Popylkova Viktoria Nikolaevna, General Director of "Vitrina A"

 

Popylkova Viktoria Nikolaevna, General Director of "Vitrina A"

What did you have to go through to become the General Director?

I had to study a lot. Firstly, there was a gold medal in the secondary school. Further - admission to the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Economics, which I also graduated with honors. After that I went to the magistracy of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University and defended my PhD in postgraduate studies. From the third year of university I started working.

At the dawn of my career, I passed the selection to the consulting company KPMG - one of the big four, and now the big three. I started working in consulting, a direction that specialized in developing business strategies. Our team had real professionals in this field - consultants and marketers from USA and Great Britain. We traveled a lot of cities and implemented dozens of projects together. It was a colossal experience. I worked there for 4.5 years and every year I received "promotion", moving from the assistant consultant to the junior consultant, then the consultant and graduated as a senior consultant. I am very grateful to this company, because it gave me the opportunity to get an education in the Certified Institute of Marketing (CIM) in London, which is the limit of educational aspirations for the marketer.

 My success did not go unnoticed, I began to receive interesting proposals from different companies. And there was a choice before me - either to continue work in consulting and “sell” projects to clients, or to leave on the client side.

I chose the second way. The result of my work in dynamics is really important for me, not just the fact of the end of the project. And in this sense, work on the client side provides much more advantages.

The next place of work was the company Renaissance Insurance in the position of director of marketing and strategic planning. If consulting gave me a lot in terms of professional knowledge, then in the Renaissance I was actively gaining managerial experience. At this point  I realized that the managerial position in marketing is what I really like and what I want to develop further.

I worked for 15 years In the position of marketing director. After Renaissance there was a network of home appliances and electronics "Mir", where we were awarded the Brand of the Year “Effie”.

In addition, according to the rating of the magazine "Career", I entered the top 10 of Russian marketing directors along with colleagues from Unilever and other well-known personalities. It was extremely unexpected!

 

The further turn in my career was very steep. I entered the start-up team of GE Capital, the financial division of General Electric, which DeltaBank acquired in Russia. It was later renamed GE Money Bank. I worked at this bank for 5 years, and it was an invaluable experience.

When I was offered the position of marketing director at Sberbank of Russia, I was very surprised. I thought that after the right experience in Western companies, it would be very difficult for me to adapt to the Russian company. But Sberbank was very persistent and interested me in the complexity and wide range of tasks. My colleagues did not give me 3 months, but I stayed to work there for 4 years! It was very interesting for me to change with Sberbank.

Moreover, Sberbank paid for my education at the French business school Insead, which I wanted so much. I joined the number of 500 bank employees, who were similarly rewarded for their services to the bank. I really love Sberbank and always remember about that time. This company has allowed me to be realized as much as possible and to get a very useful experience.

Having reached the marketing director's career to its limit, I began to think about the position of the General director. I really wanted to be responsible for the whole business. I looked at different offers, but eventually chose the company “Vitrina A”.

Vitrina A is a well-known and respected brand in the field of marketing communications at points of sale. The company with a 22-year history, which stood at the roots of the development of the POSM market in Russia. It was love at first sight, which has been going on for 3 years.

Today, the Vitrina A company offers a full range of services - starting from the production of classic POSM, where we realize turn-key projects with logistics, installation and maintenance, and super complex digital solutions. The level of complexity of the projects is very different. We can do tens of thousands of standard price holders on our own production and at the same time implement super complex exclusive projects in parallel. I call this a customized approach, we use it in working with each client.

By the way, Vitrina A is the only company that exclusively represents Russia, the Baltic States and the CIS in Global Instore Communication, the global association of POSM-producers, which includes 18 countries from the leading economies of the world. This is a very great achievement, which we appreciate very much.

Since I joined the company, we began to develop the direction of digital / software and began to invest in it. We created and patented the first products, which were actively sold to our customers. we Dialed a portfolio and gained fame in this direction. As a result, we entered the tender of the Philip Morris International company to open the flagship store IQOS in the shopping center "Afimol City". We offered an integrative approach with implementation under the "key". And we won! This would not have happened if we had

 not developed our competences in digital before. We had only 1.5 months to open a store. We built a store of the future in terms of difficulty by 10 points out of 10!

This project is a real innovation. At the start of the project, some very competent people told us that it was impossible to do it in a month and a half, they advised not even to try. But we did it, and I'm very proud of this project! The filling of the store is a combination of a wide variety of technologies: interactive racks and wall panels, video walls and a central figure - "Tree." This is a unique 3 meter high structure, consisting of 12 metal branches and 120 petals-screens. All the screens of the "Tree" are synchronized with each other and broadcast a single content. In total, the store has 140 points of broadcasting!

When we worked round the clock on this project, we did not think about rewards and PR. But this wave we literally "covered". This project beats all records!

The first place and the Grand Prix at the GIC in Paris, POPAI AWARDS Russia - the first place in the nomination Digital. Finally, the Grand Prix and the first place in the block "Marketing Tools" at the festival "Silver Mercury". The most interesting thing is that in all these nominations there was not even 2 place, after our 1 place there were only 3. It says a lot.

The world of modern technology is booming. New products / services are constantly appearing, our world is being digitized. This is a revolution, and I'm very glad that Vitrina A is in its forefront!

Working with us, customers do not bother. After all, everything will be done qualitatively and on time. Plus, we always use a "proactive" approach and offer our clients interesting ideas and solutions.

I have 2 small daughters, who will soon be 3 years old. I love them very much. How I love my family and husband. This gives me an incentive to further development. I develop the company according to the best Western models. Not everything turns out the first time, but I'm stubbornly going to it. My experience on the client side gives huge advantages. I build the work of my client team on principles, I would like to see my contractors working in GE or Sberbank.

I have a lot of tasks and projects. It's a pity that there are only 24 hours in a day! How much useful could be done if there were more of them! I wish everyone to believe in themselves, in their team and persevere in the direction of realizing their goals. And all will turn out!