Asia-Pacific Power List 2021: Kainaz Gazder, P&G

Kainaz Gazder

SVP, babycare AMA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa); CMO Asia Pacific, India, Middle East, Africa 
P&G
Singapore
New member 

Over the past 25 years, Kainaz Gazder, a lifer with consumer goods giant P&G, has grown from an assistant brand manager in the feminine-care business in India in 1996 to senior vice president for Babycare AMA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) and CMO for Asia Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa. Her CMO remit gives her one of the most expansive remits of all the marketers on this list; she covers 105 countries and is responsible for a team of over 600 marketers.

Gazder is credited with doubling P&G’s ecommerce sales in Asia and she led two billion-dollar businesses (P&G India and China Baby care), before expanding her role to encompass a wider geographic spread across Middle East and Africa. In her current CMO role she has anchored her brands’ growth on superiority in products, packaging, brand communications, retail execution and value. Gazder says she is innovating in media science, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of media buying, and improving her team’s ability to reach consumers with the right message at the right time. 

Simultaneously, P&G is also improving the quality of its advertising, with messages that are relevant and based on real insights. Head & Shoulders in Vietnam led an engaging TV, digital and influencer campaign highlighting the hundreds of ways Head & Shoulders is mispronounced. Oral-B in Australia ran a #CleanUpYourMouth digital campaign and Pampers in Korea created an iconic campaign ‘Air Cha Cha’ that communicated the benefits of Pampers Pants diapers for the summer months.

Gazder has also used P&G’s brand heft for good. Some examples of include Safeguard in the Philippines, which has has promoted hygiene education through campaigns like #SafeWash, including donations of products and public handwashing facilities. Ariel India created a film and campaign called #ChangeTheCycle to honor the heroes of the pandemic. And Pantene Japan created ‘The Hairy Tale’ to celebrate baby Chanco and her naturally thick hair, sending a powerful message about embracing individuality. 

Gazder is a strong DEI advocate. At P&G’s #WeSeeEqual Summit which was held in partnership with UN Women, she had the opportunity to speak about perceived leadership stereotypes, breaking unconscious bias, and what women can do when they face barriers in their careers. P&G has declared an aspiration to achieve 100% accurate and positive portrayals of women in advertising and media, supported by 50-50 representation of women and men in the creative supply chain. 

It is crucial for marketing leaders to acknowledge the influence of advertising and media, and it is the industry’s responsibility to produce campaigns that advance equality and inclusion, Gazder says. P&G has also taken the “Free the Bid” pledge, while increasing its support for women creatives in more countries around the world. Gazder is also leading the charge to ensure P&G is committed to reaching a 50-50 gender balance across its management workforce in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa by the end of 2022. The company will also spend a cumulative total of $200 million by deliberately working with women-owned businesses across the region by 2025.