You don’t need someone clinging to 25 years of FMCG slides. You need someone who knows how to build relevance right now.
Let me be clear before the HR departments come at me with pitchforks:
- I’m not saying don’t hire older people.
- I’m saying don’t hire outdated people.
- There’s a massive difference.
Experience matters. Loyalty matters. Institutional memory? Also, important. But none of that counts if the person leading your brand’s digital strategy thinks organic is a vegetable category at Cargills!
The Harsh Truth: Age ≠ Skill
In too many boardrooms in Sri Lanka, the marketing decisions are being made by people who:
Don’t know how TikTok works
- Think “influencer” is a made-up word
- Can’t tell the difference between impressions and engagement
- Think boosting a post is “digital strategy”
- Measure success by how pretty the flyer looks
What are we doing?
We're hiring people based on the number of years they’ve existed, not the number of years they've adapted.
You’ve been working since 1995? Cool. But do you know what it takes to make content go viral in 2025?
Because right now, the people driving marketing decisions are stuck in a world of billboards and press ads, while the audience lives on Reels, YouTube Shorts, and meme pages.
This is not a personal attack.
This is a wake-up call.
Marketing Has Evolved. Have You?
Marketing today is not just about campaigns; it’s about communities.
Not just selling products but building trust.
Not just running ads but creating content that connects.
If your marketing lead doesn’t understand what a micro-influencer is, or how to build engagement organically, you’re going to keep spending big budgets on campaigns that look great on PowerPoint but fall flat online.
It’s no longer enough to be “experienced” you have to be relevant.
Let’s talk about going organic; not the spinach, the strategy.
I run a content-first approach where we don’t throw money behind posts just to chase empty views. We build brand communities. We spark real conversations. And it works. Because we understand the culture; we’re part of it. We don’t guess what Gen Z wants. We listen, engage, and create with them. Every brand we partner with sees the difference: genuine engagement, saves, shares, leads, and improved brand sentiment, not just vanity metrics. You don’t need someone clinging to 25 years of FMCG slides. You need someone who knows how to build relevance right now.
But What About Respecting Experience?
Respect it. Learn from it. But don’t let it block progress.
The best teams are multigenerational, wisdom from the experienced, creativity and agility from the young. But if the older decision-makers refuse to listen, refuse to learn, and refuse to adapt, then they become a liability. There are 50-year-olds killing it on LinkedIn, managing digital communities better than 25-year-olds. So, no, this isn’t about age. It’s about mindset. The real problem is when corporates use age as a shortcut for competence. You want to future-proof your marketing? Hire people who are students of the game. People who know what’s working now, not just what worked in 2010.
Marketing Isn’t a Retirement Plan
Too many agencies and companies hire outdated marketers as a safe, political move.
“She’s been in the industry for 20 years; she must know.”
“He used to be a GM at a multinational; let’s get him to lead this.”
Cool. And now your digital is being run by someone who thinks Reels are trailers for movies and that memes are a waste of time.
Meanwhile, smaller, bolder brands with agile teams are running laps around you online. Because they understand that digital marketing today is less about budget and more about relevance.
Final Words (And They Won’t Be Polite)
Stop hiring marketing managers who can’t market.
Stop choosing comfort over competence.
And please, for the love of progress, stop thinking age equals digital leadership.
If your brand is bleeding money on campaigns that don’t work, it’s not always the agency’s fault. Sometimes it’s the guy approving the brief who doesn’t even know what “UGC” means. And if you’re someone reading this and feel personally attacked, maybe it’s time to learn. Not defend. The world doesn’t care how long you’ve been in marketing. It cares how well you understand people - right now.
