In the world of digital marketing, transformation and adaptation are essential elements. Mauri Carrió, Digital Marketing Manager at Wilson Europe, has experienced a career path that spans from finance to digital marketing, demonstrating that evolution is the key to success. In this interview, Mauri shares his vision on the evolution of data, analytics and AI in the sports sector, and raises critical questions about ethical challenges and AI security with a brutally realistic and candid perspective that will not leave you indifferent.
My name is Mauri Carrió and I work at Wilson. My position is Digital Marketing Manager for all of Europe, which covers all the divisions of the brand: racket sports (tennis, padel, squash, badminton, pickleball, etc.) and team sports (basketball, American football and volleyball).
My role involves preparing, leading and executing Wilson's entire digital strategy in Europe. The main pillars I work on are email marketing, database, paid media, social media and content.
I started working at the company in 2007; in fact, I began in the finance department as an intern for the Spain subsidiary. I spent six years working in finance at Amer Sports Spain, which is the owner of Wilson, along with other brands such as Salomon and Arc'teryx. Then I moved to the marketing department, also for the Spain subsidiary, where I did digital marketing for the group's brands in Spain. Since 2019, I have worked exclusively for Wilson in the European division, focused on digital marketing.
It was a decision I made due to certain circumstances. At that time, we managed accounting and finance at the Spain level, but those functions were centralised in a single country to serve all of Europe. This created the need for a job change, but I also felt very motivated by a change of scenery after six or seven years.
When I moved to the marketing department, I decided on my own initiative to train in digital marketing, as that world was just getting started. So I completed a Master's in Digital Marketing, and since then I have always been connected to it. Later, I also did an Executive programme at ESADE in Digital Business, and I currently teach Social Media on a Digital Marketing Master's programme at La Salle in Barcelona.
I think I would have made the switch sooner or later. I remember that when I was in finance, I worked closely with the marketing department as if I were a bridge between finance and marketing. I was the point of contact. On more than one occasion, the commercial director of Salomon would say to me: "You should work in marketing, you can tell, you have a calling for it." So in the end, marketing was always there.
In fact, there is a story I always tell: right after making the switch and after about five or six months in marketing, I was called by a large multinational company offering me a finance position. I went through all three interviews, and in the end they told me the position was mine. I told them I was delighted and very grateful they had considered me, but the truth was that I had recently changed departments, I was getting started in marketing and really enjoying it, and I could not see myself going back to finance.
Yes, in fact, on 6th October last year I completed 17 years at this company.
When we were in accounting, we used programmes like Oracle or SAP, and some of them we still use to this day. These programmes have evolved considerably over the years. The options we had back then have nothing to do with what we have now. Many programmes offer a lot of functionality that was not available before. This is because data is essential in finance, marketing and sales. How data is handled is very important in order to make sound decisions for the business.
Programmes and tools have advanced significantly in data tracking and analysis, which has improved decision-making in finance, marketing and sales.
I am lucky to be in digital marketing, where everything is trackable and measurable. Everything can be demonstrated. My colleagues in trade marketing or sports marketing have it a little harder, since many things cannot be easily quantified:
What is the reach of collaborating with a specific store?
What about placing advertising in a store?
Or doing a sponsorship deal with a player?
None of that is so easy to measure. In contrast, if I publish on social media, send an email or run a paid advertising campaign, I can measure everything: how many people clicked, how many bought, etc. So for me, data is extremely important, but there is still a grey area in other areas of marketing that are not digital marketing. This is interesting to explore. Basically, I think data offers a lot of visibility for improvement, and nowadays, anyone who does not rely on data to make decisions, prepare strategies or execute actions is not doing it right.
In digital marketing, everything is trackable and measurable, which makes decision-making easier. Data is extremely important. But in other areas of marketing, there are still challenges in quantifying certain actions.
Yes, for example, there are programmes that, in addition to quantitatively analysing results, are able to identify comments that users leave on social media and determine whether the tone of the comments is positive, friendly or, on the contrary, negative and angry.
Before, most of the time, it was based on trial and learning. Now, there are many programmes that offer greater visibility on what works and what does not, through data collection. In addition, there are many tools such as Tableau that help manage large amounts of data and provide greater visibility on how this data is grouped. They are also useful for identifying trends across all the data we generate daily.
Anyone who does not rely on data to make decisions, prepare strategies or execute actions is not doing it right.
Although there are sectors already using this technology 100%, in our sector — sports — it is still quite emerging, and perhaps a little nascent, in my opinion. I know that pilot projects are being carried out internally, where we are starting to explore how it can be used.
In my department, we are using some AI tools and websites to improve processes, but I still consider everything to be at an early stage with regard to these tools. Nevertheless, we are trying to put them to use, even if it is limited for now, and I am sure that in a few months it will start to become more powerful.
Artificial Intelligence is still emerging in the sports sector and has not yet been fully adopted. However, pilot projects are already being carried out internally.
It can affect it in various ways. For example, in search engines, we know that through AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google or Microsoft, searches become much more effective. This will completely change the Paid Media and SEO industry, as people will change the way they search for information. This will force the sector to reinvent itself. If you were investing heavily in SEO agencies or Google advertising, you may need to rethink your strategies. The way people search — possibly by voice or using longer phrases instead of keywords — will change the dynamics of SEO.
It will also affect Google's monetisation of ads. Before, people would search for things like "Wilson tennis rackets" and options would appear, with ads from retailers or the official Wilson site at the top. But many people are starting to search by voice or using ChatGPT, and they are looking for specific things like "Wilson tennis racket for attacking players weighing 350 grams". This changes the rules of the game and opens up a whole new world.
Furthermore, although AI produces interesting results, an expert is still needed to refine and adjust the results it provides. The output AI gives needs to be reviewed.
AI has enormous potential and will completely change the Paid Media and SEO industry, but it also raises ethical and security challenges due to the possibility of misuse.
I believe it is a very powerful tool that, if used appropriately and with good intentions, can benefit humanity in general. However, I am also concerned that such a tool in the hands of people with bad intentions can create a lot of problems. Does it scare me? Yes, because I do not have complete confidence in humanity as a whole to think that everyone will have good intentions and will use AI to cure diseases, improve productivity and make our lives easier. Some people predict that within 10 or 15 years, machines will be doing the work and we will simply live, which would be wonderful. But will that really happen? Do you not think that some will try to take advantage of this at others' expense?
I think AI has the potential to be something very positive and can have many advantages for improving humanity, even on issues like climate change or fighting cancer, as it is a powerful tool when used correctly. But unfortunately, we currently see that humanity is full of malice. This technology in the wrong hands worries me.
Yes, if I focus solely on the work context, I am sure that in the future this technology will make some types of jobs obsolete, but others will also be created. If the workers who screw parts onto a car in a factory disappear, perhaps people will be needed to coordinate those machines and that technology.
I think physical work will shift towards wellbeing, caring for our loved ones and other tasks that machines cannot perform. In the end, we must be aware that there are many more aspects to consider, not just AI, such as climate change and other problems that, if we focus solely on technology, we could end up destroying the world before we manage to evolve with it.
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