Christopher Grubb began his career 20 years ago as a part-time package handler at UPS while attending university in Illinois, his home state in the US. He never left. Having climbed his way up the ladder at the package delivery company, he was recently installed as vice-president of marketing for UPS in Asia-Pacific.
It has been a whirlwind couple of months for Grubb, who is now based in Singapore. Since taking up the post at the start of September, he has been on the road meeting his management teams in Asia. Add to that the demands of a global advertising and media pitch, and it’s easy to see why his feet haven’t touched the ground. When asked if he still has any free time, the 40-year-old grins: “You mean the remaining five minutes I have left each day?”
Grubb joined the company full-time in 1994 as marketing supervisor after attaining his MBA. “It was an interesting time for UPS as marketing was new, believe it or not,” says Grubb. “This was the first marketing position in the field at the time. Prior to this, we only had corporate marketing.”
His new role is not his first overseas assignment. In 2006 he moved to Brussels, overseeing CRM in over 100 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
That transition prepared him for the demands of a culturally diverse region. “In the US, things are very standardised and consistent, because you’re dealing with just one homogeneous market. In Europe, I realised our services weren’t as homogeneous. Our segments, customers and operations - they all had their differences. In Asia, there are lots of differences from country to country, as well as where we’re positioned in terms of brand awareness, presence and perception. The key is to take advantage of things we’ve learnt in other markets and apply them to some of these newer markets that are emerging for us.”
There’s certainly pressure on UPS in Asia to deliver (no pun intended). It reported a sharp drop in earnings in its last quarterly report after revenue slipped 17 per cent to $10.8 billion, reflecting steep declines in international deliveries due to the global downturn.
UPS is not alone in being affected by the downturn, but one brand analyst argues that UPS in particular needs to raise its game in Asia.
“I see UPS as more of a US-centric company [than FedEx and DHL],” he says. “Although it is a big player here in Asia, I’m not sensing enough of its profile. While its rivals appear to be doing more to drive business, UPS tends to have a wait-and-see approach. In most consumers’ minds, the three companies tend to offer more or less the same services. Therefore I’d hope to see UPS being more innovative in its products and services or communication strategies. Driving innovation wil be the key to give UPS an edge over its rivals.”
Grubb says he is keen to build UPS’ brand perception and awareness. The brand’s sponsorship of the Olympics last year was certainly a step toward building its profile in Asia, and Grubb says the activity helped raise awareness in China.
He adds that he has earmarked several markets that have “high growth” and “high opportunity” for his company. China might be the obvious choice but there are others as well. UPS is looking not only at domestic growth of countries, but also export growth, and that means countries whose export capabilities are likely to grow over the next few years.
Grubb - described by one colleague as “very analytical, with the ability to assess a situation deeply, but at the same time having a creative side that just sneaks up on you if you are not watching for it” - says his other priorities include using customer data more effectively to develop tailored communications and products. He also wants all parts of the business to get involved in boosting the brand. “Whether it’s one of our clerks in the billing department or our call-centre agents, I’m looking for the entire organisation to get wrapped around customer experience and developing ways to improve.”
All this will feed into UPS’ review of its $200 million advertising account, which covers global advertising, media buying, relationship marketing and digital.
On his agency arrangements, Grubb says that his future partners will need to help boost his brand’s local relevance. He adds: “Being able to take our global themes of speed, reliability and quality, as well as the core trades of UPS and make them locally relevant; that’s the key thing we’re looking for.”
Christopher Grubb’s CV
2009 Vice-president, marketing, UPS, Asia-Pacific (Singapore)
2006 Europe CRM and planning director, UPS (Brussels)
2003 Retail segment director, CRM, UPS
2001 Market planning director, portfolio marketing, UPS (Atlanta)
1998 Marketing segment manager, UPS (Atlanta)
1996 Product analyst, corporate marketing group, UPS (Atlanta)
1994 Marketing supervisor, UPS (Decatur, Illinois)
1989 Part-time package handler, UPS
This article was originally published in 22 October 2009 issue of Media.
