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All about Australian Women
As a lover of all things health and wellness, I have followed the Swisse Wellness story for several years now with much interest. Boasting an impressive list of celebrity ambassadors which makes their marketing campaigns near impossible to miss, I was thrilled to attend the recent VECCI Business Leaders power luncheon with guest speaker Radek Sali, CEO of Swisse Wellness.
It’s a long way from the candy bar at Village Cinemas where Sali worked as a young lad, to being at the helm of what will soon be a global empire with sales expected to reach A$250 million for FY 2013.
So what is the secret to this success?
Over his 11 years with Village Roadshow, Sali worked his way up the corporate ladder explaining his exposure to ‘change’ within the cinema environment was paramount to the way he works today. Sali said there was always a stream of change at Village in material (ie the actual movies) and the marketing campaigns developed to promote them. This environment clearly held him in good stead for future endeavours, taking the Swisse brand from $15 million since joining the organisation in 2005 as Operations Manager, to its mammoth projected revenue of around a quarter of a billion this current financial year.
Sali is well known for his dynamic approach to marketing and alignment with celebrities, recently including Nicole Kidman, Ellen DeGeneres and original brand ambassador Ricky Ponting.
Application of what Sali refers to as his own take on the classic four ‘Ps’ (people, passion, product, principles – which all come before profit) has seen the company grow significantly since he joined.
“People are not just one of the reasons we succeed, rather they are the reason we succeed”, says Sali. Staff are given an extra ‘health and happiness’ day of leave each month to spend time with their families or friends, a fortnightly massage and free personal training and yoga classes.
Who wouldn’t love that?
Top this off with a healthy, fresh lunch provided daily for all staff at their Australian offices in Melbourne and Sydney, and you’re bound to increase productivity.
Passion, says Sali, is what “powers their team forward” when the going gets tough. Sali wants staff to simply love what they do.
Principles are based around what will make the Swisse workplace a healthier and happier place. Their catch phrases include ‘morals before money’ and ‘customer care before profit share’.
On the topic of profit, Sali says their results would not be what they are at Swisse if they didn’t have the three other Ps.
Perfect!
Now, if you’re applying for a job, join the queue.
To find out about future VECCI events. visit www.vecci.org.au
