CHAD SOTELO BELIEVES FOOD IS
THE KEY TO MAKING ELECTROLUX
THE BEST-LOVED APPLIANCE BRAND
IN THE PHILIPPINES.WORDS JODIE DARLINGTON • IMAGES JASPER SALCEDASUCCESS
RECIPE
FOR
W
hen Chad Sotelo was a little boy, his
father gave him a piece of advice that’s
stuck with him ever since: nothing
can replace doing good, honest work.
“He’s been telling me that ever since
I was a kid,” Chad says.
“I was raised to believe that if you do the right things
all the time, then you’ll succeed,” he explains. “Often people
try to shortcut the process, and they end up bending or
breaking rules. That one piece of advice I got from my
dad was very helpful in grounding me and saying, ‘Why
do you need to take a shortcut when you can do good,
honest work, and you’ll get the same results anyway?’”
Chad has applied this strong work ethic throughout his
career in business and brand management. After spending
more than 12 years in senior marketing positions at Procter
& Gamble, L’Oréal and Samsung Electronics, he joined
Electrolux Philippines as General Manager last year. He
says it was the brand’s strength and broad product range
that attracted him to the role.“In the Philippines, Electrolux has a very strong
heritage. It’s been around for more than 17 years,” he says.
“When I heard about the opportunity, I looked up the
brand and, putting on both my marketing and business
hats, I thought, ‘This brand has very strong potential to
be a leader in the market.’ That opinion was strengthened
when I looked up the products. I don’t know of any other
company that has the same range that Electrolux has
in terms of breadth and depth, whether it’s within the
Electrolux brand itself or within the 50-plus other brands
that we have around the world.”
Globally, Electrolux aims to ‘shape living for the better’
by providing appliances that make taste, care and wellbeing
more enjoyable and sustainable. “I paraphrase this as having
fantastic food experiences, offering better ways to care for
your family’s clothes, and making your home a great place
for wellbeing,” Chad says. “I honestly can’t think of a better
set of values for a brand than taking care of your family.
So, I see an alignment between the purpose of the company
globally and the values that Filipino consumers embrace.”72 | theceomagazine.comINSPIRE | Interview