Marketing Week

From the benefits of bringing new thinking to an unfamiliar sector to driving change as an interim marketer, Marketing Week explores the opportunities and challenges of taking an alternative path.

Nicola Mendelsohn is Facebook’s Vice-President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and as such one of the most influential executives at one of the world’s biggest brands and significant marketing channels. Starting her career in advertising BBH in 1992 she rose to business development director before leaving to join Grey London as its deputy chairman in 2004. In 2008 she left to join then independent agency Karmarama as partner and executive chairman, a position she held for five years before leaving to join Facebook. In a wide-ranging interview Mendelsohn discusses: · How she coped when diagnosed with cancer · How BBH’s approach to creativity has helped shape her career · Why more needs to be done to help women reach leadership positions · Brand safety, political advertising, data use and Facebook’s role and responsibility · What Facebook needs to do to restore trust in its brand

Fernando Machado is a marketer on the up. Since joining Burger King in 2014 after 18 years at Unilever he has been celebrated for the brand’s quirky creativity and its willingness to take a stand on societal issues, achieved on limited budget. He was recently named 'Grand Brand Genius of the Year' by Ad Week in the US, an award that followed Burger King being crowned Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes in 2017. In this wide-ranging interview, Machado discusses: · Why the “great idea” is everything in marketing · The importance of having a challenger mindset · Why data-led companies don’t need marketers · His quest to convince people that fast-food is “not evil” · Why Burger King’s brand DNA justifies its purpose driven campaigns

How does company size impact on career development? Do you need a marketing degree to break into the industry? Are businesses catching up to the demand for flexible working and which sectors offer marketers the highest wage packets? The 2019 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey gets under the skin of these issues as the UK's biggest analysis of the state of marketing as a career destination. In the latest edition of the Marketing Week Explores podcast, editor Russell Parsons, features editor Lucy Tesseras and senior writer Charlotte Rogers wrap up the key takeaways from the survey and explore what it reveals about the marketing industry in 2019. ........ The 2019 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey analysed the responses of 4,415 marketers from 24 different industries including agencies and consultancies, the automotive sector, entertainment, FMCG, financial, telecoms, sport and travel. The seniority of the respondents ranged from graduates and marketing assistants to senior managers, board director

In the latest Marketing Week podcast, editor Russell Parsons and reporters Ellen Hammett and Molly Fleming share their marketing moments of 2018, predictions for the year ahead and what they would like to consign to Marketing Week's Room 101 in 2019.

Sara Bennison is a marketer with almost 30 years of experience. Starting her career as a graduate trainee at JWT in the late 80s she rose to become managing partner at Grey London in 2003. She jumped client-side to BT and then into financial services, first at Barclays, where she was CMO of its personal and corporate bank, then to Nationwide in 2016 where she works today.      She is an active advocate for change with various industry bodies and was named Visionary Marketer of the Year at Marketing Week's Masters of Marketing awards. In a wide-ranging interview, Bennison discusses: · Why brands need to give their agencies the time and space to have “the crazy idea” · Why the financial crash was good for branding in the financial services industry · Why the true test of a marketer is when things aren’t going to plan  · The virtues of testing yourself in an alien environment · Overcoming marketing’s “obsession with numbers” and focusing on the long term · Why it’s important to work for a company aligned with yo

In a world overwhelmed with ideas, propositions and things, what role should marketing play when it comes to building a brand from scratch? When launching a new venture, budgets can be tight and the founders’ focus is usually on developing a product a building a customer base as quickly as possible, any way they can. Here, MW reporter Ellen Hammett and features editor Lucy Tesseras discuss building a brand from scratch.

Seth Godin has the eyes and ears of marketers throughout the world. He is the writer of the world’s most read marketing blog, and has written several best-selling books on marketing, business and personal development. He is also an entrepreneur and a marketer of significant note, taking his place in the Marketing Hall of Fame, an induction no doubt helped by a stint as Yahoo VP of direct marketing in the 90s. In a wide-ranging interview Godin discusses: Why his advice for young marketers is “Do marketing”. The limitations of 'big data' and why it will only ever lead to incremental gains. What marketers can learn from The Grateful Dead about targeting and segmentation. The battle between good and evil that will define the future of marketing. How marketing helped end the cold war. Why more focus should be on the customer’s purpose and not the company’s.

Mark Ritson is a columnist, consultant, professor and one of the most authoritative voices on marketing in the world. A proponent of marketing fundamentals and rejecter of consensus thinking, Mark has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world and through his teaching at some of the world’s top business schools and more recently the Marketing Week Mini MBA, he has helped thousands progress in their career. In this episode of Marketing Week Meets, recorded at The Festival of Marketing, Mark answers the audience’s questions and tackles: - Why CMOs need to talk about “making money first” and brand and customer satisfaction second if they want the respect of CFOs - Why long-term brand building should be the job of agencies - The coming Apocalypse in marketing caused by a lack of formal training among marketers - His “despair” over the lack of appetite of British marketing professors for practical experience - Having no major professional regrets and why he applies the 40/40/20 rule to making money

