Ismael is the Chief Marketing Officer at Civitatis, a leading online marketplace for tours and activities. With an international background spanning Switzerland, Spain, and Argentina, his career was forged in the fast-paced digital world of London at major tech companies like Microsoft and Google before he moved into the high-growth marketplace and crypto industries.
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Build a T-Shaped Career: Ride the Wave, Then Go Broad. The best career path is to first become a deep specialist in a new trend (“ride the wave”), then use that expertise to broaden your skills across all marketing disciplines.
- Lead Like a Sports Team Captain. Success comes from the collective team, not the individual star. This requires empathy for your players and a shared strategy to beat the opponent (the market).
- Curate the Experience; Don’t Overwhelm the Customer. In a world of infinite choice, true customer-centricity is about simplifying the user’s journey with a top-notch, curated selection. A great experience always beats a bigger marketing spend.
Could you tell us about your professional career, what got you into marketing, and how you got to the position you are in today?
I was lucky that I knew from an early age that I wanted to focus on marketing and communications. I studied in Switzerland and started working on the sidelines for a media agency. I was introduced to the online world of Google paid search and affiliates and understood that I needed to move from the small Swiss market to a bigger one.
I went to London and worked for several big companies like Microsoft and Google, where I learned so much about the digital world. My advice for younger people is, first, if you have a passion, take advantage of it. Second, if you see a wave, ride the wave. For me, it was Google paid search, which was just starting. I became a specialist in that area, which is the vertical part of a T-shaped career. From there, I broadened my scope to understand affiliates, newsletters, and the dynamics between branding, acquisition, and retention.
The best way to learn is by doing. I advise people to go into a smaller company, maybe a startup, where you can touch and work on all those different challenges and areas.
How has your international experience shaped you as a leader?
I was lucky to be raised with an international mindset, with family from Spain and Argentina while growing up in Switzerland. Speaking several languages is very helpful for being empathetic and understanding the cultural meaning of words. You don’t say “thank you” the same way in French as you do in Spanish or English.
Working across 12 different markets in Europe taught me that you see very different consumption trends. You understand that you need to adapt your strategy for each market; you cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach. This international view also helps you understand different personalities, which is crucial when dealing with your team and other stakeholders.
What are some of the biggest marketing challenges you are currently facing?
As a whole, the marketing department is facing the challenge of the AI evolution. There are a lot of question marks around what will happen with search, content creation, and creativity. Being ready to adapt very quickly is going to be a key factor for success. This means not making one big, bold bet, but trying to play several small bets to be ready for different outcomes.
Data is another big challenge and opportunity. How you use data to feed AI and leverage it for your business will be very important. Finally, how do we keep the human connection in this new AI world?
How do you personally balance intuition with data in your decision-making?
It always starts with information, which is data. After more than 15 years in this space, my experience helps me to quickly decipher bullshit from real trends. My intuition will tell me if something is a 10 in importance or a 10 in risk. Once I have that assumption, I use a pragmatic action plan to test it and make sure we can measure what’s going to happen. It’s really about placing your bets based on a combination of data and experience.
You’ve led growth in competitive industries. What does growth hacking mean to you today compared to 10 years ago?
Ten years ago was a bit more like the Wild Wild West, with more grey areas in the digital world. I think we are on the brink of going back to that, probably through AI. Growth marketing is about thinking outside of the box. It’s about understanding what fuels growth in your company and how you can get that fuel without going through the traditional routes. If your growth is fuelled by brand noise, how do you make noise in a “hacky” way that is completely outside of traditional marketing?
How has the impact of social media on marketing evolved throughout your career?
It’s been a massive change. The word “social media” is a bit biased now. When Facebook was born, it was truly social; it was about connecting with friends. Today, social media is more like watching TV 60 years ago, it’s about media consumption.
People are reducing the time they watch Netflix because they are watching YouTube shows for two hours. At Civitatis, we see that people are inspired to travel to a certain place because of what they see on social media. Our whole strategy is based on that. There isn’t a better place to share the experience of a city than on social media. A 30-second video can make someone say, “Oh, I need to go to Rome.”
What new marketing trends do you believe will be important for marketplaces in the next three to five years?
AI will be huge for scaling content generation. Social media will remain a big, huge beast, encompassing communities, all tiers of influencers, and user-generated content.
But a key trend is also making sure you have the basics right and that you care about your customer. For example, we are a curated marketplace. If you go to Rome, we will give you three great Colosseum tours, not a thousand different options. We do that because we understand the user; they don’t want to spend two months planning a four-day trip. You can spend millions on marketing, but if the product or service isn’t 10 out of 10, it’s not going to work.
You are passionate about sports. How does that inspire your leadership style?
Almost everything I am as a leader is based on how I understand sports. Team sports teach you that it’s all about the team. Everybody needs to understand their role and run for each other. You can be the best player in the world, but if you are in a defensive moment, everyone needs to run together.
It also teaches you empathy for your teammates—understanding when someone is in a bad shape and what’s happening with them. And it teaches you to understand who your opponent is and how, as a team, you can better adapt to that situation.
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