THE RAINE
MAKER

It was just another busy morning in the heart of downtown Kuala Lumpur. The usual flurry of activities and movement of people was being watched keenly all the way up from above. Inside a boardroom on the 80th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers, Mark Raine was preparing for the most important presentation of his stint as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for Mercedes-Benz Malaysia.

At that time in late 2014, Mark had just arrived in town. Barely in his 30s, but bristling with energy, he stood before various key Mercedes stakeholders in the country; aware that sales figures were trailing arch rival BMW by some margins, Mark plotted the three-pointed star’s return to the top of the premium car segments.

His presentation, titled ‘Journey to the Top’, systematically laid out the key strategy pillars designed to propel the brand’s resurgence in the Malaysian market. Remarkably, the presentation was prepared without any prior study or analysis, just a hunch with a healthy dose of intuition and common sense on what works and what can be improved.

This was Mark’s first official act in his role, and his intention was to send a clear message to all within the organisation and those working with them: That Mercedes-Benz is gunning for the top again. Holding the meeting at the highest boardroom available in Kuala Lumpur served to subliminally and powerfully underline the message.

WORDS BOBBY & KON • PHOTOS TJ

Stepping foot into Malaysia 4 years ago, Mark was only 33 when he presented his four pillar strategy - 'Journey to the top' to the stakeholders in Malaysia. He even gave his team a seemingly impossible task, "See if I get to present this in the highest boardroom you can find." He eventually did, like most things he does. At 37 today, he will be leaving Malaysia after having orchestrated 50 car launches in just 48 months, and under his leadership, grew Mercedes-Benz sales figures by 188% in a market that has since retracted by 10%. What's amazing? Customer satisfaction levels maintained at an all time high.

More than four years on from that fateful day. We can see that the message was received loud and clear. As he prepares to depart, MBM’s sales now equals the total sales of all premium automobile brands when he first arrived. That bristling first presentation left an impression and set the tone for an energetic and resurgent Mercedes-Benz that swept past rivals in a whirlwind of happening activities.

Mark carries a unique persona, within him seems to hide a person who has worked in Mercedes-Benz for 30 years. He's precise, confident, concise, and with phrases like "As you know, we, as the inventor of the automobile ..." I've never seen any automotive exec work the way he does – relentless. You wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow if his full name is actually Mark Daimler.

Coinciding with his impending departure to begin a new chapter in Mercedes-Benz South Korea, this piece is a special interview to explore the unique personality of a man who spearheaded a remarkable turnaround of a company not just in its fortunes, but brand image as well. And what better send off than the CLK DTM? A car that embodies the boldest and craziest personification of a genius, a madman.

Bobby

Have you always wanted to work specifically in Mercedes-Benz?

Mark

Honestly, no, I would be lying if I said that. I still remember the first time I sat in the new 7 Series of friends with my parents and I thought, ‘Wow, what a car!’. And probably at the same time, if I had sat in an S-Class, I also would have said ‘wow, what a car’, but I was not brand-specific linked to Mercedes-Benz. A lot of people who work in Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart, their parents worked in Mercedes-Benz, but I don’t have that family connection or history with Mercedes-Benz.

Bobby

So, it started from the scholarship, and from there, you understood the brand more, and the affection grew, right?

Mark

It might sound a little cheesy, but I found, in Mercedes-Benz, a new family. Because I grew up in South Africa and my family’s widely spread across the globe, then I came to Stuttgart to study for Mercedes-Benz and I found an organization which looked after me, where I found nice people to work with, which just felt right.

Bobby

Were you always that determined in everything that you do? Or was there a point where you grew up?

Mark

No, I would say I grew into that. At school, I was, I would say, ‘okay lah’, then at university, I got better, and for me, I think I found in what I do, the company I work for, and the whole environment, that’s where I found my true worth, my real sweet spot.

One crucial thing which I found out for myself was that I wasn’t going to stay in South Africa because that would have been always the easy route. We were living there as a family. In the South African context, I was very privileged; I went to private school, I had fairly wealthy friends, we were living the good life.

Bobby

You started working in Mercedes-Benz after you graduated. How did you climb up? Who was that person who guided you?

