As part of our partnership with Marketing magazine we spark debate amongst senior members of The Marketing Society. On this occasion, we ask should cosmetic surgery clinics use standard marketing techniques?
No
Sally Ann Stanley
Group marketing director, Highland Spring
Any clinical intervention requires people to be managed as patients, not general consumers.
It is distasteful and potentially trivialising and exploitative to de-ploy general marketing methods, often to women who may temporarily be more receptive than usual to aggressive communications.
I would far rather see cosmetic surgery considered through the route of medical consultation and expert clinical advice. People will be more fully and expertly advised and more likely to be directed toward the appropriate outcomes.
Price will always be a consideration, but not at any cost. Surely, the skill and reputation of the medical team and the quality of their work is the priority, not a bargain price.
Following last night’s Fellows Dinner with Nicola Horlick, CEO, Bramdean Asset Management our chief executive shares his first thoughts on how marketing can represent itself better to the City.
1. We need to distinguish between the views and attitudes of FD’s generally and “The City”. FD’s may often be responding to what they see as the short term demands of the City, but some people in the City do get the role of marketing and brands, and value it. Martin Deboo at Investec, whose job is to follow the publicly quoted top consumer companies like Unilever and Diageo, went so far as to say that the City is conducting an “irrational love-in with marketing”… Martin’s view may be a bit rosy because of the companies he studies, but I do know that Diageo are particularly good (and unusual) in both measuring and communicating the value and health of their of their brands both internally and to the City. They are a particularly good company for us to follow and hold up as an example of best practice to the rest of the City.
As part of our partnership with Marketing magazine we spark debate amongst senior members of The Marketing Society. On this occasion, as governing body the RFU is taking a fresh approach, focusing on discipline, integrity and teamwork we ask if marketing can restore English rugby’s battered reputation?
No
Tim Ryan
Senior vice-president marketing, global catalogue priorities, EMI
The reputation of English Rugby, like any brand, relies on the product – if that is no good, the best marketing in the world will not make up for its inadequacies.
If the England team starts winning and playing exciting rugby again, the fans will engage, the media will gush again and the brand will strengthen.
Marketing a poor product – a national team or anything else – will serve only to waste time and budget. Sort the product out first.
Global communications director at Jaguar, Ian Armstrong, was cornered by The Marketing Society’ at That’s What I call great marketing and shared his thoughts on what great marketing looks like…
As part of our partnership with Marketing magazine we spark debate amongst senior members of The Marketing Society. On this occasion, with Unilever crossing gender boundaries by adding limited-edition scent Anarchy to its Axe range, we askis it risky for gender-specific brands to target the opposite sex?
No
Alan Giles
Chairman, Fat Face
Fashion brands often subsequently launch a variant for the opposite sex – think Topshop and Topman. It’s an obvious diversification strategy, leveraging the investment in awareness and brand equity. It is even more common to have gender-specific variants of the same fragrance brand.
What’s riskier about Anarchy is the direct association with the Axe/Lynx brand, with its unapologetically laddish view of the world. Nonetheless, the unreconstructed heroes of the Axe/Lynx ads are portrayed in a firmly tongue-in-cheek manner, so I think Unilever will have a lot of goodwill to work with in its new target market. If not, there are always the laddettes.
Here’s a new year’s resolution for you, come along to one Marketing Society event a month.
You can now plan your 2012 with our new interactive calendar. Add all our dates to your calendar, find out more about specific events and book online.
To give you a snapshot we have thought-provoking lectures, panel debates, dinner discussions, sustainability and the City, seminars and workshops, lunches and parties. And champagne.
We look forward to seeing you at an event of ours soon.
As part of our partnership with Marketing magazine we ask senior members of The Marketing Society whether fewer resources will lead to inferior campaigns, or be the stimulus for greater invention and focus?
I’m expecting big things from brand marketing in 2012. Tough times and tight budgets will subject campaigns to a ‘survival of the fittest’ test, with the ‘fittest’ being judged against three things.
First, quality. Brands will be looking for maximum value. Second, focus. When you can’t afford to do everything you’d like, the money has to be spent on the most powerful campaign. We’ll see more hard-hitting and creative campaigns. That’s exciting.
Lastly, necessity is the mother of invention. It’s easier to take risks when your back is against the wall. It might be an excuse for some ill-judged work, but it will also spawn some of the most inspirational output we’ve seen in a while.
Marketing Society Member, Giles Bailey from Transport for London talked to The Marketing Society at our Christmas Party about what he thinks will be the biggest challenge he will face in 2012…
CEO of International Airlines Group and with a reputation as a formidable political negotiator, Willie Walsh was cornered by The Marketing Society’s marketing director Gemma Greaves at our Annual conference and was asked what he thought all marketers should know about leadership…
We would love to know what were the key points you learnt at our Annual Conference. Please add your comments to this post or tweet us using the hash tag #GlobalLeadership.
Selfridges’ sustainable fishing drive, Project Ocean, shows the importance of thinking green but the debate now is whether average consumers can afford to factor the environment into their spending.
No
David Bainbridge
Chief executive, Elvis Communications
The disturbing and powerful film The End of the Line about the repercussions of over-fishing might have been the catalyst for Selfridges’ Project Ocean. However, it is newer, less-well-financed businesses focused on purpose rather than profit that really harness the power of sustainability.
Take Followfish in Germany, which introduced a tracking code on packaging that allowed consumers to see where the fish they are eating came from and how it was cultivated, caught, processed and stored.
Online shoe shop Zappos and electric car manufacturer Tesla have been equally disruptive in their categories. For these forward-thinking businesses, sustainability isn’t just a single product or marketing initiative but a belief set that every department and every employee share.
Now I wonder if you can take your sustainable fish home in a plastic bag from Selfridges? The destructive consequences of plastic in our oceans is another very inconvenient truth.
We're here to curate inspiring and thought-provoking ideas and perspectives from our network and the marketing world at large. Read, listen, watch, comment and be inspired. The Marketing Society is the exclusive membership network for discerning marketers to learn, develop and share knowledge.
#WLTM: Marketing Society Business Leader Paul Wilson, CMO, Sunguard http://t.co/xZYSkyovFebruary 3, 2012 2:39
@BrainJuicer: How Can Brands Show Us They Care? http://t.co/SoDI8XQnFebruary 3, 2012 12:13
@RobinHoughton Thanks for braving the cold last night and joining us @SohoHouse. We will send you another book to review for #bookclub soon.February 3, 2012 12:03
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