where are you today, after having worked at so many world-renowned brands, what’s next for you?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 0:54
Well, currently, after leaving LaLiga, I’m looking for for new opportunities and studying some projects that are on the table. And my idea is to continue increasing business through the increasing of the brand value. And let’s see what happens in the in the coming weeks.

Carlota Pico 1:18
Okay, very exciting. So let’s say that you had to interview for another world-renowned brand, for example, let’s say that you go from LaLiga, to working for Real Madrid or for working for any of the other soccer or football teams, depending on where one’s at. Right? What type of skills would you sell in terms of emotional skills? Or what type of qualities do you bring to the table?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 1:43
Well, I think that the brand must be always synonymous of business. One of my, I think that my skills is to, to link always the brand strategy with the business strategy. I think that’s one of the key things in nowadays, in the current moment. And related to my personal skills, I think I am dynamic, empathetic, and an optimistic person. I think that’s important, even even more more in the current moment. And I would say that the emotional skills are going to allow me to make a different approach to a to a project. Because I think that companies more and more need leaders skilled in emotional skills to manage this uncertain moment. This VUCA environment, you know, I think that the current situation has made clear that this VUCA environment is our reality in the world, that uncertain, that complex moment, that ambiguous moment, and these emotional skills can help me to approach those projects in a different way.

Carlota Pico 3:05
Okay, very interesting. So I saw in your LinkedIn profile, yes, I was snooping around, that you hired 22 professionals as part of your team when you were at LaLiga. What type of roles did you hire? What are, what roles are important when it comes to brands?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 3:22
Well, the project of LaLiga was a really complex one, a really challenging one, because the idea was to move the brand, from an association to a global leader in the world of entertainment. But at the same time as you need to do that, we needed to develop the team. I was the first person in this new department, I was the founder of the global brand and assets direction. And during those four seasons that I spent in LaLiga, I hired nearly 20 people, to develop this new department. The idea was to create a brand department, but really link it, as I said, with the business, with the business model of LaLiga. So we were organizing four areas, one, the first one was a corporate brand identity. The second one was advertising and branded content activities. The third one was the media. And the fourth one was the research department. And I would say last but not least, because one of the curious things in LaLiga was that no one was taking charge of the research, our research area, okay, we used to buy some data from from different research all around the world. But with a focus on partnerships; the idea was to create this new research department to realize if what we were doing as a brand was approaching us to our objectives. Okay, so that was the current thing now, after my leaving stays exactly like that. And I think that was one of the more efficient things the organization of this team to achieve the rest of the projects we will talk about in a minute, that we developed in the last four seasons.

Carlota Pico 5:21
Okay, so you were tasked with the job of not only finding partners, but also finding sponsors, and what other things were you tasked with? Why was that data so, so important for you?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 5:32
Well, I was not in charge of sponsorship agreements, but we work really close with the sponsorship department, because, as you may know, when you are a sports property, you’re a very well-known sport property, it’s, it’s even more important to select who’s going with you in this journey. Okay. So we, as a brand department, we try to help a sponsorship department to achieve better brands and better agreements, to link with our brand and increase our brand value. For example, the agreement with Budweiser one year ago, the agreement with Disney, the agreement with Unilever, Electronic Arts, help the brand LaLiga to grow in terms of brand value, okay. So that was one of our functions as a brand department: to increase the value of the sponsors of LaLiga.

Carlota Pico 6:30
Okay, but then Enrique, how did you know what brands were going to increase your value?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 6:36
Well, first thing you need to do as a brand is to create, in this case, sponsors map, you can call like that. This means companies that links the values and attributes with yours, okay? There are some brands that don’t have nothing to do with you, and are not going to help you to increase your brand value, quite the opposite. So you need to select the different sectors, the different brands, and select those brands that have to do with you. Okay, and from that you need to work on a good proposal, of course, and try to, to generate that need of that brand to link with a brand such as LaLiga.

Carlota Pico 7:25
Okay, very interesting. So then let’s create a case study. Let’s say that you want to attract Budweiser to LaLiga, or to any of your future brands that you’ll work with. Where do you start? Do you just call the CEO of Budweiser? And you’re like, hey, guess what, I have something [inaudible]…

Enrique Moreno Deckler 7:42
No, no. I know that case really well. I think that was a great achievement of the international department last year. And I think that the first thing is that Budweiser is, in terms of how difficult or easy is to attract a brand, Budweiser is really linked with the world of sports, for example, okay. So it was easy to tell Budweiser, hey, if you want to be with the best league in the world, you need to be with LaLiga, okay? I know that they closed an agreement with the English Premier League the same time with us. They don’t want to take that risk. They said, okay, we are going to sign LaLiga, but also to sign English Premier League. And the thing is, first thing, as I said, is how the essence of the two brands work together. Okay, that’s the first thing, the association with the brands. And from that, then you can develop a proposal with different brand assets to generate that visibility that all sponsorship agreement must have. But also the money can’t buy experience and different assets that can put new value into that proposal.

