Vibha Thusu—the Global Marketing and Communications Leader at Himel International is a visionary at the helm of a portfolio that resonates across continents. She is a seasoned professional with 19 years of diverse experience, a maestro in managing seamless brand and customer experiences. Vibha is navigating through a vast network of markets spanning over 65 countries in the dynamic realm of global electrical brands.
Beyond the boardroom, Vibha is more than a corporate leader; she’s an avid traveler, exploring the world with the same fervor she brings to her work. Her journey extends to her love for animals and a penchant for adventurous pursuits mirroring her resilience in embracing challenges.
Let’s dive into Vibha’s journey that embodies the spirit of leadership, seamlessly blending expertise with a passion for exploration and a commitment to excellence!
Global Leadership
Vibha directs a diverse team overseeing electrical product brands like Himel. She emphasizes, “My role is to ensure our brands shine across 65+ countries.” Collaborating globally, she tailors strategies, understands unique team needs and aligns them with the brand’s vision.
Crafting an overarching marketing strategy is key and her responsibilities extend to eCommerce, where she asserts, “I formulate and execute strategies for online success in the dynamic market landscape.” With a focus on marketplaces and online stores, Vibha’s leadership aims to sustain success for the brand. In her words, “It’s about a strong global presence and strategic eCommerce maneuvers for lasting impact.”
Bridging Connections
Vibha boasts over 19 years across various industries, from information technology to education and beyond, and she declares, “I’m passionate about bridging connections among brands, businesses and individuals.” Her unique perspective emerges from the convergence of creativity, business objectives and technology.
As a seasoned professional, Vibha acknowledges, “My strength lies in a diverse skill set, empowering me to approach challenges with an unconventional perspective.” Her career, spanning FMCG, engineering, energy management, and industrial automation, has honed her ability to craft impactful marketing and communication strategies.
Vibha’s approach involves solving challenges with a creative mindset. In her words, it’s about creating connections, aligning creativity with business goals and navigating challenges innovatively for successful outcomes.
Electrifying Progress
Vibha proudly emphasizes, “Himel is an award-winning global manufacturer and supplier, a leader in value-engineered electric products.” Operating in 50+ countries, the brand excels in Power Distribution, Motor Control, Industrial Components, and Home Electric products.
Their excellence is evident in having earned accolades such as ‘Most Reliable Electrical Products Brand in Southeast Asia’ and ‘Top Innovation Award for a recently launched wiring device range in Indonesia.’ These awards reflect the brand’s commitment to exceptional quality and reliability. Himel’s success, recognized with the ‘Brand Choice Award for Home and Living under the MCB category,’ stems from a strong network and partner engagements.
Vibha’s dedication to the brand’s vision shines through, ensuring all stakeholders understand the commitment to offering affordable and secure electrical products. Her pride resonates in the great progress made, demonstrating the brand’s dedication to meeting the unique needs of the customers. In her words, it’s about making strides in quality, reliability and commitment to customer satisfaction on a global scale.
Shared Purpose, Shared Success
Vibha asserts, “Our campaigns are built on tangible proof points, not buzzwords.” In the dynamic B2B landscape, she emphasizes that crafting a compelling brand narrative tailored to specific personas is crucial for success. At Himel, the focus is on delving into the unique needs, challenges and aspirations of each customer type. Vibha’s team tailors content that resonates with customer interests, addressing their specific concerns and showcasing how Himel provides solutions for collective success.
In the pursuit of meaningful narratives, Vibha notes, “We’ve made significant progress in using storytelling to establish a connection based on shared purpose.” For Himel, that purpose is safe access to electricity and high-quality yet affordable products. It’s about value-backed storytelling fostering credible partnerships, she shares, highlighting the brand’s commitment to relatable, purpose-driven communication.
Global Impact, Regional Resonance
Vibha notes, “Globally, we’ve been successfully running the ‘Red Storm’ integrated marketing campaign, creating a cohesive brand experience.” This initiative involves engaging potential customers through various channels and nurturing leads throughout their journey. The ‘Red Storm’ campaign, a 360-degree effort, cultivates interest in Himel’s products among target audiences and drives significant business growth by generating qualified leads for sales teams.
Regionally, Vibha highlights impactful campaigns blending traditional and digital marketing strategies. From participating in key trade shows to dynamic social media campaigns, the focus is on building a robust brand echo aligned with the vision and values. She exemplifies success in the Philippines, where an integrated campaign with CUBO modular homes showcased alignment on affordability and modularity. In the UAE, participation in the Middle East Energy Exhibition featured live demos and a virtual reality game, engaging almost a thousand visitors.
