CIM Summit Series 2016: Brand Health – Snippets and key learning’s from a great day!

What a privilege to chair the 2016 CIM Brand Health Summit in the impressive BP lecture theatre at London’s British Museum.Nearly 300 senior marketers and 8 top line thought leaders from global power brands including BMW, Interbrand Made.com, Cambridge Satchel Company, Salesforce, Regus and RSM.

This was CIM at its very best…led from the front by newly appointed CEO Chris Daly, a superbly organised forum for professional marketers to debate key issues of the day.

This was no place for the feint hearted.  All the big challenges (and there are plenty of them!) facing modern marketing leaders were debated in forensic depth – warts and all.

And Steve Woolley from CIM presented hot-off-the-press survey data that highlighted the challenge for CMOs demanding to be heard in the corridors of corporate power.

Presentations, facts, suggestions, views and questions came thick and fast from speakers and audience members who knew their stuff……

• How to harness the potential of new technology and new communications channels to position, promote and protect precious brand equity
• How to gather, interpret and deploy the torrent of data and analytics that threatens to submerge the unprepared CMO
• How to make sure capability keeps pace with new ways of working
• How to transform a compelling brand promise into a consistent and trusted brand experience with little or no control over operational delivery
• How to cultivate an entrepreneurial approach to brand creation in any size or type of organisation
• How to balance the demand for brand control & consistency with responsiveness to local market conditions and competition
• How to lead in newly emerging de-centralised, de-officed, de-structured, de-processed, de-peopled organisations

And perhaps even a new brand CX concept from yours truly….’Competence Elasticity of Demand’ – how many times a brand can screw up before customers say enough is enough.  

So – how to summarise?  Perhaps 3 overriding imperatives emerged for modern professional marketers looking to survive and thrive in challenging and exciting times.

1. Be hungry to learn: absorb knowledge, nurture skills, cultivate attitude….and become fluent in the language of business – finance and operations.
2. Be willing to take risks: Challenging the status quo often means being an irritant to our organisation – provoking and prodding colleagues to change.  No place for the feint hearted
3. Be overwhelmingly collaborative:  Building strong, influential relationships across the organisation is the only way to get things done. Involve, Engage and Inspire – it’s the only way.

And there’s really only one way to finish such and inspiring day in the British Museum…..a nice cup of tea of course!   A great day…well done CIM.