Why Talented Marketers Make Other People Rich

Talented marketers launch successful mass media and social media campaigns.

They help create fashion and fad trends. They turn obscure products into consumer brands. They collect hefty bonuses and recognition awards. But they don’t usually get rich enough to make it to the Forbes list, because they do not own the brand they helped create.

Someone else does and becomes rich. Almost two decades ago, Kostas Mastoras and Adonis Maridakis – two talented markters – launched a successful marketing campaign that turned Greek yogurt from an obscure product consumed in the tiny Greek market into a product which fueled a multibillion dollar brand and conquered the enormous US market. But they didn’t collect the millions from the consumer craze they helped to create. And they didn’t make it to the Forbes list. Why? Because they didn’t own the brand.

 The Filipou family, owners of the Greek company Fage, which made the original product Kostas and Adonis promoted, collected the millions. And Hamdi Ulukaya – owner of Chobani, which joined on the Greek yogurt craze — helped the product cross the Tipping Point. More recently, another talented marketer by the name of Dietrich Mateschitz launched a successful campaign to turn Red Bull from an obscure Austrian energy drink into a multi- billion brand that conquered the American drink market—competing head-to-head with giants like Coke and Pepsi, which had dominated the market for competing carbonated products.

 But there was one difference — Dietrich co-owned the brand. That’s why he climbed high up the Forbes’ list. To be fair, the Austrian didn’t begin his career by promoting his own brands. He had spent a great deal of time promoting brands made by Unilever and Blendex. But Mateschutz had the wisdom to seize opportunity when it came along by developing — together with Thai partners Chaleo and ChalermYoovidhya — Krating Daeng, the drink that eventually became Red Bull. THE BOTTOM LINE: If you are a talented marketer and want to become rich, you should make sure that you have an equity stake in the brand you are about to market.