Australia’s pre-eminent organization for marketing professionals has announced a partnership with the global body, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, to offer international research, marketing intelligence and best practice insights to some 60,000 marketing practitioners in the country.

The Australian Marketing Institute (AMI), which provides professional accreditation and continuing education, will give its members preferred access to global thought leadership from the CMO Council’s network of 15,000 marketing leaders across 110 countries.

Collectively, CMO Council members control some $500 billion in annual, aggregated marketing spend.

AMI CEO, Lee Tonitto said: “As the connected world changes the way brands, institutions and governments interact, Australia’s marketing sector is experiencing significant demand for new talent, skills and digital marketing capabilities.”

The AMI expects the number of marketing jobs in Australia to exceed 120,000 by 2020.

“We are keen to further the global competitiveness and proficiency of our Certified Practicing Marketers. Tapping into the peer-based knowledge and intellectual capital of the CMO Council will contribute significantly to this,” she added.

AMI’s partnership with the CMO Council will allow the AMI to offer CMO Council content subscriptions, reports and global marketing intelligence services at a reduced price to new and existing members.

The CMO Council will also host gatherings in Australian cities, undertake localized research and present new thought leadership with the AMI.

Previous studies undertaken by the CMO Council and Adobe over a three-year period ranked Australia as the most progressive and advanced digital marketing country in the APAC region.

Across the four key measures of digital marketing performance – mindset, marketing readiness, organizational alignment and marketing skills – Australia emerged as the clear leader in all four categories.

Other countries ranked in the APAC Digital Directions, Strategies, Mandates & Challenges Report included Singapore, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, and India.

CMO Council executive director Donovan Neale-May said: “Australia’s digital marketing leadership in APAC is a testament to the valuable initiatives spearheaded by the AMI.

“Australian marketers will now have access to new sources of global insight, inspiration and third-party validation.

“This includes compensation, budget and spend analytics, market trend data, pan-regional facts and stats, branding innovations, next/best practice studies, digital publications, as well as reviews and assessments of new marketing technologies,” he added.