Vibha emphasizes, “Our core focus remains on enabling a seamless experience at every touchpoint.” Through these initiatives, Himel not only strengthens its market presence but also strategically collects valuable data, contributing to the continuous refinement of targeted approaches. It’s about creating resonance, strengthening presence and strategically refining approaches for sustained success.
Consistency in Complexity
Vibha emphasizes that at Himel, maintaining a unified brand message across diverse global markets is paramount. She highlights a meticulous approach involving in-depth analysis of each market’s unique cultural, social and economic nuances. Through extensive research, they tailor messaging to resonate with local sensibilities while upholding core brand values.
Vibha stresses the importance of a robust brand style guide as our beacon, providing clear directives on visuals, language and tone. This guide regularly updated ensures messaging remains contemporary and relevant. Cross-functional collaboration between regional teams and the central brand unit fosters a cohesive strategy, facilitating the exchange of insights and best practices.
Data analytics, as Vibha notes, allows them to monitor real-time audience responses and enable agile adjustments to their messaging strategy. Regular audits ensure adherence to brand guidelines, guaranteeing consistency. In her words, it’s about navigating complexities and ensuring authentic resonance across diverse markets globally.
Beyond Clicks and Impressions
Vibha emphasizes that in digital marketing, the dynamic landscape demands a focus on customer delight. As a marketing leader, her goal is to listen to customers, present engaging product information and help them cascade it to their customers. Passionate about building brand connections organically, Vibha strives for customer retention through better sales and service experience.
She highlights the use of digital marketing and technology as facilitators to build strong partnerships and community engagement. Successful strategies have connected Himel with customers globally, establishing a strong global presence. Leveraging social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, Vibha notes, “We engage with a diverse audience, sharing our brand story to build a loyal following.” At Himel, the focus is on engaging with the audience personally, ensuring customers not only recognize product value but also interact to build stronger brand recognition and recall.
Innovation with Purpose
Vibha underscores the importance, stating, “Market research and customer feedback are indispensable tools for crafting an exceptional brand experience for Himel.” By understanding the pulse of the target audience, Vibha and her team tailor interactions and campaigns to align seamlessly with their needs, preferences and expectations.
As a global brand, Vibha emphasizes the need to consistently capture invaluable insights into customer demographics, behaviours and motivations. This enables them to proactively innovate with purpose identifying opportunities, addressing pain points and staying ahead of emerging trends through initiatives like periodic trainings, workshops and retailer as well as distributor connects.
Vibha shares, “For a B2B brand like Himel, direct engagement is facilitated by the business development and sales teams, serving as a real-time barometer of our brand’s performance.” Through strategic collaboration, Vibha and her team refine the approach to ensure every interaction fosters positive brand sentiment. Vibha concludes,
“This data-driven approach empowers us to cultivate a brand deeply appreciated for its commitment to customer satisfaction and success.”
Precision and Agility
Vibha asserts that data analytics is the lifeblood of effective marketing. By harnessing data’s power, they gain deep insights into customer behavior, campaign performance and market trends. This critical information empowers informed decisions, enabling the team to optimize strategies and achieve measurable results. Vibha highlights, “Data analytics has become the cornerstone of modern marketing, enabling us to navigate the ever-evolving landscape with precision and agility.”
Illustrating with Himel, she notes, “We have different customer personas. Data analytics helps us keep a tab on who, what, when, and how much of several metrics indicating brand success.” The data-driven approach allows them to offer tailor-made experiences instead of a broad approach. Vibha underscores that data allows for faster keep-or-kill decisions, helping them purge strategies that don’t yield results. It’s about precision and focus; she emphasizes data’s role in refining and optimizing strategies.
The Art of Building Trust
Vibha emphasizes, “Content marketing and thought leadership are instrumental in cultivating trust with customers and brand partners.” At Himel, strategic content creation positions them as an unbiased voice for safe access to electricity and value engineering, providing insights that address audience needs.
Their strategy focuses on delivering high-quality, relevant and informative content beyond mere promotional messaging. Vibha notes, “Sharing a mix of technical and conversational content demonstrates our deep industry understanding,” fostering trust by establishing Himel as a reliable source of expertise.
Participation in industry conferences and publications, according to Vibha, contributes to building a showcase of insights and engaging in meaningful dialogues. This transparent approach reinforces the brand’s credibility, building trust with stakeholders.