It has been a whirlwind couple of months for Grubb, who is now based in Singapore. Since taking up the post at the start of September, he has been on the road meeting his management teams in Asia. Add to that the demands of a global advertising and media pitch, and it’s easy to see why his feet haven’t touched the ground. When asked if he still has any free time, the 40-year-old grins: “You mean the remaining five minutes I have left each day?”
Grubb joined the company full-time in 1994 as marketing supervisor after attaining his MBA. “It was an interesting time for UPS as marketing was new, believe it or not,” says Grubb. “This was the first marketing position in the field at the time. Prior to this, we only had corporate marketing.”
His new role is not his first overseas assignment. In 2006 he moved to Brussels, overseeing CRM in over 100 countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
That transition prepared him for the demands of a culturally diverse region. “In the US, things are very standardised and consistent, because you’re dealing with just one homogeneous market. In Europe, I realised our services weren’t as homogeneous. Our segments, customers and operations - they all had their differences. In Asia, there are lots of differences from country to country, as well as where we’re positioned in terms of brand awareness, presence and perception. The key is to take advantage of things we’ve learnt in other markets and apply them to some of these newer markets that are emerging for us.”
There’s certainly pressure on UPS in Asia to deliver (no pun intended). It reported a sharp drop in earnings in its last quarterly report after revenue slipped 17 per cent to $10.8 billion, reflecting steep declines in international deliveries due to the global downturn.
UPS is not alone in being affected by the downturn, but one brand analyst argues that UPS in particular needs to raise its game in Asia.
“I see UPS as more of a US-centric company [than FedEx and DHL],” he says. “Although it is a big player here in Asia, I’m not sensing enough of its profile. While its rivals appear to be doing more to drive business, UPS tends to have a wait-and-see approach. In most consumers’ minds, the three companies tend to offer more or less the same services. Therefore I’d hope to see UPS being more innovative in its products and services or communication strategies. Driving innovation wil be the key to give UPS an edge over its rivals.”
Grubb says he is keen to build UPS’ brand perception and awareness. The brand’s sponsorship of the Olympics last year was certainly a step toward building its profile in Asia, and Grubb says the activity helped raise awareness in China.
He adds that he has earmarked several markets that have “high growth” and “high opportunity” for his company. China might be the obvious choice but there are others as well. UPS is looking not only at domestic growth of countries, but also export growth, and that means countries whose export capabilities are likely to grow over the next few years.
Grubb - described by one colleague as “very analytical, with the ability to assess a situation deeply, but at the same time having a creative side that just sneaks up on you if you are not watching for it” - says his other priorities include using customer data more effectively to develop tailored communications and products. He also wants all parts of the business to get involved in boosting the brand. “Whether it’s one of our clerks in the billing department or our call-centre agents, I’m looking for the entire organisation to get wrapped around customer experience and developing ways to improve.”
All this will feed into UPS’ review of its $200 million advertising account, which covers global advertising, media buying, relationship marketing and digital.
On his agency arrangements, Grubb says that his future partners will need to help boost his brand’s local relevance. He adds: “Being able to take our global themes of speed, reliability and quality, as well as the core trades of UPS and make them locally relevant; that’s the key thing we’re looking for.”
Christopher Grubb’s CV
2009 Vice-president, marketing, UPS, Asia-Pacific (Singapore)
2006 Europe CRM and planning director, UPS (Brussels)
2003 Retail segment director, CRM, UPS
2001 Market planning director, portfolio marketing, UPS (Atlanta)
1998 Marketing segment manager, UPS (Atlanta)
1996 Product analyst, corporate marketing group, UPS (Atlanta)
1994 Marketing supervisor, UPS (Decatur, Illinois)
1989 Part-time package handler, UPS
This article was originally published in 22 October 2009 issue of Media.
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