#BrandManagerMonth: Alaina Huysamen from Kaspersky Lab

Alaina Huysamen

Tell us about a day in your work life?

Alaina Huysamen: As part of a large organisation but within a relatively small local team, each day depicts a different story, with ever-changing challenges and highlights and with no two days ever being the same. My role is exciting and rewarding. By constantly working closely with our channel partners, I can ensure that they have all the support and guidance they need to grow the Kaspersky Lab business.

With products and materials constantly changing or being updated, I need to make sure I am always up to date on everything we have to offer. I work closely with our channel sales team to create a more sustainable model for marketing supporting sales functions. This means reinventing and tweaking systems and procedures to create a more efficient and dynamic team. I am very fond of the people I work with and believe it is important to have a network of great channel partners surrounding you. With their loyalty and commitment anything is possible!

Explain your specific marketing management strategy. How does it tie into Kaspersky Lab’s overall marketing communications?

Huysamen: The company’s strategic direction for the upcoming year is related to what we see as the long-term market trends, and the best opportunities for partners to monetise these. Kaspersky Lab is continuing our drive into the enterprise space, as well as extending our services offering to meet customer demands.

This year, we are expanding our offering beyond the traditional endpoint security products. We have a new business strategy and in line with this, the role and job of marketing is changing – from mainly a communication and business support function to one of the key drivers in the implementation of our new strategic goals.

Is your brand using content as part of your marketing strategy?

Huysamen: Kaspersky Lab invests much into research as having comprehensive knowledge about the world of cyberthreats as well as our audiences and clients, the company can offer marketable products. So information and content are very important for setting and implementing the company’s marketing strategy.

What do you see currently as the main challenges and/or opportunities for your brand sector?

Huysamen: As cybersecurity remains a global issue where many small and medium-sized businesses think that they are immune to any cyber attacks, we have to work hard in ensuring we educate small businesses, especially in South Africa, as they form a large part of the country’s economy. This is where our opportunity lies. We need to ensure we take global messages and global trends and make them relevant to our local market and our growing African footprint. This means working with our sales and product teams to deliver content that works for them, per market. We have incredible products. Our job, within marketing, is to make sure everyone knows that.

Which creative/digital agencies are you currently working with?

Huysamen: From a public relations perspective, we work with a South African based agency called Orange Ink. Most of our advertising and design aspects are handled in-house. Globally, we have a centralised and very skilled team that runs all our marketing requirements and each region is able to work with specialists in their specific field to support our campaigns.

What do you love most about your brand?

Huysamen: Kaspersky Lab has the interest of consumers and businesses at heart when it comes to cyber security, and the brand is dedicated to changing the world and combatting cybercrime. I hold the same passion and this is what I love about the brand. We want to change the world and make it a better place - one threat at a time. Kaspersky Lab’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise are constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe – it really is an innovative company to work with.

What’s on your wish list for brand objectives for 2016?

Huysamen: It is important to move from campaigns and product materials development toward a more strategic role in transforming our business, including portfolio strategy, launches, lifecycle activities and various global sales and promotion initiatives. Brand is one of the cornerstones of our strategy and mission. Emphasis on our brand and creative concepts for any and all business segments will take the lead in building further growth of the Kaspersky Lab brand. The aim is to be more efficient with a centralised strategy orientation and an aligned team.