Karinna Damo serves as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Marketing Director for Bupa Global Latin America. Since joining Bupa in 2014, she has been responsible for driving brand awareness, developing marketing strategies, and implementing communication strategies across seven markets in Latin America. In addition to her role at Bupa, Karinna is a professor of Marketing and Brand Management at Florida International University. She also founded Open Road Travel.
Q1. Could you tell us about your role at Bupa and how you got there?
I am responsible for the Marketing area at Bupa Global Latin America reporting to the General Manager. My team oversees product development and portfolio management, customer engagement, brand management, digital infrastructure, corporate affairs, social responsibility, and customer experience/NPS.
I joined Bupa in 2014. A head hunter approached my leader at American Express. He had other plans for himself, so he recommended me for the role.
Q2. What is Marketing to you?
Marketing is the art and science of understanding and predicting people’s needs and desires and then creating the most relevant and complete solutions to satisfy them.
Q3. What is your favorite aspect of digital marketing?
How much faster we can deploy and correct the course of a campaign vs. traditional channels and how digital channels and tools enable us to measure performance at every step of the customer journey.
Q4. One of the biggest advantages of digital media is having access to metrics. What are your top KPIs that you rely on?
It depends very much on the objectives of the platform and/or campaign. If acquisition, conversion rates and cost per lead; if branding or retention, engagement level tops the list.
Q5. What are some rules that all CMOs should follow?
As for any other leadership position, our success is a result of having a knowledgeable and engaged team, who are passionate about delivering high quality, high results outcomes and who enjoys working together.
So I would say, hire the right people, know them, care for them, give them direction as a cohesive unit and then get out of their way.
Q6. One word that best describes how you work.
Passion.
Q7. Any advice for aspiring Marketers?
Know your competitors but do not use them as reference for what you create. Leadership comes from doing something different, with the customer always as your starting point.
Q8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Breathe before you speak (or email); always place yourself on the other’s shoes and consider context before passing judgment.
Q9. What topic areas outside marketing are you most passionate about?
Travel; Spirituality.
Q10. Which movie do you most profoundly relate to?
Oh, that is a very difficult question. There are so many, but I tend to connect with modern fables which portray man’s eternal quest for the light, such as the first ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy and the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.
Q11. What book are you currently reading?
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
Q12. On a scale of 1 to 10, how adventurous are you?
Currently, I would give myself a 6 when compared to the 8-9 of 10 years ago.
Q13. Can you tell us a little about Open Road Travel?
I developed Open Road Travel at the end of a 12-year world travel period in response to friends’ demands to create for them the same type of off-the-beaten-track journeys I did for myself.
After a while, corporate and academic life took over and I have not been able to give the attention that the journey designing craft requires. But I keep it open for when the time comes to get back to it.
Q14. What is your favorite quote?
There are so many depending on the subject and situation, but there are a couple which I use as overall guidance:
“People don’t always remember what you say or even what you do, but they always remember how you make them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Be the change you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi
You can find Karinna on LinkedIn