Business-to-business marketing has historically been a different beast to consumer-oriented companies but Japanese conglomerate NTT this week completed what many consumer goods giants have been doing for decades by consolidating 28 different companies into one $US20 billion ($28 billion) brand – NTT.

Behind the massive project is NTT’s new global CMO, Ruth Rowan, previously head of global marketing at NTT’s Dimension Data unit, who says the consolidation process has forced new thinking into the organisation.