Rik Strubel
101 Great Minds on Music Brands and Behavior
Rik Strubel, Chief Marketing Officer, Henkel Beauty
Rik Strubel is the Chief Marketing Officer at Henkel Beauty Care. In his current role as CMO, Rik is responsible for setting up and leading the new multi-region Marketing organization. Together with his team, he develops a global commercial and portfolio strategy, combining it with brand development, digital transformation and new channels to create a powerful engine for sustainable growth. Prior to joining Henkel, Mr. Strubel was part of Unilever for 17 years. He held various executive roles at Unilever and transformed the world’s biggest Male Grooming brand Axe / Lynx, into a passion-led, purpose-driven business serving a young generation of boys and men.
With over 20 years of versatile Brand experience, Rik is a renowned marketing intellect. His execution strategies are not only progressive but also impactful. As CMO at Henkel Beauty, Mr. Strubel is set to establish Henkel Beauty Care as a paramount global Brand.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of sound. It is often more important than many other aspects we spend a lot of time looking at. And if you are not absolutely confident in your decisions, get some assistance.”
— RIK STRUBEL, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, HENKEL BEAUTY
Uli Can you talk a little bit about your role at Henkel.
Rik Strubel: I look after marketing and the future growth pillars at Henkel Beauty Care. Our biggest brand is Schwarzkopf, more than 120 years old and the inventor of shampoo and hair spray. Overall and we have a portfolio of more than 130 brands across the world. With my team, we work every day to create brands with a purposeful voice. For me, Henkel Beauty Care is a global and credible beauty player, a sustainability front-runner and a creative and digital powerhouse. We want to sharpen this profile.
Reese: How important do you think music, voice and sonic are in building a brand?
Strubel: It is important on both the functional and emotional levels. Movies have shown us how to do it for a long time. Iconic scenes that are firmly linked to a certain melody. Or let's look at the car country Germany: there, engineers are tinkering with the sound of a car door closing because it’s linked to the quality perception of the car brand. There is this one car brand and only two words at the end of the commercial - everyone knows the voice. Music and sound help position and emotionalize a brand. It's the glue that connects what you see and how it makes you feel. Like many of my colleagues, I've been in the situation where I've been on the verge of choosing this or that sound based on a personal preference. The challenge is that you don't find out if you were right or wrong until much later.
Reese: Then why is the decision-making processes around music so haphazard? Does the process need innovation?
Strubel: A colleague of mine used to say that marketing is fifty percent art and fifty percent science. In principle, that also applies to music. Interestingly, however, we don't deal with it in the same way. To a large extent, the choice of music is still emotionally driven or simply a gut feeling. It would be good if we could get more into working with more data and experts to help us make decisions about sound and tone, as in all other marketing fields and in the development of brand campaigns.
Reese: We are in a Golden Age of audio. It dominates so much. But where did it come from, and why now?
Strubel: People have always loved to listen to and create music. Music is emotion - just like a smell, music or a sound can trigger memories. That will never change. But consumption has increased, and the role of sound and music in our lives has changed. With the rise of social media and apps, mixing music, creating music, using sound and music has become the definition of our own personal brand. It is part of our online culture and daily interactions.
And recently, in an increasingly touchless world, the importance of audio has continued to grow. Sound drives the technology around us. It makes life more convenient. It also raises the bar for brands to be heard - literally.
Reese: Can you give us a peek into the future, especially with regards to brands…
Strubel: We now have a clear mandate as brand owners to think about the sonic attributes of the brand we want to create. We have to decide on the memory structures we want to build and consider the coherence of sound and music in that. The strength and distinctiveness of a brand will rely much more on audio moving forward.
Reese: If it were possible, would you wish to have more data in the decision-making processes around sound?
Strubel: Absolutely. We're at the stage where I think all of us have understood the importance of data management - how to capture, segment and leverage the relevant information. However, data on sound is not something that's necessarily on many top ten priority list on any given day - but it will certainly become more important.
Reese: How do brands ensure they are future-proofed when it comes to sound and audio?
Strubel: It starts with paying more attention to it and finding ways to bring sound and tone into a database. I can see the impact as the team becomes more dedicated to sound and music.
An example from one of our brands: When developing a new campaign for our sustainable brand Nature Box, we had to decide which kind of voice the main character of the commercial should have. There's a quirky-looking character, an argan nut, that represents the main ingredient. We looked at different accents and dialects and ultimately landed on a particular German dialect. The good news is that after a few months on the market, it seems like it was a rock-solid choice because the communication is extremely successful in driving sales and brand love. However, the decision was ultimately a gut feeling. It would have been very helpful to quickly assess what resonates with people and what impact it has on the various brand attributes.
Reese: What would your advice be to any of your colleagues out there who are grappling with this issue right now?
Strubel:
“Don’t underestimate the importance of sound. It is often more important than many other aspects we spend a lot of time looking at. And if you are not absolutely confident in your decisions, get some assistance.”
Seek out people who have the expertise, such as agencies or individuals who are specialised in helping you make the right decisions.
Reese: Ivy Ross, the VP of Design, at Google, says, ‘If you don't have confidence in yourself to figure out what that sonic watermark is, it's much easier to grab something that will make you popular, like a hit tune or a pop star. But it doesn't last over time because culture changes.’ The theme is that many iconic brands are waking up to the fact that they’ve gone from purely visual to screenless ecosystems. They use pop culture as a credibility transfer. What are your thoughts on that?
Strubel: Not having the confidence to make the right choice, or having the right data to help you make this choice drives you into the next best option, which is —‘Why don't I rub off some fairy dust from somebody famous and hope it sticks’. That cannot be your strategy. I will choose a big idea over a big celebrity any day of the week because influencers or celebrities might help a brand get noticed, but they cannot do the job of driving sustainable brand preference.
Reese: We need to distinguish between a Super Bowl spot and the overall marketing and identity of a brand…
Strubel: Indeed, and so with my team, I am going further and I look at how do we build our own brand experience spaces online or offline in flagship stores? How do we want the brand to sound? How does audio define these spaces?
When I go to a Schwarzkopf salon to get my hair colored, what is that audio experience, and how does that help me not only look better but feel better when I leave the salon, so that I choose a Schwarzkopf experience every time? That's what we're grappling with right now.
Reese: One of the more consistent findings of this book is people asking me why is it that education on sonic is missing, and do we have the right people in the room. Do you agree?
Strubel: It's either education or partnership. I make sure that with the agencies I work with, that we always have somebody at the table who is an expert. Technology can help us make better choices, but training and education are key, and that goes for everyone, from junior brand managers to the CMO. We all have a lot more to learn. Voice and sound have moved on so much in what's required but also in what's possible. It's an exciting field. We all just need to dive in, get involved and try it out.
Note: The interview took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, on the 7th of May 2021.
Copyright regulations apply when using material from this document and when using the supplied video or audio files. This document is intended to be exclusively viewed by the recipient and its subsidiaries. Under no circumstances may the content or part of the content made available or forwarded in any form orally or in writing to third parties, in particular to competitors or affiliates. The publication, reproduction, distribution, reproduction or other utilization of the presented ideas, texts, layouts, concepts, films or audio files without express written permission by amp GmbH.
