Cisco APAC senior marketing director Rashish Pandey exits company

Cisco’s senior director, marketing for Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC), Rashish Pandey, has exited the company after over seven years with the company. In a LinkedIn post, Pandey shared the news of his departure, adding that he is “really going to miss” the culture, people, and his team. In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Pandey said that working at Cisco has been an absolute pleasure and privilege. "During my stint, we were focused on transforming into a customer-centric modern marketing organisation building modern capabilities such as deep personalisation, intent based engagement, and omnichannel journeys which drove business growth," he added. 

According to his LinkedIn, Pandey first joined Cisco as head of marketing, collaboration, APJC in 2013, where he led all marketing activities in the region for Cisco's collaboration business. He was subsequently elevated to senior director of marketing where he was responsible for building and leading multiple marketing teams across APJC. These include Cisco’s APJC architecture and product marketing team, ASEAN field marketing, as well as its APJC strategy and planning.

Some of the duties Pandey are tasked with are: leading all field marketing teams and activities across six countries in Southeast Asia, leading strategic planning, budgeting and operations for the marketing and communications team, as well as being responsible for product marketing campaigns across launches, messaging, promotions, competitive marketing, and customer advocacy programmes.

Prior to his time at Cisco, Pandey was with British Telecom, where he was head of unified communications and mobility in Asia Pacific. He was also previously with Microsoft for six years and four months, helming the role of marketing manager.

During his time at Cisco, Pandey touched on how B2B businesses can “humanise” and be customer-centric. Last year at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Content 360 conference, Pandey said instead of churning futuristic brand videos, Cisco looked to break through the clutter by featuring humans in its campaign. In 2017, it featured Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage, who shared about the company’s vision for the new era. The brand also engaged Star Wars actor John Boyega in 2018 to touch on its Software Defined Wide Area Network technology. Pandey added that the company chose Boyega because he is someone who consumers can relate to and is also seen as a futuristic icon.

“You need to take a different stance. Instead of talking about speeds and feeds, talk about human interest stories that move people,” Pandey added.

Pandey also highlighted the importance of heart-selling instead of hard-selling, especially during a time of crisis or uncertainty. In a previous conversation, Pandey told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that brands should be focused on serving consumers, and not selling to consumers. Pandey is also of the view that in B2B marketing, the main thing that matters is the relationships companies build with their customer base over time rather than the number of transactions they make. 

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