Rentokil’s Gary Booker: B2B is a great place to break the ‘shackles of pure marketing’
Fuelled by a passion for understanding human behaviour Gary Booker embarked on a marketing career which, despite working at big consumer brands, has seen him drawn towards the scope for innovation and creativity in B2B.
Early in life Gary Booker developed an affinity for understanding human nature. Growing up in a Christian family, at age 10 Booker’s parents turned his childhood home into a rehab centre to care for people suffering from addiction and mental health issues.
Sharing his home with drug addicts, schizophrenics and people with severe mental health challenges made for an unorthodox, but “fabulous” childhood. It taught him two things – to deal with whatever life throws at you and how to relate to all kinds of people, whether rich or poor, up or down on their luck.
“That informed my real interest in psychology and what makes people behave the way they do,” he explains.
“I was desperate to learn more about that formally and the irrationality of decision making. I was interested in people, but not in a clinical way, in a business way. What makes people buy things? Why is somebody buying a Ford Fiesta as opposed to a Vauxhall Corsa?”
Booker opted for a modular degree where he could combine psychology, business and law, enabling him to not only learn about obedience and brain development, but dive deeper into marketing.
Upon finishing his degree Booker knew he wanted to work somewhere with a solid marketing reputation and strong customer focus.