Carlota Pico 8:54
Okay Enrique, so who would be your counterpart at Budweiser?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 8:58
Well, it’s the marketing manager speaks with the sponsorship agreements manager, in this case with the international department also. And he’s the person that negotiates all those things.

Carlota Pico 9:15
Okay. And then how long does it normally take to close an agreement of that size?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 9:23
Nearly a year, perhaps. Yeah. From six, six months from a year, to a year. Sorry.

Carlota Pico 9:29
Okay. Very interesting content. Thank you so much for sharing that experience with us. I’m going to read a line off from your LinkedIn profile, start quote, “The best way to make is to be,” end quote. What does that mean and how have you applied that philosophy into your own work style?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 9:48
Ah, yes, that’s that’s one of my favorite phrases. I think that it’s… in the end, in this phrase, you find authenticity. You don’t need to behave like, to be a person that you are not, or to be a brand that you are not, okay. I’m a brand lover. And one of the things that I have learned is that successful brands have a common factor. As I said, it’s authenticity. For me, that is the key of this phrase. And of course, to do that, you need to know yourself really well. That may be the biggest difficulty; to be, you need to know who you are, to behave properly and not to be a fake, to be an authentic brand or an authentic person.

Carlota Pico 10:45
Okay Enrique, I’ve heard time and time again people saying that brands have to be authentic, brands have to be genuine, but what does that really mean?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 10:56
Well, I think that we need to differentiate… brands have a visible part, okay. And then they have the essence of a brand. I mean, you can compare or use a metaphor with brands that is the iceberg, no? Where the, what sustain the visible part is the basis, okay. To be a successful brand, you need to be coherent with your essence, okay? As I said, be authentic. In the current market, you also need to be responsible and relevant for the audience. That’s another important thing, okay. Because from that essence, you create a consistent brand. You need to be coherent, you cannot say that you are a responsible company, you are a transparent company and then you have problems with the way you pay taxes or the way you behave with the ecosystem or the planet or whatever, okay.

Carlota Pico 11:59
Okay. Okay. So then, what brands have you really admired lately during corona times, during the Black Lives Matter movement, during the Me Too movement, what brands have resonated with you?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 12:11
Well, I think that there, currently there are a lot of brands that are changing the way they behave with the market, with the planet, and with society. And that’s an important thing, because what we have learned during the last years, and even more in this moment, is that the market is asking for brands that not only give them a function, okay, or develop a product, even a top product, okay? They need to know what are these brands doing to increase the emotional relationship with them and also with the environment, okay. Not only talking about nature or planet, but also with the environment. I think that brands, such as, talking about the Spanish brand Iberdrola is making things really well. Telefonica is making things really well, Inditex the same, okay. There are several a lot of brands we can talk that I think they are behaving in a responsible way and they are trying to be authentic from the proposal, and internationally, you can talk about, well, companies that try to use technology to develop or to increase the quality of life in some countries. For example, I will say that Microsoft, perhaps in the character or the person of Bill Gates, are doing things really well. And yes, I would say that and I think Apple is trying to help also technology, and even companies that are linked with the world of entertainment that I know really well, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, that are trying to generate contents that not only entertain people but also teach them some things and that’s important to me.

Carlota Pico 14:15
Okay, very interesting. What about brands that change over time? Because as people, people are changing constantly, we’re in constant evolution, and how I defined myself 10 years ago may not necessarily be how I define myself today. And I’m guessing brands also face the same type of evolution and changes. Can a brand rebrand itself?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 14:38
It is difficult. I mean, if you study stories of some brands, you can find really big surprises. For example, I’m not sure if you’re aware, it’s a very well-known case in the world of brands, but Samsung started nearly a hundred years ago selling rice and other type of foods, okay? And they changed, they decided to jump in technology in the early 50s and 60s. And then they decided to be a supplier brand of of technological components, during the 70s and 80s, in companies that, for companies that currently are their competitors: Apple, Microsoft or whatever. And finally, they decide to be a leader in technology, in products or whatever. So they change the brand during the years, but it’s not a fast change, it’s something that must come from the roots of your company, the essence, as I said, must be really stable. Okay, you as a person, perhaps in the last 10 years have changed, but your essence is also the same. And you need to be, as I said, consistent and coherent. You cannot change your proposal, because now there is a new wave that says that, or is a trend that says that you need to take care of the planet, “hey let’s take care of the planet.” No, because it’s not, it’s not genuine, you know, you must be genuine as a brand. So you can change some of the things, but I think that your essence must be stable as a brand.