Mark

When I started off, there were three or four people who kind of looked after me in different kinds of ways. One was my immediate manager who was kind of half fatherly, half friend figure who, because it’s a big organization, he nurtured me coming into the job. The other two people taught me a lot of basics in terms of how to do business, and also to always be critical, to be ambitious, to challenge.

I think one of the big dangers is if you work in such a big organization, you can grow complacent, that’s a very very big danger. Staying hungry is something which you need to do, because if you work in a start-up, you need to stay hungry because otherwise, you’re out of business. If you work in a global corporation, you are one out of three hundred thousand or something, you know it’s not that immediate, there is not that immediate urgency.

Bobby

When did you join Mercedes-Benz?

Mark

First of July, 2002. I was 20 back then. I was very fortunate, I got a scholarship from Mercedes-Benz to study.

Bobby

So that means, you would actually have gotten in any other German car company if circumstances were different?

Mark

Yeah, Mercedes-Benz was the quickest to act. I actually was living in South Africa, and I knew I wanted to go back to Europe. I was looking at the London Business School, and I was discussing with my dad on what to do and then we came across that sponsorship programme from Mercedes-Benz. I applied, and they called me up pretty quickly.

Bobby

Did you speak Afrikaans?

Mark

I used to. I kind of lost that actually. I wrote my A-Levels in Afrikaans, but I have not spoken Afrikaans for 17 years. I’m not going to stay in South Africa. I wanted to break out, to explore the world a bit, and although heading to Stuttgart’s not exactly exploring the world, I wanted to move out of home and wanted to stand on my own two feet.

That’s where the journey started, and I was very fortunate because I found at Mercedes-Benz, a lot of people who supported me. Instantly, I found my footing because, if you’re 18 years old, and you move from a foreign country back to Germany, being uncertain what’s happening, it can be difficult. But I found people who then I instantly connected with.

Bobby

But I would say you climbed pretty fast right?

Mark

I’ve got somebody in the organization who looked after me to guide me in my career path. I started off in Stuttgart in sales controlling market management; from there, I moved to Dubai; after that, I moved back to become executive assistant of one of the top management; and from there I moved to Malaysia, and now the next step would be Korea. It’s been very stringent in terms of moving.

Bobby

And it’s amazing that when we first saw you, we wondered, how old is this guy? He must be a cousin of Dieter Zetsche or something.

Mark

Nope. No family ties. No connections. No nothing…

Bobby

Then when we saw how you work, we thought,…

Kon

… this guy is something.

Mark

One thing I must say is that I’ve had individuals and the organization put a lot of trust in me. I still remember I actually turned 26 when I moved to Dubai to become general manager for the Middle East for sales & product management.

When I moved there, the Middle East was still growing, it was like no boundaries, and then six weeks later, Lehman Brothers collapsed, and boom! Dubai crashed. The amount of S-Classes we had on stock, and market was completely stagnant, it was at that stage I didn’t know where left and right was. It was also the financial impact we had.

You know the Middle East being a very very high end car market, so it’s not like we are talking about just 50 A-Classes. So, it was very interesting back then, but it kind of shaped me as a person also on the one hand always be daring, always be decisive, but know your facts.

Bobby

You were 26 when you arrived in Dubai as a GM. Where did you find that composure as a 26 year old, to arrive there start f**king people up?

Mark

I did not! It was an interesting one because the Arabs, it’s different. If you look at Asia, now I’m categorizing a bit, Asians are about face, the Arabs are about pride. It’s interesting to understand the cultural differences and the psychology behind it. If you know that, you can work with that.

When I arrived there, most of my trainees were older than I am, but during the years before in Stuttgart, I acquired the knowledge of how you need to work together in terms of product management, all those things, and that greatly helped me to prove myself through competence. Leadership has different components and aspects about it, and for me, a good leader is not that leader with one certain style. He or she needs to be able to play the whole concerto.

Bobby

That personal trait of yours, you’ve always been someone like that right? Even in schools…

Mark

I think you should always progress. I’m not saying change, but progress. So, if you look at me now, in comparison to three or four years ago, completely different in a way, and also, it depends on which people you work with, what the situation is, so if you come into an organization, you cannot throw tantrums from day one. Now, today, I throw the odd tantrum, but you cannot always do the one thing, so it really depends on the situation.

