Verona Pooth: “supposed weaknesses were to be strengthened”

To stay true to yourself and be authentic – this is the key to long -term success for Verona Pooth (57). the 57-year-old advertising kone did not take a leaf in front of her mouth and spoke openly about her unusual career path.

“At the beginning of my career, I was said to have a lot of supposed weaknesses,” recalls Pooth. “The weakness of the dative, which always followed me. Then there was the much too high voice, the too short skirt.” Instead of fighting against it, she accepted these properties and turned them into their trademark.

What was initially meant as a mockery developed into a recipe for success. “If you are said to have many corners and edges and many supposed weaknesses at the beginning of your career – these were my handicaps at the beginning, and of course they were also smiled at – it is important that you are authentic that you are as you are as you are,” advises the entrepreneur.

A special experience was remembered: “I actually got a standing ovation because I counted until three,” she said with a smile at the event on Wednesday morning. This self -irony and the ability to laugh at yourself made it popular with the audience.

It was not planned that it is considered a brand today. “A brand arises when the audience, the community, who find characteristics in any conscience, finds it personally, finds good, finds amusing,” said Pooth. “And you can’t think about that beforehand.”

Pooth had her most formative experience in connection with her status as a brand during her advertising campaign for the Schwartau company. After a five -year break, she was brought back to advertise a new jam after four expensive advertising campaigns failed.

“For the first time in my advertising history, I really got a little afraid,” said Pooth. “I am not booked as usual, a refreshing, beautiful advertising. I came for an emergency.”

After the shoot, she recorded radio spots, which had to be constantly approved by “at the top”. Suddenly the recordings were broken off. “I thought: I failed, it didn’t work,” she recalls. But the real reason was surprising: “The jam was sold out. They couldn’t produce as quickly as it had sold.”

However, Pooth is more hidden behind the glittering image. The mother of two sons has been involved in a social one for years: “In my career I learned to keep the balance. You have to give something back.” She built up a SOS Children’s Village in Bolivia and collected over a million euros.

“That means ‘Veronas Casitas’. And this reflection, which came back to me, also came to the community. And you know that it is true that this is real and not just a PR script,” she emphasizes.