Marketers not the keeper of the brand Maria Ligerakis
MARKETERS should recognise they don’t have a “god given right” to manage customer and brand-related issues that may arise within a company, according to former Telstra OnAir marketing chief Colin McLeod.
McLeod—the executive director marketing and brand management at investment company JBWere Ltd who will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming Australian Marketing Institute’s national conference—said there was a much-needed element of self reflection involved in any discussion of marketing trends and strategies.
“Marketers, in many cases, see issues related to customers and brand relationships as naturally belonging to marketing,” he told B&T Weekly.
“You have to ask yourself: “What have I done to deserve the right to stewardship of those issues? My view is that these [brand and customers] are assets of the firm.”
McLeod said communicating with the board was an integral component of the overall business and marketing approach.
But the “language” of marketing and that demonstrated at the board level often clash, McLeod said.
“Boards these days tend to be financially-focused and not as operationally-focused,” he said
“It’s fair to say that boards place a conceptually high value on marketing—it’s a matter of collaboration [between boards and marketers] and understanding that not everyone is coming at things from a common background.”
McLeod will further examine the topic of marketing trends and strategies at the AMI conference next month in an address titled: “Marketers, Boards, Customers and Shareholders: Where to From Here?”