Also, the most important thing is you realize with your actions and your behaviour, what effects you have, so if I’m now a nice guy or I’m apologetic, that might be because it’s the right thing to do at that right time. You cannot always bash dealers or employees. You need to keep the balance. Very important is the recognition or reward recognizing what people contribute. I might have had the inputs to give it a certain direction, but if you see any of our launches, I’m just the one who’s kind of doing the showpiece of that there.

You need the dealers, you need the agencies, the event companies, you need your own team. It’s a wide field of people who you need to all run in one direction, because the herd can only run as quick as the one in front. So, if you are pushing the pace everybody will naturally try to follow.

Kon

Your numbers speak for themselves. From the day you joined MBM till today, your sales have doubled, but more impressively is the people working there have been more or less the same people that were there before you came in. You oversaw a complete cultural change in the company, without people throwing resignation letters.

Bobby

You know what’s amazing? That remains true with Mercedes-Benz globally as well. Dieter Zetsche has been there from the early 2000s when Mercedes was losing to its two other competitors, and Dieter Zetsche was still there as Mercedes climbed back up.

Mark

First of all, it’s leadership and corporate culture, but I don’t believe that there are complete idiots and complete superstars. You’ll always have the law of averages in every organization, and you might have to make individual changes. You need to motivate people, you need to give them direction, you need to be decisive in your actions. They need to be able to depend on you.

I always say I’m renowned for my 180 degree turns, because I’ve a very very strong view on things but if people can convince me that I’m talking complete rubbish, then I’ll do a 180, but also explaining why you change your views or opinions is important, and communication alignment, getting people to work together, backing people.

I could give you examples of certain individuals which they’ll never be the Usain Bolt, but they all do the 100-metre sprint nowadays quicker than they ever did in their life, and that’s what you in install in an organization.

Bobby

What amazes me is that the change I see in Mercedes-Benz, not just in Malaysia, not just in your context, the change that I see, and the outcome of what they are now vs what they were globally, fits your narrative as well.

Mark

Coincidence!

Bobby

When Dieter Zetsche launched the G 63, he showed the outline of the Mustang, the outline of the Jeep, and I thought that’s a different Mercedes-Benz, and he walked out in khakis or jeans that was it, then he was holding the door handle of the G 63, he said, this the only thing that we kept. I was wondering was he like this?

Mark

You need to form an organization which is critical, which thinks about their actions, and then reflects. Reflection is a crucially important thing. Now we all do mistakes. People need to be able to do mistakes and then reflect on it and how to do it better. I could tell you 10 stories of things which haven’t gone so well over the last four and a half years, but the thing is what you learn out of that for the future, that’s the important part. Doing that reflection, and how can you execute improvements into the organization. For instance, we have a lot of platforms and discussions with our dealers where they tell us where we are doing well, what could be improved, and then let’s learn for the next one.

Bobby

Wasn’t this always in place all along in the past 10-20 years? I’m still trying to find out what changed in Mercedes-Benz that resulted in all this and you, Mark Raine, the guy who was sent to Malaysia, is behaving exactly like what was changed.

Mark

Maybe I came into the organization and grew with that change process; that might be the case. For a hundred years, Mercedes-Benz was always high up above everybody else, and then cold turkey, we fell from the sky, and suddenly the BMWs and Audis and whatevers of this world overtook us, which was the kind of scenario we never thought would happen.

Bobby

And they were so far away at one point.

Mark

But that’s also the automotive industry for you, it’s not you launch a new phone and six months down the road, you’re back in the game. Product life cycles are seven years. Development life cycle teams start before that, so in order to have a substantial change in the product portfolio, which needed to be the basis of which you start that transformation of a company.

I still remember in 2012, we were getting thrashed and at that stage, we just had to hold on through until the end of the year for the new A-Class. That was the game changer which we knew was coming, but you know you can't fix it on that specific day.

Bobby

I always believe it’s people. It’s not your product life cycle, it’s always people.

