Can you feel the love?

I’ve been feeling a lot of love just lately – for some of the fantastic ‘social marketing’ being accomplished in both the public and private sectors.

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR to its friends, has been the subject of two recent CIM conferences, the first put together by the Finance Market Interest Group was quickly followed by the Good Marketing Conference staged jointly by the Social Marketing Market Interest Group and the East of England Region. See, there’s even love between the volunteer teams of the Institute.

At both events it was clear that at a corporate level sustainability was a major focus for many companies and organisations.  Marks and Spencer, Unilever, RSA, Lloyds Bank and Speedy Hire were all promoting the benefits to society of a green approach to business – the other driver of course was profitability, as building energy saving efficiencies into the supply chain is an obvious win win.

One of the highlights of the Good Marketing Conference was a presentation by Depaul UK a London based charity working with young homeless people. Their brilliant iHobo App campaign, costing a mere £6,000, took a ground breaking and award winning approach to raising awareness and generating donor income,  particularly among young people.  By downloading the App you carry a homeless young person around on your phone for three days over which time you have to look after him to help him get off the street. If you ignore him his situation deteriorates quickly. At the end of the three days you are prompted to make a donation. If you’d like to know more take a look here.

Something else you might like to look at is Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan. Also at the Good Marketing Conference Matthew Neilson from Unilever shared their vision for a better world and to spread the word Unilever has now published a guide to the Five Levers for Change.

There’s also some great work on health and obesity. The Fit for Life campaign, for example, is still going strong despite the cuts to marketing budgets introduced by the coalition government. However, I couldn’t help thinking that there was something missing from all this good stuff. I believe youth unemployment is the root of many evils so couldn’t leading CSR advocates put some of their energy into creating new job opportunities for young people too? Just a thought.

There’s a new member service launched this month from the Institute, Marketing Expert. In this excellent resource hub, you can explore a range of tools, templates and marketing guidance in a quick, easy to use format.

Take a look at the website where you can find the answers to your questions on a wide range of marketing topics including strategy, segmentation, law, data hygiene, web analytics, blogging and much more. Marketing Expert will be available to CIM Studying Members in January 2012.

The new resource features:

• Consultants Directory – where you can benefit from a brand new feature called ‘Post a project’, as well as the traditional ‘Search for a specialist’ functionality
• Over 5,000 pages of marketing content
• Search function so you can quickly find what you need
• Regular content updates to ensure it stays relevant and meets your needs.

It will help you access the resources you need to effectively manage everything from budgets and brands to people.

Have a look for yourself!

To visit the site, log into MyCIM and the link will appear on your welcome page.

Thanks to Green & Black’s Direct this month, one lucky member will win a Green & Black’s Chocolate Lovers Hamper.

Packed full of mouth-watering delights including their Chocolate Conversations varieties and the best selling Miniature Bar Collection, it’s the ultimate indulgence. Also included are four of Green & Black’s organic chocolate bars, White to Dark chocolate filled with peppermint fondant.

Enter prize draw
For the chance to this chocolate dream prize, simply answer a few quick questions. The deadline for entries is 31 December 2011.

In front of over 100 attendees, the London region launched its first East London event last week, the hugely successful Marketing and the 2012 Games Conference.

It was fantastic to see London members at the conference getting involved by tweeting throughout the event – take a look at #CIMgamesconf. And it was a great forum to gauge interest in forming an East London team of volunteers.

Shaun Whatling, Nick Johnson, Phil Preston, Alex Balfour and David Magliano

The conference was held at The University of East London and arranged by London volunteer Maria Cenalmor. The top line up of speakers included David Magliano MBE, Former Director of Marketing, London 2012 who presented the inspiring film which helped London win next year’s Games. David demonstrated how London’s bid was completely different from the other contenders. TeamGB focussed on inspiring youth around the world to take part in sport, whereas other countries just highlighted the benefits of the host city. This strategy gave us the edge. Plus, Alex Balfour, Nick Johnson and Shaun Whatling talked about social media, law and sponsorship for the Games.

If this has sparked your interest and you’d like more information about volunteering and forming an East London team, please email Maria.

Congratulations to London’s Sarah Pollard, Senior Marketing Manager for FirstAssist Legal Expenses Insurance Limited who won last month’s prize draw. Sarah wins the fantastic Hotel Chocolat luxury hamper, which we’re sure will come in handy for the festive season!

Paid, Earned and Owned

I remember the days when media planning was relatively simple. Press, outdoor, radio, TV and other Above-The-Line media would dominate any marketing communications plan with a bit of PR thrown in for good measure.

Today’s marketer now has to struggle with a plethora of digital channels as well so it has become much more complex.

But I still think simple is best – which is why I like the Paid, Earned and Owned approach to defining media developed by Forrester Research Inc and others. In a nutshell ‘Paid’ relates to channels you have to pay for – TV, radio, PPC, banner ads – and ‘Earned’ includes advocacy, word-of-mouth, social media and peer reviews, where your customers become your best salespeople (this assumes they like what you are doing).

But what really got me excited the other day was the way Pret A Manger leverage their ‘Owned’ media. In other words the way they utilise the assets they already own to deliver brand and promotional messages.

