PARTNERING with the Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA), World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has scheduled its 2016 Global Marketer Conference in Kuala Lumpur this week (Mar 15 to 18).
Following earlier GMC editions in Mumbai, Brazil (Sao Paolo andRio de Janerio), Istanbul, Beijing, New York, Brussels, Sydney and Marakkesh (Morocco), WFA is again staging this event in the Asia Pacific, which it respects as the most potential high growth zone in the global marketing arena.
Bringing together leading lights of the global industry, regional luminaries and ambitious marketing professionals, WFA trusts this will be a positive congregation with experts and practitioners sharing strategies, insights and techniques for generating continued growth and competitive advantage in a fast changing digital era.
Former driver of L’Oreal’s efforts in Europe, WFA-CEO Stephan Loerke (pix) is a savvy, battle-scarred and hardened “real-life marketer”, who simultaneously retains a deep interest in socio-political affairs.
He espouses the verity that “product differentiation alone can no longer offer sustainable advantage”. For “continued success, brands must also simultaneously engage people’s heads and hearts”.
Share of Mind and Share of Heart have acquired greater influence in driving market share ambitions.
Marketers need to accept that society in general is becoming more demanding with brand owners. “Consumers today firmly believe that brands have a specific responsibility, which goes far beyond producing a good quality product”. This also leads onto discussions, debates and pressures by governments, by regulators and NGOs , with respect to brand owners.
Historically, such conversations were managed in a company by public and corporate affairs executives. They were in charge of managing the company’s relationship with the outside world while marketers were basically focusing on the microconsumer. They were knowledgeable about their category, prioritising efforts on business growth, ambushing competition and gaining market share.
In today’s digital world, “…those two strands actually converge and they blur. The marketer today does not control the conversation around the brand anymore”. Today, marketers must not only talk about the brand, product and category, but also “be in a position to engage holistically with whoever has views on the business, the company, the category, on the environmental footprint and whatever relevant or associated issues, which people decide to discuss. That leads to quite a cultural revolution in marketing, because it demands that marketers acquire a much more holistic view”.
Consequently, the GMC programme in Kuala Lumpur also includes some side events for both public affairs and marketing professionals. Specifically designed to showcase how marketers must integrate public affairs priorities into their overall marketing strategies in order to align with rapidly evolving consumer communities reflecting stronger opinions and mind-sets.
PROJECT RECONNECT
Defines the WFA initiative to listen to and understand what people really want from brands and marketing. Gleaning from the experience and relevant best practices of a wider corpus of professionals, WFA trusts this initiative will provide marketers with practical guidance and insights. To increasingly align priorities and ensure their behaviours reflect what people/consumers want and expect. Besides attending this session on Mar 16, Loerke strongly urges ambitious marketers to access a ready corpus of practical marketing insights from the project reconnect section in the WFA website.
*Source from theSundaily – 16 March 2016
View more MAA & WFA Global Marketer Conference 2016: http://www.wfanet.org/KL/
