The CIMs Future Thought-Leaders

Five top grade marketing students were warmly received and congratulated by Andrew Dugdale, the vice-chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketings Royal Counties Branch and the director of Intellectual Capital Development Limited (ICDL) on Wednesday 27th October 2004. He encouraged them to become marketings future thought-leaders.

(PRWEB) November 4, 2004 -- Five top grade marketing students were warmly received and congratulated by Andrew Dugdale, the vice-chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketings Royal Counties Branch and the director of Intellectual Capital Development Limited (ICDL) on Wednesday 27th October 2004. He encouraged them to become marketings future thought-leaders.

Their aim: to raise the profile of marketing by demonstrating their true value to their own organisations, to campaign through their work for more recognition of the field within the UKs boardrooms. Dugdale believes, like an increasing number of marketers, that marketing should have a place in the boardroom. After all, financial directors dont understand marketing nor talk to customers. Only marketing, working collaboratively with sales and other functions of an organisation, can create the right strategic commercial direction. So by accepting greater accountability, marketers can truly begin to show how they assist with sales creation and profit-making.

The days of marketing as a marcoms business are gone", he explains. It should now be seen with a wider and long-term strategic viewpoint. Marketing, he says, is no longer simply about delivering messages. It should now look more towards a long-term strategic agenda. Therefore marketers, like these students, should be working on demonstrating their net future value. The creation of audit trails between sales and marketing, and legislation like Sarbanes-Oxley will help them to do this, and they can now also achieve even higher levels of professionalism.

The students are encouraged to undertake more research and to attain more qualifications. He feels that they will only then be better equipped to know how to deliver net future value for their organisations and companies. It could also have a significant and positive impact on their careers. Think bigger and wider than marketers have thought before," he exclaims while suggesting that students should lead the new revolution thats sweeping marketing to increase stakeholder and shareholder value. They should no longer think about commoditisation.

Paul Gostick, the CIMs international chairman, also sent his congratulations to the students while emphasising: The syllabi are based on current marketing practice, as well as including theoretical models, which give employers the reassurance that not only do CIM qualified marketers have a sound theoretical grounding marketing techniques, but that they know how to apply them in practice to deliver value and bottom-line results."

So what do the students think? Kirsten Ware studied for the Professional Certificate in Marketing at East Berkshire College in Maidenhead and works for WeightWatchers. She seems to agree with Dugdales remarks: WeightWatchers being an American company anyway, we are obviously aware of Sarbanes-Oxley because it affects us, and we are compliant to the new legislation that will come eventually into the UK anyway. Its something that needs to be thought about, there are a lot of legislative policies coming through that are going to affect marketing and the way things need to be done.

She also talks about her personal opinions on marketing today, I just think it is just something that needs to be forward thinking, and joined up thinking really. All of the departments of the company need to come together rather than it being a separate marketing department, a separate sales department, separate finance and a separate PR department"

Meanwhile, Natalie Henshall and Lucy Finch talked about marketing and more specifically marketing communications within the Public Sector. Speaking about Dugdales comments Henshall, who won an Outstanding Achievement Award for the CAM Diploma from Procom Marketing College of Henley and who works for the Environment Agency in Reading said:

It was quite poignant for me because I work for the Environment Agency, and I find that in the Public Sector marketing is not high on a Board level agenda. So we do struggle to get recognition for the work that we do, get respect in some cases, and actually get budgets to do communications work. The brand work we're doing shows that marketing is now getting onto our corporate agenda, but culturally it will take a long time to achieve the change that's needed." Finch, who attained a Professional Diploma in Marketing at Newbury College, added that marketing is about knowing your customers, and knowing what they want about shaping your product for your customers." They agree that marketing, as Dugdale argues, goes beyond marcoms.

All of the students aspire to become marketing thought-leaders in their own way, and they believe that their qualifications and training take them a step closer to assuming such a role. Kate Weir who attained the highest marks for the Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing at Procom Marketing College of Henley, and who works for ICI Paints in Slough as Duluxs Colour Innovation Manager, thinks its too early to say whether she is one or not.

"That's what I'd like to become", she says, "but I do think that I am a far more effective marketer now, thanks to my CIM studies. Definitely I noticed a big change moving from the Advanced Certificate level to the Postgrad level, in that I had to start thinking a lot more strategically. That has followed through in my work as well, I am thinking more strategically in my role and as a result I'm more effective. So it is very good training?"

With reference to finding a place for marketing in the boardroom and achieving more recognition of the value of the profession amongst the other professions and commercial disciplines, she says: "For example accountancy training was more recognised in my business a few years ago. Now the CIM is being given the same type of status in terms of study leave and company sponsorship. So I think we are moving towards the marketing discipline becoming more recognised and the professional qualifications are part of that. I believe marketing will play a much bigger role in the boardroom in

The future."

So how important is innovation in marketing? Charlotte Hulland who studied with Cheltenham Tutorial College by distance learning and who works as a marketing co-ordinator with Oxford Innovation, which provides services for IT start-up companies, believes that It is very important to...working with an innovative business its important to carry out marketing processes that are innovative and make your business work. When you are working with start-up companies, youve got to use innovative methods to promote that organisation. So its important to be aware of the new ways of marketing an organisation, and be up to date with different approaches that are available."

All of the students recognise that marketing must change, that focusing simply on marcoms is not enough, and they agree with many of the points made by Andrew Dugdale. Training is perhaps part of this process, although he more than often prefers to use the words, inform and educate", because marketers need to be more proactive rather than reactive. They, like these students can lead the marketing revolution; one that doesnt focus on just one area of marketing, but one that takes a longer term strategic outlook as an imperative to business success.

Marketing is creative, it is initially about how to deliver value to people such as customers, other stakeholders and shareholders. Without people nothing else can happen, and if marketers dont take on more responsibility for their activities and how they are audited, measured, in association with other business functions like sales, they will never find a place on the Board. So perhaps, these students will not only aspire to become thought-leaders, they will become the CIMs own future thought-leaders about how marketing should develop to attain more recognition of its net future commercial and economic value. So, as Dugdale says, the students should think big to realise their dreams and those of their companies and organisations. Training has helped them. It could help you too, to take a bigger step up the ladder and take you a step closer to becoming a marketing thought-leader. Students lead the way!

By Graham Jarvis, All rights reserved 2004.

Relevant Links:

·http://www.royal-counties-cim.org.uk/

·http://www.cim.co.uk

·http://www.thebusinessaccelerators.com

Email: editor@cimtech.org

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