Sarah Robb O'Hagan has taken the occasional wrong turn in hercareer. Not least was arriving to work on her first day at VirginAtlantic to find her boss had been sacked. This was followed by adisastrous decision to work for a video game maker - despite havingno interest in the technology.
One doesn't get to the top without a hiccup or two, but herinterest in sport along with a passion for advertising andmarketing, has helped Robb O'Hagan scale the corporate ladder in theUS.
Today, the daughter of former All Black John Buxton, is theChicago-based president, Gatorade North America global chiefmarketing officer, PepsiCo Sports Nutrition - which, like sports thedrink, is quite a mouthful.
Starting out at Air New Zealand - landing a prized place as agraduate trainee - she was keen to work for Richard Branson's Virgingroup. But getting in front of anyone who could hire her was goingto be a mission. She was in the right place though; Air New Zealandhad posted her to the US, putting her marketing degree from theUniversity of Auckland to good use.
While doing well at Air NZ, she kept her eye on the funky Virginbrand, waiting for an opportunity to connect with them. A marketingconference featuring senior Virgin Atlantic staff seemed a perfectplace for Robb O'Hagan to pitch herself.
Even better was that the conference was to be held on a ship -Robb O'Hagan's prey had no escape...
'The conference was taking place on a ship off Manhattan and thehead of marketing at Virgin was going to be there,' says RobbO'Hagan. 'I thought, 'I don't care what it costs me, I'm going'.'
Over three days Robb O'Hagan, then aged 25, got to know theperson who eventually hired her as Virgin Atlantic's marketing andpromotions manager. However, on her first day at Virgin she was toldher new boss had been sacked. Robb O'Hagan pushed to see someone inHR and was given a job.
'I got to look at the business and began to understand why thelast person was sacked. There was no business or marketing plan,'said O'Hagan speaking at this year's World Class New Zealandconference.
She wrote one, handed it to the head of the US business and threeweeks later was promoted to marketing director. One of her firstcampaigns was the infamous Shag Atlantic promotion that included theline 'we're not the type of airline to knock on the toilet door'.
It turned out to be a good move for Robb O'Hagan who went on towork for Virgin's music division and - at 26 - attended the CannesFilm Festival where she met Virgin's owner Sir Richard Branson.
A job as vice president marketing at video game maker AtariInteractive seemed to be a good move. But she learned a tough careerlesson when the company told her 'Game Over'. At 28 she was sackedafter two years with the firm.
'I decided to join Atari, but completely overlooked the fact thatI hate video games,' she says. 'Know who you are, and know who youare not. I should have known at the [Atari] interview that it wasn'tgoing to be a fit for me. I had no emotional connection with theproducts we were making, it was a really tough experience.'
But out of disappointment and a severe kick came clarity. RobbO'Hagan decided to play to her strengths - advertising, marketingand sport. Sports shoe manufacturer Nike seemed the perfect fit.
'I had tried to get into Nike for about three years,' says RobbO'Hagan. 'I had a passion for the brand.'
Ultimately, she took a pay cut and a lower grade job to get inthe door. She spent six years at Nike in various marketing andgeneral management roles and had a hand in campaigns such as theNike+ ipod collaboration and the launch of Nike's move into theaction sports business.
Although feeling quite settled in her role, a call out of theblue from Gatorade in 2008 placed a fork in the road for RobbO'Hagan. Pregnant with her third child, she decided to move toChicago to help lift the sales performance of the company as chiefmarketing officer.
In January this year she became responsible for the NorthAmerican Gatorade business and the global brand management. M