I have to admit to being a bit of a Pret advocate – I buy into what the brand stands for and I also like their coffee and food for which I am prepared to pay a price premium. So much so that wherever I go I always have one eye on the lookout for a Pret. The week before Christmas last year I drove my wife bonkers over a two day city-break in central London pointing out all the Prets I had eaten in and the ones I had not yet visited.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Windsor and found a nice Pret in the town centre for lunch. Instead of the sort of generic pictures of coffee beans you might find on the walls in other similar establishments Pret display unique and often amusing images of the ingredients they use which cleverly promote their brand values. If you are unfamiliar with Pret this is what the brand promises:

“Pret creates handmade natural food avoiding the obscure chemicals, additives and preservatives common to so much of the ‘prepared’ and ‘fast’ food on the market today”

But it didn’t stop there. Wherever we looked, on the coffee cups, plates, packaging and even on the inside of the cardboard ring wrapped round my baguette we found brand messages being delivered consistently.  The staff were also used as an ‘Owned’ media channel  – not only do they make good eye contact, have a nice smile and deliver efficient service but they also promote the Pret brand on their clothes front and back.

A couple of other good examples of ‘Owned’ media thinking: Metro Bank has a branded van that drives round London delivering stationery to their branches. The same idea is used by a firm of Solicitors in my home town of Ipswich, which has a small fleet of vans in corporate colours displaying the company name and logo. And how many of you have business cards that are blank on the reverse side?

I’m sure you can think of plenty of ways you can use your organisation’s owned physical and online assets as a media channel. Be inventive like Pret A Manger – what have you got to lose?

How did London win the bid? Find out from the experts involved.

The 2012 Games is the key global next summer, and it’s taking place here in London! It will not only be fantastic for sport but also fantastic for business.

If you want to know

• The truly inspirational story of how London won the bid
• How London 2012 is using new media to ensure these games are not only commercially successful but also to influence positive behaviour change
• The pitfalls and opportunities the Games offer advertisers
• The strategies, challenges and opportunities of sponsorship and partnership

Then the Marketing and the 2012 Games Conference is for you.

29 November 2011
University of East London, Docklands
18.00-21.00
2 CPD hours
Prices start from just £20. Early bird booking discount end 31 October.

Sessions

• How the bid was won
  David Magliano MBE, Former Director of Marketing, London 2012
• Social Media and the 2012 Games
  Alex Balfour, Head of New Media, London 2012
• Advertising lock-down 2012 – protecting the Games from ambush marketing
  Nick Johnson, Partner, Osborne Clarke
• Olympic partnership – partnership strategies and their challenges
  Shaun Whatling, CEO, Redmandarin

Find out more about this key event and book.

Poll – get into the spirit of the Olympics

To get you in the spirit of the Games, here’s a quick poll for you to take part in.

This event is not an official London 2012 event and has been organised independently by The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

What a spectacular celebration the Women in Marketing Awards ceremony was last week! With big brands in attendance including sponsors KevinAllenPartners, Kraft and BDO, plus guests from Google, The Marketing Academy and Sony to name a few, the Ceremony was a high-class celebration for achievement in the London region.

Take a moment to view the gallery online, and to see the winners’ short list in more detail, visit www.wimawards.co.uk.

Women in Marketing Conference

The next Women in Marketing Conference will be held in March 2012 with the theme ‘Global Marketing.’ Look out for further details coming soon and keep an eye on www.wimconference.co.uk.

CIM/CAM Digital News

A new suite of CIM/CAM Digital Marketing qualifications has just been launched. You can find out more information here or you can talk to the Student Support Group (SSG) for courses starting early 2012.  If you have any questions please call Caroline at SSG on 01784 463057.

Are you in need of study help? Take a look at the series of 8 podcasts currently available to download on the London region’s website. From CAM qualifications and study tips, to chartered marketer status and how to pass, The Student Support Group have a range of useful tips to get your studying on track.

Updated and re-released podcasts – autumn 2011

• For new student members – Welcome to your CIM
• For all student members – General CIM study tips
• Certificate students – How to pass your CIM Professional Certificate
• Diploma students – How to pass your CIM Professional Diploma
• Interest in digital marketing – The exciting new CAM digital qualification
• Stay motivated – successful study insights for all students from a recent qualified student
• Get on in Marketing – hints and tips for all students from a marketing recruitment expert
• Day in the life of a Chartered Marketer – for all students getting ready to raise their game

New podcasts – coming early 2012

• How to pass Professional Graduate Diploma – for Postgraduate and Professional Post Graduate Diploma students
• CIM/CAM Digital Marketing qualifications – new modules explained

Free Diagnostic quizzes

Test your CIM syllabus knowledge; identify your knowledge gaps to aid assignment preparation and exam revision. Please email caroline@studentsupportgroup.co.uk or call Caroline at SSG on 01784 463057 to claim your FREE quiz.

London’s Kevin Tewis, is quite the music marketing expert! This month, he shares with London marketing professionals with an interest in music or customers in the business, be they songwriters, producers and media employees, valuable insights for music professionals, budding on targeting the right market to assist you in creating a worldwide hit.

In his article, Kevin gives advice on:

• Establishing a business check list for success
• Determining where audiences are likely to be receptive to music
• The key marketing factors that are critical for musicians to understand
• Obstacles and barriers to entry for commercial success
• How to gain a competitive edge to become a market leader.

You can read the full article here.