Rita Clifton has been described as the “doyenne of branding” and with 40 years of experience in the industry such praise is merited. Career highs include stints as vice chair of Saatchi & Saatchi during advertising’s heyday and chair of Interbrand, where she was at the forefront of a push to get brands valued as tangible assets on a company’s balance sheet. She is also the author of several books on branding and is a serial non-executive director with current NED positions at Nationwide and Asos. She was awarded a CBE for services to advertising in 2014. In a wide-ranging interview, Clifton discusses • The revolution in marketing in the early 80s • How agencies grew with the changes • The challenge of getting brands recognised as core assets • Why brand needs to be the organising principle in companies • The skills required to become a non-executive director

In the latest episode of the Marketing Week Explores podcast we explore the launch of The School of Marketing, a new learning platform and series of educational initiatives aimed at solving the looming talent crisis in the marketing industry by raising awareness of the profession as a career option for young people. To explore the initiative further Charlotte Rogers chats to Ritchie Mehta, dean and managing director of the School of Marketing, Mark Evans, Direct Line marketing director and chairman of the School of Marketing and Marketing Week editor Russell Parsons.

Syl Saller is one of the UK’s highest-profile and most respected marketers. Beginning her career at Gillette in 1984 she had a number of senior leadership and marketing roles before joining Diageo in 1999, rising through the ranks to become global chief marketing and innovation officer in 2013. Notably, in a world which often sees marketers bemoaning their lack of influence, she is also on the company’s executive board. Related, she is the president of The Marketing Society, where she is pushing an agenda aimed at making marketers better leaders in their businesses. In a wide-ranging interview Saller discusses: · Why you can learn as much from failure as you can from success · The evolution of the Diageo brand · Empowering the next generation of female leaders · Why marketers need to “follow the margin” · Finding the balance between being demanding and supportive · Why taking things personally is a good thing but “wallowing” isn’t

There are not many marketers who can boast about having founded a major brand. But that’s what Gav Thompson did when he launched Giffgaff in 2009, which is just one significant stop-off in a career spanning almost 25 years. Not one to settle on a particular path, his professional journey to date has been anything but linear. Indeed, it is the very epitome of a zig-zag career, taking in some of the biggest names in agency world, telcos, startups and a stint as CMO of Paddy Power at the height of criticisms over its controversial - some might say distasteful - ad campaigns. In a wide-ranging interview Thompson discusses: Why hanging out in bars and shops is the route to true customer centricity. How far is too far when it comes to controversial ads. The cultural, branding and insight challenges of launching a startup. Why 'creativity versus data' is a false dichotomy. The route to brand success - a marriage of efficiency and effectiveness.

FMCG has always been heralded as the ultimate place to learn marketing, but with the rise of faster-paced, perhaps more innovative sectors where young marketers can learn a wider array of skills and more hands-on learning experience, is FMCG still the only option?

Amanda Mackenzie is one of the UK’s most respected marketers. Beginning her career in agencies, she jumped brand side in 1998 with a series of challenging jobs in unpopular sectors including a stint as CMO of Aviva where she oversaw one of the biggest rebrands in financial services history.   She left marketing in 2015 to work with film-maker Richard Curtis on Project Everyone before becoming CEO of Prince Charles’s charity Business in the Community in 2016. She was awarded an OBE for services to marketing in 2015.   In a wide-ranging interview, Mackenzie discusses: Why marketers should pursue P&L responsibility Why the complexity of unloved sectors should be appealing to marketers The ongoing battle for gender equality in boardrooms Why the “incredible” Richard Curtis is as good a strategist as he is comedy writer Why most brands talking brand purpose are just paying “lip service”

As brands overhaul the established model of discount-based loyalty schemes, is rewarding longevity now the answer to incentivising profitable customer relationships?

Marketing Week editor Russell Parsons speaks to Tom Goodwin, head of innovation at Zenith and author of "Digital Darwinism" about a wide range of topics from the importance of people and creativity in digital transformation to the role of brands on social media.

In the latest Marketing Week Explores Podcast reporter Molly Fleming speaks to Mark Sandford, chief revenue officer at the Book of Man, about the impact toxic masculinity has on male mental health, while senior writer Charlotte Rogers interviews Iain Sawbridge, CMO of Beano Studios, about using content to address children's issues around mental health, confidence and emotional literacy.

Marketing Week editor Russell Parsons speaks to David Wheldon, CMO of RBS Group and president of the World Federation of Advertisers. The "accidental careerist" talks about his 35 years in marketing in which he has held executive positions agency-side and at global brands including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Barclays and now RBS where in addition to overseeing brand strategy for some of the UK’s biggest financial services brands, he is also on its executive committee. In a candid interview, Wheldon discusses: The challenge of rebuilding RBS' brand repuation Why marketers shoudn't get distracted by digital Tackling a "discombulating" corporate crisis at Barclays Why marketers would benefit from working at agencies His career highs and lows The biggest challenges marketers will face in the future

In the latest Marketing Week Explores Podcast features editor Lucy Tesseras, senior writer Charlotte Rogers and reporter Ellen Hammett explore the latest developments in tech from Bitcoin and blockchain to virtual reality, the Internet of Things and 5G.