Carlota Pico 16:25
Okay. Enrique, let’s take a walk down memory lane. What have been some of your proudest marketing or communication moments to date?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 16:35
It is difficult to highlight a moment, I think that during my last stage in LaLiga, the creation of the new LaLiga brand, in every underdeveloped of LaLiga brand, in every touchpoint of the brand with the market. That meant to change the brand positioning for, to “It’s not football, it’s LaLiga.” They audiovisual environment, to generate consistency all across channels. That’s another challenge of the brands, no? To be consistent. Because if you are consistent, you are very well recognized. And you can optimize your investments, no? In brand. All that has helped to transform LaLiga in one of the most well known and recognized brands in the world of sports and entertainment. And I think that that was a really good moment. From my stage, for example, in Sanitas, I would say that the change of all the customer relationship management strategy from 2011 to 2014. Because we create the first smart database in the world of health insurance, with a clear segmentation of individuals, with really accurate strategies for each segment. And that was a really good, good moment. And from my stage in Telefonica, in Yellow Pages, perhaps the creation of the first online promotions in Spain in the early 2000s. Where I always say that I was really lucky to work in one of the most digital, advanced digital companies in Spain during the early 2000s, that was Yellow Pages. And we create the first online promotions and online strategies, here in the local market of Spain.

Carlota Pico 18:38
It’s so funny to talk about the Yellow Pages now, right, with all… the power of connecting instantaneously online.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 18:45
Absolutely, absolutely. At that moment, we show that Yellow Pages were going to be a huge… How can I say? We were facing a huge challenge: to move people from paper to digital. I think that the strategy at that moment was really good, perhaps during the last stage of Yellow Pages to 27 or whatever wasn’t so accurate. But I think that yes, it’s an example how brands can change or even disappear in the current moment, if you are not aware of the trends, and also of the cultural change, and how things really different, okay. A trend is something that it’s a thing of the moment, okay, it comes and it goes. But the cultural change is something that you need to differentiate really well, because that must or can condition it, your current business model, okay.

Carlota Pico 19:47
That’s a fantastic insight, Enrique. Okay, what about challenges? Because I’m sure you’ve had to face a few challenges during your career. Could you talk to me about that? What major lessons did you learn, if you had to redo that activity again, what would you do differently?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 20:04
Well, I think that, well some of them, we have been talking about that during the conversation, but I think that the, for example, the challenge of LaLiga. To move from an association to a global leader in the world of sports was a huge challenge. But the main challenge was to do that, at the same time as we were creating a new department, okay? And to create the culture across the company, that the branding was everything, or better, the brand is everything, you know? You come from a world, the world of sports in Spain, that works in a way that is that people work as individuals, okay, it’s a… And when we entered with this new department, we were trying to tell the person of sponsors, for example, it’s really important, what brands are going to associate with us. That was like, well, I thought that was only a matter of money. No, it’s not a matter of money… It’s to put that culture and to put that culture in the communication strategy, okay. What we are saying to the market, as the board, or even as ambassadors, is really important. And from that with every department, the digital department, the business intelligence and business analytics department, the… with the the teams also, with the teams of LaLiga, with professional teams, telling them that the brand is something really important, you need to take care of that, you need to improve the brand to improve your business. Those kind of things, I think that was one of the main challenges in my last year.

Carlota Pico 21:48
What an exciting career, Enrique. I would have loved to have been like a little bug following you throughout your career to like learn what you did right, learn about the… that you learned along the way. It would have been the best MBA in marketing possible, I think.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 22:04
Yeah, would be… I would like to have it because sometimes you forget some of the things, but in the end, I think that you are always learning. That what is another key thing in marketing, communications and brand, I think that we have a profession that in the current moment challenges you, and oblige you to be in constant evolution, okay. The things you think about brand 10 years ago are not the same, you need to evolve in terms of customers, generations of customers, behaviors of customers, those kind of things are things really exciting because needs to evolve daily. Sometimes you don’t have that luck with other careers. I think that ours is one of the advantages, to maintain updated everything you know about the marketing, communications and brand.

Carlota Pico 23:04
Yeah, to remain relevant.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 23:06
Yep.

Carlota Pico 23:07
Okay. Enrique, that actually leads me into my next question. Let’s say you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what advice would that be?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 23:16
I think would be, be curious. Be curious, don’t stop looking and learning, and I will put an example. I recently started a senior program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on digital transformation. And some people asked me, but why? What are you going to learn there, you don’t know now? And my answer is everything. I think everything, I’m going to learn everything, and it’s real. In the last days I started, and you don’t know nothing. It’s like, you need to unlearn sometimes to learn new things, okay. So that would be the advice: be curious and trying to learn something new almost every day.

