Before long, he found himself featured in The Big Switcheroo, a CBC Venture reality TV programme, which aired nationally. The India-born Subramaniam took to breaking down the barriers between the package sorting and delivery floor and the top office, switching jobs for a week with a courier from Halifax who moved into the C-suite for a corresponding period of time.
“I had just moved from Asia and I wanted to make sure that I could connect with our employees, but it really could have been a ‘Raj blooper reel’.
“It was supposed to be a 30-minute programme but it got bumped up and became the number one show on CBC. Internally, it really broke the ice with our employees, and externally, we climbed to the top in terms of awareness. Now, whenever I walk the floor, they’re always asking me when they can try my job,” he quips.
During that week, Subramaniam, who over the years has received three FedEx Express Five Star Awards, the highest honour available to FedEx employees, immersed himself not only in the courier side of the business, but also spent time as a mechanic, customer service agent and package sorter among other roles. While admitting the initiative carried a significant level of risk for both himself and the FedEx brand due to a lack of creative control, Subramaniam says it points to a fundamental culture of humour at FedEx, which has embedded itself in the company’s brand image and its related marketing strategies.
“That experience was critical in helping me to do my job. It helped immensely to see what our employees have to go through each day, and it helped enormously in connecting the brand, the customer experience and the company’s ‘people’ philosophy,” he says.
“When you deliver a package, you’ve literally got about 10 seconds to make a connection, so it really taught me, that in an inverse way, our customer agents on the ground really need to be supported by the rest of the company, not the other way around.”
Although the self-proclaimed ‘citizen of the world’ oversees FedEx’s global services business, including the development and implementation of international marketing plans, new service opportunities and customer experiences, Subramaniam admits the Asia-Pacific portion — in particular China — is becoming increasingly fundamental to FedEx’s long-term success.
FedEx currently sits within the Fortune 100 list and is valued at around US$33 billion, so its comes as little surprise that high-growth markets are playing a starring role in Subramaniam’s wider plans for the company.
Indeed, it was during a seven-year stint from the mid-90s as regional vice-president of FedEx’s marketing and communications division based in Hong Kong, that Subramaniam became convinced China was the place to be, and since then, he believes that decision has been well and truly vindicated.
In China, FedEx recently added BBH to its roster to handle the recent milestone launch of the company’s domestic service, with long-term incumbent BBDO continuing to handle broader brand strategy. Next year, FedEx, in a move which will make China its largest in-country operation outside the US, will relocate its regional headquarters to Guangzhou, which Subramaniam says is “fast becoming the beginning of the supply chain”.
Marketing, he admits, is positioned to play a vital role in ensuring FedEx continues to successfully mix with key rivals DHL and UPS, and with a quick grin, he reveals that the ‘humour’ factor enshrined in FedEx’s corporate culture will be an important weapon in the fight. “In the early years at FedEx, it was a hoot. Some of their classic ads changed the name of the game, and that humour is now connected across the globe,” he explains. “Marketing is the brain of the operation. People are always drawn to the creative side, but before we get there, the strategic thinking has to define the value proposition. It must be right in the context of culture and setting, and it has to be differentiated.”
Subramaniam's CV...
2006 Senior vice-president, international marketing, FedEx Services
2003 President, FedEx Express Canada
1996 Vice-president, marketing and communications, Asia-Pacific, FedEx Express
1991 Associate marketing analyst, FedEx
