#marketing2025 My Future Forecast

After attending the launch of #marketing2025 in Cambridge recently with CIM, I ruminated on what the big issues are in marketing for the next 10 years - a suitable topic for a New Year's broadcast! And I found it fairly depressing because I could have said exactly the same thing in 2004.

So my marketing big issue remains the same - that marketing gets to the heart of every boardroom, both small and large. I still have too many of my professional students running departments single-handedly when they should have a team of 4 minimum. I still know marketers battling to persuade their professional services organisations that marketing can play a major role in bringing complex organisational structures together and providing a better experience to their customers. I still can think of a fair few industries where marketing plays very little part in senior management decision-making. And far too many directors who think marketing is just a fluffy press release or maybe a nice little drinks party, or that marketing is just about digital.

So my new year's wish is that marketing gets the recognition it deserves. Let's shout about our Chartered Status from the rooftops. Let's get a comfy chair at every boardroom table. Let's put the customer at the heart of every business. Let's explain what we do to every business and business person.

I hope this year will see #marketing2025 spreading the marketing message far and wide. Do join the debate online.

Happy New Year!

Preventing academic misconduct in Chinese students

As a lecturer for the past 10 years, I always think I've seen it all until assignment hand-in day arrives and another example of cheating, collusion or plagiarism hits the desk. More often than not, international students are the culprits and are surprised that we can spot suspect work from a mile off even before we've checked the score on our plagiarism software. If I see a draft that is suspect, I will remind students of UK policies on these issues to encourage them to mend their ways if they have done something they shouldn't have and it's that approach that has made me realise that in most cases, the students have no idea they are at fault.

It's with this in mind that I turned to a new book published in 2014 by Sage called Study Skills for Chinese Students by Mike Courtney and Xiangping Du. This is aimed at Chinese students studying in the UK and is a multilingual guide to developing independent learning skills and improving their chances of success in UK universities. It talks about how Chinese students often think that using large parts of an author's work without referencing is a compliment to the author, and that it's okay to get help from a friend with writing an assignment - something I see often. This is such a useful book for Chinese students to read to help them understand the cultural differences in the UK, but also for lecturers to understand their perspective and consider how to communicate guidance on cheating, collusion and plagiarism in a more meaningful way. It's definitely one I recommend.

Buy here:

Something for Christmas: WestJet Christmas Miracles Ad

So as it's Christmas, here's my favourite ad of the year - WestJet Airlines' Christmas Miracle. I warn you that it's heavy on sentiment but isn't that what the festive season is all about? It was a close run with John Lewis' ad - everyone loves a penguin love story, a cute kid and a nice tune but this one ticks all the marketing boxes and here's why:

• They actually rebrand Santa in their corporate colours. Yes, Coca-Cola did it originally and now WestJet has turned him blue.
• They've done this before so it's become part of the Christmas tradition with customers and people who like to share cute videos on social media looking out for it.
• Nearly 3 million people have viewed it on Youtube, with over 8,000 likes and only 232 bah humbug dislikes.
• Comments on Youtube are in a whole host of languages showing that this ad has achieved a great global reach.
• Although it cost them to create the ad and supply gifts, they fly to the location anyway and their staff did all the legwork - the amount of amazing PR and impressions they get more than pays for the expenses.
• Corporate storytelling is a powerful medium that builds stimulus for consumers and supports the consumer decision-making process.
• It aligns itself with traditional fairy tales and storytelling with a narrator and a link to a well-known Christmas poem. We know it's going to have a happy ending and it promotes good corporate values.
• It also promotes Christian values, which can be important for Canadian and US firms.
• It's a significant part of their CSR (corporate social responsibility) programme.
• It has changed people's behaviour - comments such as 'this would be my airline of choice if I'm in the region' have been posted.
• They fly to the Dominican Republic so it reinforces our understanding of their service and also encourages us to think about going to a hot country for Christmas.
• It is a universal message so works well as a standardised communication.

Finally, it leaves you with a tear in your eye (even if you try very hard not to succumb) and that's what good Christmas advertising is all about!

Happy Christmas from your No Balls Bloggers!

The Apprentice - did the right business idea win?

Our good intentions to blog about The Apprentice waned pretty quickly this series... far too many candidates and the same tired tasks throwing up the same issues as in previous years: the candidates can't count, can't navigate their way around London and market research is the work of the devil according to Lord Sugar. I found the lack of fundamental business skills frustrating. Surely this is a great way to encourage young entrepreneurs by giving them some entertaining yet educational programming in a primetime slot?

So we were left with two business ideas with big flaws... I shouted at the television a lot when Roisin left... if it was just about the business idea, why didn't they sift through them during auditions? Bianca wanted to do tights in all the sizes, colours and derniers for 20 quid and Mark wanted to create an old skool SEO agency; I never really understood why he was launching the business he worked in 6 years ago! I also didn't quite work out why he was going to be so much better at this than anyone else when as far as I can work out, only Google knows the 200 odd algorithms that determine SEO anyway.

Lord Sugar clearly felt more comfortable with a technology business and Mark's business idea was a better bet for making a quick profit even if it wasn't terribly original. Bianca's idea was interesting but would require far too much start-up cash to generate enough inventory. Stores would only have enough space for a certain number of pantones meaning customers would be faced with the same choice of nude, tan or nearly black anyway, meaning the USP would be lost. It seems the premium price point was a risk Lord Sugar wasn't prepared to take. Out of the two ideas, the best idea won but I was left distinctly underwhelmed. I didn't find it educational and I didn't find it particularly entertaining and yet it's going to return for a new series. The Apprentice: isn't it about time you were fired?