On the Move: Nikos Bartzoulianos (MBA 2008)

07 Oct 2024

On the Move: Nikos Bartzoulianos (MBA 2008)

Building a Love Brand at Electrolux

Re: Nikos Bartzoulianos (MBA 2008); A.G. Lafley (MBA 1977); Youngme Moon (Donald K. David Professor of Business Administration); Anita Elberse (Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration)

Topics: Career-Career Advancement Marketing-Marketing Strategy

After nearly nine years in a series of marketing and strategy roles at Samsung—where he logged approximately 2.5 million air miles and earned status as a “permanent resident” of Korea—Nikos Bartzoulianos (MBA 2008) made the leap to Electrolux Group Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Sustainability. A native of Greece, Bartzoulianos now lives in London; he worked for Procter & Gamble and McKinsey & Company before Samsung and holds two engineering degrees from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

What drew you to this role?
First was the people and the culture—the culture at Electrolux is phenomenal. It was also a huge opportunity to impact an iconic, historic brand that is more than 100 years old. Another factor was the sustainability piece, which today is more relevant than ever. Every day people consume energy through their appliances, whether it’s cooking meals for loved ones or doing laundry. There’s an obligation to do all these things in a more sustainable way. To put it differently, this is not a company that sells appliances; but rather a business of living better by making clothes last longer and food taste better.

Bartzoulianos shares his brand and marketing vision at the Electrolux Group’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden.

How did you get into marketing?
At HBS, the courses I excelled at were in marketing—Consumer Marketing with Professors Gail McGovern and Youngme Moon, and Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries with Professor Anita Elberse. The power of marketing attracted me—how a brand can make you feel. There are experiences, products, and services that people absolutely love. How on earth is this possible? How can we create these “love” brands? That’s what I want to do at Electrolux. When you do finance, it’s just numbers. There’s no emotion. With marketing, you must understand what people need. There’s the aspect of being a psychologist. And there’s always a creative element, which is fun, because with marketing, it’s not always who has the biggest budget—creativity can influence the result of a campaign.

Is there a leader whom you particularly admire?
One is an HBS grad, AG Lafley (MBA 1977), who led such a big turnaround at Procter & Gamble. Pankaj Bhalla and Austin Lally also at P&G, are two others. I loved how much emphasis they put on talent development and brand building respectively and how close they are with people. I was crying the day I explained to Pankaj that I’d be leaving P&G to go to Samsung. A third is Pio Schunker, who I worked closely with at Samsung —a relentless leader and one of the best marketers and creative minds I’ve ever met. He just started a consultancy called The Actionists.

What’s your morning routine?
I try to wake up early. If I’m home, I go for a run in Hyde Park—30 minutes to an hour, just to get the steps in and get energized. Otherwise, it’s the hotel gym. I’m always tempted to pick up my phone first thing but I’m trying to leave my phone outside my bedroom, so I don’t start the day doom scrolling. After exercising, I’ll typically commute either to the airport or the office and do some email or quick calls along the way. Usually there’s something that came up the previous evening or sometime during the night, in another time zone. But unless it’s a crisis, I’ve always told my team that it can wait—be with your loved ones and don’t lose sleep over it.