Mark

That’s also where I say having rotation changes, people moving on, best example, I now move out of Malaysia, going to a new country. A new person comes in, he might have great new ideas. I would hope he keeps a certain portion and adds some of his own ideas, but that’s why I am wary about growing complacent.

At some stage, however good you are, you get into your normal rhythm. You need to think out of the box, you need to challenge yourself, so having that kind of rotation of people and different jobs also, maybe somebody who comes in with a different experience from a different market might now add a different spice or direction to it which is now beneficial, so that is very important.

Bobby

Globally, any marketers that you personally respect or admire, regardless of car company?

Mark

The most obvious one, you need to give credit to Elon Musk. He is the best guy for the car industry, why? Because the car industry, overall, was fast asleep for the longest time. The car industry is the only industry which operates in such a traditional business model, and without Elon Musk, we would all still be in Daisy sleep now, I say. Irrelevant what he does with Tesla or what the future path is, he shook up the industry in such an instrumental and substantial way…

Bobby

And at the same time, he runs a rocket company. Who would do these things at once?

Mark

But probably you need to have these extreme madmen, because there’s a saying between being crazy and being brilliant or being a genius, it’s a thin line. You sometimes need these people who are creative, genius minds just to push boundaries, or to have just a different approach to things to be innovative, to be progressive, to be provocative in a certain way. May be you need to overstretch it to come back to a kind of norm which then works, because otherwise you would always be in your comfort zone..

I feel there are no key individuals, but it’s organizations, it’s people who have shaped certain organizations or giving direction, which is important. It’s not the top guys, but it’s the middle management which has the biggest impact, if you ask me. It’s the top management giving the basis of allowing your organization to excel, that’s what you need to do.

Bobby

Would you, if one day, you bump into him in a café, and he asked, ‘come on, help’.

Mark

Depends. I would challenge him on a lot of things and see how he reacts. I smile when I see that they launch cars which somehow everybody thinks are never gonna happen, and then they some how did it. It’s a marketing tool, but he’s playing a high-stakes game. He’s playing with a lot of people’s money, he’s playing with a lot of personal lives. You need to be always aware that we’re not playing Monopoly; so yes, be daring, but be conscious of the daring decisions that you do.

Bobby

We’ve said this many times, but we trust one day you will definitely be up there somewhere, we hope to see that….

Mark

The question is, do I want that actually. The job I do today, I love doing. I love getting up in the morning, chasing people, being passionate about what we are going to do in Myanmar this month, even if it’s selling six or seven cars. I actually enjoy being in the trenches and doing that. I’m not sure if (may be I’ll grow into that) if I just want to sit in board meetings. Not disrespectful to that, but I enjoy what I do every day, and the further you get to the top, the further away you get to a certain degree from working with people, working in the operated business. It’s also just now that we talked about progression again, that’s a way of life, so yeah, probably if I would be offered that opportunity, I mean you know me by now, I’m ambitious, I would grab it, and I would run for it.

Bobby

Thank you so much for this interview. It’s something that we really wanted to do when we heard that you’ll be leaving Malaysia. And the reason is because in our decade-long careers, we’ve never met anyone that’s just like you that impacted our market that much.

Mark

Thank you very much guys. It’s been great fun working together with you, if one day Hyundai or Kia invited you to the Seoul Motor Show, hit me up!

Having dabbled in multiple automotive media titles over the past 10 years, I started from a printed weekly journal, and then to a monthly magazine. I then transition to the digital era of a car buying guide startup that was bought up by an Australia listed company, I've had my fair share of encounters with individuals from the other side of the pond - car makers, principles, brand owners etc. And it has never been too difficult for my guessworks to turn out accurate. A junior PR person? Most likely a lady in her mid twenties. A product manager? Most likely a guy in his 30s. MD or CEO? Most likely a guy in his 50s. It's easy to generalise as it's predictable, and it gives a pre-conceived perception on how things would move forward whenever there are personnel changes within the industry game of musical chairs. But I wasn't ready for a character like Mark Raine, his age and his talents and composure just don't add up. I don't think anybody's ever ready for this man but I think one organisation will be ready for his leadership one day, an organisation that has been doing what it does since 1886. Auf widersehen Mark.

Regards,

Bobby