Well-executed marketing transforms lives, says Secil's marketing director

Pedro de Goulart Mendes sits in the marketing director's chair at Secil, a Portuguese industrial group, and he is thinking about speed. Not the speed of campaigns or launches, but the speed at which the world changes around business—and how marketing must learn to move with it, or be left behind.

His path to this vantage point was methodical. Before finishing his university degree, he interned in telecommunications at Jazztel, working in marketing. After graduation, he moved into consumer goods, managing products at Panrico, a company that owned brands like Donuts and Bollycao. Six years there taught him the rhythms of fast-moving consumer goods. Then he shifted into B2B, spending nine years at Dyrup paints—part of the PPG Group—where he eventually ran marketing across the Iberian peninsula. In 2016, Secil invited him to build something from the ground up: a marketing department for the group in Portugal. It was a challenge he accepted.

Why marketing, of all things? Mendes explains that the field lets him work across three dimensions he loves simultaneously. There is the analytical side—tracking sales performance, market trends, pricing movements. There is the psychological dimension, understanding why customers and consumers behave as they do, where the real opportunities hide. And there is the creative work, developing ideas that break through the noise and actually move people. "A well-executed marketing strategy has the power to transform people's lives positively," he says, "and the way we live. That is incredibly fascinating."

But the world he works in now moves faster than it did even five years ago. Consumer habits shift. The way people find out about products has fundamentally changed. Social media platforms have become the primary information channel for younger audiences, and with them came influencers and micro-influencers—figures who often carry more credibility than a television commercial ever could, precisely because they feel authentic and because their reach can be precisely targeted. Companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Alibaba have shown that entire industries can be upended overnight. The old rules no longer hold.

The challenge facing marketing now is twofold. First, there is the sheer velocity of disruption—technological and social change happening so fast that staying ahead requires constant vigilance. Second, there is the data problem. Inbound marketing strategies generate enormous quantities of information, and sifting through it to find actionable insight is overwhelming. Mendes sees artificial intelligence as a partial answer: machine learning systems can process vast datasets and surface patterns humans would miss, allowing companies to understand customer behavior more quickly and personalize offerings in real time.

Looking forward, he sees several forces reshaping the landscape. AI and machine learning will deepen personalization. B2B buyers will increasingly adopt purchasing behaviors that were once the domain of B2C consumers—they will expect the same seamless, personalized experience. Blockchain technology may become central to protecting personal data and streamlining processes. Virtual reality and voice commands will move from novelty to everyday tool. And sustainability will shift from a marketing angle to a fundamental driver of consumer choice.

For someone entering the field now, Mendes offers a simple directive: stay curious. Listen to mentors, to consumers, to clients. Do not let your own convictions override what the market is telling you. Question the way things have always been done. The new generation, he believes, is the foundation for how companies will grow. The work is not about pushing messages anymore. It is about listening faster, understanding deeper, and moving with the current before it sweeps you away.