She believes that consistency is key in both content marketing and thought leadership efforts. At Himel, this means delivering valuable content consistently, enhancing the brand’s reputation and solidifying trust among customers and brand partners who recognize them as thought leaders committed to collective success.
Forging Synergies
Vibha emphasizes that creating robust partnerships with key decision influencers and trade bodies is a strategic imperative for a B2B brand like Himel. She stresses the importance of a comprehensive analysis of potential collaborators, ensuring alignment with the industry and values that foster a synergistic relationship.
According to Vibha, establishing clear communication channels is pivotal. Open dialogue facilitates a shared understanding of objectives, enabling the alignment of marketing strategies and fostering long-term relationships built on trust and shared goals. She sees strategic co-created content as a powerful tool, noting that collaborating on seminars, training, or joint thought leadership pieces amplifies the brand’s reach and positions it at the forefront of industry discussions.
Himel’s success is evident in the positive response from industry events solidifying partnerships. Vibha sees active participation in exhibitions as a means to enhance visibility and credibility. She believes that performance metrics should underpin collaboration, ensuring accountability and allowing for iterative improvements.
Vibha states, “By approaching partnerships with a strategic, analytical mindset, a B2B brand can harness the collective power of decision-makers extending its marketing reach and fostering sustained mutual growth.”
Mastering Market Dynamics
Vibha, with a role demanding a deep understanding of market trends and dynamic relationships, emphasizes, “I cultivate a continuous learning mindset, regularly reviewing the market and industry landscape.” Vibha and her team pay attention to customer feedback, relying on tools and platforms to gain insights into evolving customer preferences.
Navigating innovation challenges in the electrical domain, Vibha notes that staying informed is paramount. Cultivating a deep understanding of industry-relevant technologies involves reviewing reports, attending conferences and fostering partnerships with tech experts. She emphasizes the importance of establishing cross-functional teams, including technology specialists, for a holistic perspective and accelerated integration of innovations into marketing strategies.
Balancing the adoption of new technologies with scalability and sustainability is a significant challenge and Vibha sees it as a change management role. She states, “Adopting agile methodologies allows for rapid testing but enabling the organization to adapt swiftly to emerging trends takes time.”
Vibha has fostered a culture of continuous learning and experimentation allowing her to encourage the team to embrace a growth mindset. Providing opportunities for skill development ensures they remain adept at leveraging new technologies effectively. In her words, “It’s about embracing change, fostering a growth mindset and ensuring continuous skill development to navigate the challenges of evolving technology.”
Educate, Engage, Lead
Vibha outlines the digital strategy, stating, “In 2024, we will touch on digital marketing trends like social commerce and developing content focused on voice search.” The focus remains on driving insight-based and data-driven approaches to improve digital maturity.
In other brand initiatives, she plans to keep stacking efforts like building omnichannel marketing communication and enhancing presence on industry-focused platforms and forums while also echoing sound technical authority in value-driven content. Simultaneously, Vibha emphasizes the use of webinars and sponsored opportunities to educate the audience and position Himel as an industry leader. The approach is clearly adapting to digital trends, enhancing brand presence and positioning Himel as a thought leader in the industry through diverse channels.
Building a Billion-Reach Brand
Vibha expresses, “Being named one of Passion Vista Magazine’s ‘Women Leaders to Look up to in 2023’ is always an honor.” She humbly acknowledges the recognition for her diverse career and contribution to developing organic digital communities. Additionally, she received the ‘Outstanding Leader in Marketing and Advertising’ award at the Marketing 2.0 Conference. Vibha considers it a privilege to be among visionary leaders in the marketing and advertising industry.
As the leader of Himel, she takes pride, stating, “We have built an engaged digital community, reinforced customer and partner trust while also receiving media coverage with a reach of over a billion.” These accolades, according to Vibha, are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Himel team.
Ask the Right Questions
Vibha highlights that in the rapidly evolving landscape of marketing and advertising, it’s important to focus on the fundamentals. She emphasizes building organic engagement through word of mouth, telling compelling stories backed by evidence and establishing connections with end customers.
Vibha advises, “Continuously ask yourself the right questions to ensure that all marketing and advertising efforts align with the goals of your brand organization.” Considering how ideas can improve customer experience and drive sales is crucial.
According to Vibha, “Staying grounded in these principles allows you to build a fulfilling career.” She reinforces the idea, stating, “As the famous saying goes, ‘Don’t ever underestimate what starting at the grassroots can do for you’.”
