Ricky Ramos Lazcano, works in New York as a Brand Consultant & Strategy Director, his career in the world of marketing and communication includes experience in the areas of food & beverage, hospitality, and wine-lifestyle. Recognized and awarded by MarCom, Hermes Creative, Summit Creative and Creativity International Awards for his global brand strategy work alongside creative agency partners. He holds a Bachelor’s in Business Communication and a Master’s Degree in Brand Management; as well as a few diplomas in product management, graphic design, and insights for innovation. From Mexico City to Milan to New York he has led culturally diverse teams to success. With global experience, his roles have ranged from strategy to design to client management.
Recently, he won this Outstanding Leadership Award For Marketing that will be presented at the Marketing 2 Conference and he also is a speaker on panel called Going Hand in Hand With Sales and Marketing: The Inseparable Duo on April 8th.
Tell us about your background and what led you to a career in marketing and
communications.
From an early age, I’ve had a creativity itch and an eye for leadership. I dabbled in a wide range of extracurricular activities; from creative writing and oil painting to event-planning and even a twice elected student-council presidency. I was the kid that noticed the design in the packaging of candy, the slightest design-change of the mascot in cereals, the typographic difference in stores way finding… I’ve always been the super shopper I now target my strategies to.
Today, I recognize that these events were the reason I sought a career and profession that would allow me to apply my love of design and creativity into a business-driven world. I left Mexico City (home) to study my career in Milan, Italy in Business Communication and a Masters in Brand Management which then catapulted me to NYC where I’ve have grown into the professional Brand Consultant I am today, known to have an eclectic background and true Global Mindset.
You have never fit into the cookie-cutter of a marketing professional. Explain.
I’m what the industry calls a unicorn, meaning I’m an almost-mythological asset to a team. I can design, strategize, analyze, copy-write, manage clients and handle finances. Not the norm in quite a structured profession (marketing) where some professional roles have stayed the same since the 50s. The creatives, Strategist and the Account teams in some places are still seen as separate roles. However, I been actively seeking and pushing the need for more roles that see interdisciplinary thinking as the key to success.
As a Brand Consultant and Strategic Director, tell us about your successful
campaigns. Share your homeruns.
I’m proud to say that I hold many home-runs in my career as I consider successful all projects that have
given me the necessary skills to be a strategic-asset to any client. A consultant must know its way around
both calm and turmoil waters; the only way to get brand consulting knowledge is by being part of many
projects, with good as well as with bad outcomes.
That being said, how about I tell you about my favorite project that created the first LGBTQ+ corporate
education material for the ABInbev company.
Set to be communicated, celebrated and executed across all global HeadQuarters for the next 5 years,
the ABInbev LGBTQ+ Pride educational project was crucial as it would subsequently support the ABInbev
Global Diversity and Inclusion team growth and highlight one of the many new initiatives of the brewer
giant.
I’m please to continuously hear of the campaigns successful implementation that has changes the lives of
many employees within the company who live in countries where they are not openly accepted and a
remarkable direct email from the company’s CEO asking global employees to be open to learn from this
campaign as it was the future of a world ABInbev will boldly champion.
What will people notice when working with you?
If we ever work together you will experience my true passion for Brands and my sensitivity to aesthetic design. You will be energized by my love for inspiration safaris that spark the best unexpected ideas. I’m known for not being afraid to take on imaginative challenges with my clients where I know we both must show creative-leadership without hesitation. The word I’ve heard the most to describe me, which in a way has become my professional essence, is creative. So, you will notice my creative drive and theoretical understanding that has
transformed ideas into real brands.
You will receive the Marketing 2.0- Outstanding Leadership Award at the Marketing 2.0 Conference. What does it take to receive this prestigious award?
From a preliminary pool of 500 chosen marketing leaders, 30 where chosen in their respective business markets. I am one of those chosen honorees for the category Marketing 2.0 – Outstanding Leadership Award. All nominees were adjudged on 5 parameters, namely: Leader’s Reputation, Educational Background, Professional Experience, Creative Thinking and Decisive Leadership. My career and work demonstrated a history of exhibiting exceptional creativity when confronted with challenges that drove innovations in my field of work. To get any type of recognition for your work is grand yet this one hits particularly close to my heart as I’m receiving this his award for me, not with a team or agency. I have received other awards for the projects, however this is the first award I receive that recognizes 100% Ricky Ramos work. With great optimist I expect this will be the first of many.
Richard Ramos was awarded the Outstanding leadership Award for Marketing and will be presented an award at the conference Marketing 2 Conference in Las Vegas and will be on the panel discussion on April 8th. https://www.marketing2conf.com/
You are a panelist. Tell us about what can we expect from your panel
discussion?
I will be sharing the Las Vegas stage with other 4 outstanding panelists in marketing & advertising field in which we’ll discuss a topic I hold dear “Going Hand-In-Hand With Sales & Marketing: The Inseparable Duo”. And the reason I say that is because I’ve built my career by creating award winning communication projects that have given the sales teams an advantage on the competition to capture the alluring attention of the shopper. Specific ideas you’ll be hearing from me on the panel:
Shopper target vs Consumer target brand strategies
Human-centric method when creating/designing sales tools
Sales-driven objectives for branding projects (packaging and POSM materials)
When you work with global clients in the food & beverage and hospitality space, why is sales and marketing an inseparable duo for success?
There would be no products on shelves without sales and there would be no product-story to tell
without marketing. Widely seen as separate siloed teams, in the real world “the shopper” interacts with both their consumer/sales-journey. That is why I strongly believe that a human-centric method must be the key lens when designing sales tools and branding projects, after all stakeholders of a product life (marketing,
sales and shoppers) are human and have the same visual human needs.
What’s next for you?
As my consultant and director-attaché career keeps its steady growth, I have two main focuses in the coming years. Launching an online course that simplifies the creating process for brand Owners-to-be with a focus on marginalized communities. And for the first time launching my own food and beverage brands! I will take the same steps I advice for other brands and applying it, this time, for my own. Both projects, speak to my growing need to make a both a difference and a statement in this world with the skills I’ve been given.
Website: https://rickyramos.me/
Instagram: Ricky Ramos (@rickyramox) • Instagram photos and videos
Podcast: Creating Brand You | Podcast on Spotify
YouTube: Creating Brand You – Channel
About The Author
