KEY POINTS:
After nine years selling beer to the world, Alan Gourdie is turning to building Telecom products and services against an onslaught by another global giant - Vodafone.
He was a key appointment in Paul Reynolds' new team to drag Telecom out of the mire created by years of
short-term thinking on the former board when it was headed by Rod Deane.
His arrival at Telecom has coincided with a scheme to revive its corporate brand and sharpen its retail marketing.
But is selling broadband and mobile phone schemes the same as selling beer?
Alan Gourdie sidesteps the truism about the big-brand international lagers: most lagers taste the same, but the difference is in the branding.
"We could have a two-hour conversation about that," says the marketer with a smile. He started out with DB Breweries in 1994 and worked from Singapore, Britain and Amsterdam.
"The difference between beer brands is about reputation and image and new product - but not in the same way that it would drive a technology-based company like a telco.
"I will be using my background to create a Telecom brand and image that is unique and different."
The big competition is from "Big Red", or Vodafone - the biggest phone company in the world - which is moving aggressively into Telecom's patch.
"Vodafone is a global company that brings its stuff and drops it in New Zealand.
"We are a New Zealand company that has first-class technology and that is leaping ahead of Vodafone and also understands our customers - that is our brand," he said.
Gourdie sings the glories of a Telecom retail brand which - while strong - is under attack from Vodafone and which may possibly face stepped-up pressure from Telstra Clear.
Why did he come back? It was for the usual reasons: he had children aged 13 and 9, and a wish to return home after nine years away.
"You really enjoy the hospitality industry - there is a social dimension to the job - though probably not as much as people would imagine."
His answer to selling more Telecom products and services is clarity and simplicity.
"It is about how they are perceived ... your brand at a rational and emotional level.
"It is about people with a lifetime of experience," he says, repeating a mantra at Telecom that the brand is strong and resilient.
But not everybody has that view. You also meet people whose approach to new services is "anyone but Telecom" because of bad memories of poor service and anti-competitive practices.
It lost ground in mobile to Vodafone, and its market share for broadband has not kept pace with the market.
The old days of Telecom retail enjoying sweetheart deals for access to the Telecom networks ahead of competitors have been regulated out of existence.
Some are still wary about its powers, but the big question now is not how it will bully the competition but whether it can survive in the post-regulatory environment.
The legacy of the Telecom board's short-term view - avoiding investment in new technology to boost shareholder dividends - remains. It is most apparent in the mobile business.
Gourdie oversees the mobile business as it tries to replace outdated CDMA technology with 3G technology that enables Telecom to access a whole new range of online content - content that is already on Vodafone 3G.
The new network - which Gourdie has given the working title branding of W850 - was launched on October 15 and will play a key role in Telecom's attempt to catch up with Vodafone, which has a 53 per cent share of the market.
"There are so many holes in the Vodafone network. If you are claiming 3G coverage, you should deliver it for New Zealand - and not just in certain places and not in others."
For its part, Telecom says its 3G coverage is at 70 per cent and is aiming to reach 97 per cent, a reach that Vodafone has said it will match.
The reality may be that as Telecom spends big marketing dollars to shift customers from its old to its new network, many will be happy to stick with the old CDMA network to focus on basic schemes like $10 texts and the occasional voice call.
But for all the marketing brouhaha claiming it is ahead of the pack, the new mobile network is essentially playing catch up.
In "at-home technology", Telecom has the jump, with a big roll-out of fibre optic cable giving better broadband speeds, which may allow it to pick up a greater share of the customers demanding faster speeds.
But, as with mobile, the question is how many will be prepared to pay premium prices. Beyond the complexities of pricing plans - linking mobile with fixed line, broadband services and even Sky TV - some of the change comes back to brand marketing.
Gourdie has signalled a new emphasis on the "New Zealandness" of the brand - the idea that the company is locally owned with New Zealand values, while Vodafone is a global multinational.
The focus on competition is an acknowledgment that, under Telecom corporate's new regulated business plan, a big part of revenue is about selling competitors access to its networks on the same terms it offers the retail division.
The marketing formula is much more complicated than for a beer brand, which is about finding where you fit within a market.
NEW FIZZ
* Telecom has been split into three divisions - wholesale, retail and networks - and hired Heineken global marketing boss to run its biggest division - the retail business.
* Since starting on August 25, Alan Gourdie has been ramping up retail marketing and set the stage for the new "3G" mobile-phone network that will fully launch in June 2009.
* With new regulations and competition from global giant Vodafone, he faces a tough task.