Carlota Pico 24:07
Okay, well on that note, we are going to be moving into our next set of questions, which are your recommendations for our audience. To get this section stared off, I’d like to ask you about your source of inspiration. So perhaps a professional role model or an influencer that you really admire?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 24:25
You know, I’m, I think I consider myself a great reader. So I have a lot of role models, not only nowadays but also in history, okay. My father has been always a role model for me in terms of behavior, in terms of responsibility and integrity. But if you are talking about, or we are talking about something linked with my activity, I would say, for example, here in Spain Amancio Ortega, I think is a role model, is a person, well, really inspiring. And internationally I would say Steve Jobs. I think that from Steve Jobs, not sure if it’s something really disruptive, from the creation of the iPhone something has emerged from that moment. So I would say Steve Jobs, despite the fact that as we know, everyone knows, the person of Steve Jobs, he was not a skilled person in emotional skills, that I think that nowadays are really important.

Carlota Pico 25:31
Yeah, definitely. And for our audience who doesn’t know who Amancio Ortega is, he is the founder of Inditex. Inditex is Zara, Massimo Dutti, and brands like that. Okay, what about a resource that you’d like to recommend? So for example, a group, an event, a community, a book?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 25:50
I would say that, I would recommend a book, “Focus,” that is from Daniel Goleman. Daniel Goleman is a very well-known person in the world of emotional intelligence. And it’s a book that helps you to find out the importance of paying attention. Okay, that moment, that it’s a key factor for success. Okay, so that would be a really good book, and it doesn’t matter what are you doing for a living, okay, it’s not a marketing thing. It’s not a brand thing. It’s also if you’re a lawyer, or you’re a professor, you can learn from that book, okay. And there is a publication here in Spain, or there is a very well-known marketing project, or branded content project, from BBVA, that is “We learn together.” I think it’s, at the current moment it’s always only in Spanish. But I think it’s a really good project, to understand how brands can be relevant for society. In this case, with a project linked with education, that now is very well known in some, in a lot of schools here in Spain, and also universities, and would be a good recommendation.

Carlota Pico 27:06
Okay. And BBVA, again for our audience, is a bank in Spain, one of the leaders in our country. Okay, and what about an app or tool that you’d like to recommend? What can’t you live without?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 27:19
I recently, not sure if that’s the word, I cannot live without, but recently I knew an app that is called Masterclass. And it’s an app, you need to subscribe and to pay a monthly or subscription, where you can learn almost everything from different artists. You enter in the app and you can find out a class to play piano, or an introduction to blockchain. But it’s really cool use, and of course you can find there one of the most skilled people in their fields, okay. So well, again, we are talking about learning, learning, learning, but now it’s one of the apps I would recommend it.

Carlota Pico 28:08
Okay. Well, you’re definitely a very curious human being.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 28:10
Yeah, thank you.

Carlota Pico 28:12
It’s good to hear that what you talk you also apply to your walk.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 28:16
Yeah, yeah. Again, to be consistent and coherent, like brands.

Carlota Pico 28:20
Okay, so actually Enrique I’m gonna throw a curveball at you. After 23 years in marketing and communications, if you could do it all over again, would you still pursue a career in marketing?

Enrique Moreno Deckler 28:34
Definitely, definitely. In fact, I was not a vocational marketer. I was not thinking about to be a marketer with 15 years or 16 years. But definitely it’s a career that, as I say, is really challenging, is really funny. It helps you to learn almost about everything. And inside companies, you are linked with almost every department, so you can learn a lot from different areas. And that’s the key to maintain, as I said, the excitement and illusion I have 23 years ago.

Carlota Pico 29:14
Okay. Well, on that note, thank you so much for joining us on The Content Mix. It was awesome to meet you, to learn about your experience at so many world-renowned brands like LaLiga, Telefonica, Sanitas, the list goes on. And I hope that since we’re both in Madrid, we’ll be able to grab a glass of wine sometime in the near future.

Enrique Moreno Deckler 29:33
Absolutely. It has been a pleasure. And thank you very much again, for counting on me for this interview.

Carlota Pico 29:38
The pleasure has been mine, Enrique. And to everybody listening in today, thank you for joining us on The Content Mix. For more perspectives on the content marketing industry in Europe, check out The Content Mix. We’ll be releasing interviews just like this one every day. So keep on tuning in. Thanks again, have a fabulous day and see you next time. Bye!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai