Q&A: Dexter Harriss, head of commercial marketing, HP

Q&A: Dexter Harriss, head of commercial marketing, HP

HP recently launched an experiential advertising campaign to promote its ElitePad 900 tablet to business travellers. Dexter Harriss, head of commercial marketing at HP answers our quick-fire question

What was your first B2B-related job?

I worked for an event production company in west London, and within a year had moved to Germany to help set up the company’s sister operation.

What do you most enjoy about your job?  

I enjoy three things the most:

The diversity of multichannel, multi-discipline campaigns and activities.

Developing creative solutions to marketing and business challenges.

Working with talented and passionate people.

Which B2B brand do you most admire?

I have to say that Adobe is really catching my eye right now. Here’s a company that has shifted away from the creative publishing space into the digital marketing space with very robust product offerings supporting this strategy. Its marketing effort has really stepped up a gear.

Whose job would you like most?

Well, I love motorbikes and ride a Ducati – so something in that field would be great.

What is your favourite B2B ad campaign?

Back to Adobe – I really like their blunt, direct talking campaign aimed at marketers around marketing cloud. It’s not only attention grabbing, but it feels like a rally call to marketers to embrace the metrics and analytical parts of our roles and be accountable for business results.

What’s the best piece of marketing advice you’ve ever been given?

Be yourself in business. This leads to respect for yourself and respect for others.

What is your proudest achievement?

Helping to develop young talent. Following my own rewarding experience as an undergraduate, I take a very proactive approach to the development of the marketing interns at HP. I am proud of all of their achievements to date and to see them thrive in their varied career choices.

To succeed, a B2B marketer must…

Embrace and manage the three key ingredients that directly impact revenue: data and insight, content and information and pipeline.

What’s the next big thing in B2B marketing? 

The talk about content marketing marches forward. This discussion will now turn to brands actively operating in the publisher space and how we can create content of greater value and connect with our target audiences. This will be done not only for our customers, but with them as well.

What are the traits you most and least admire in yourself? 

Most admire: conscientiousness, integrity and loyalty.

Least admire: impatience.

What marketing challenge are you currently wrestling with? 

Juggling the ever-increasing demands of the business while ensuring focus on our customers and marketing’s contribution to the business and the bottom line.

What was your last marketing epiphany? 

Seeing McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey model back in 2010 – although applicable to B2C, I could clearly see how the same journey could be tracked in B2B. Shock, horror – the funnel was no longer linear.

Which marketing or business books would you recommend? 

Not strictly in either category, but I have just read Bear Grylls’ A Survival Guide For Life. It’s a short, snappy read and a great one to motivate on a personal level.

Who has had the biggest influence on your career?

My Dad. When I was 18 and deciding my university path he steered me to marketing. I remember asking him: “what’s marketing?” Now, I believe I can provide an answer to that question.

 

 

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