Bravery comes with craziness

I attended the Marketing Society Bravest Conference with the view of getting inspired, and, even, challenged about the latest topics to impact the marketing and createive industries. I was not disappointed.

Some of my highlights include:

A personal difficulties lead to innovation:

Womena’s founder, Elissa Freiha, found it impossible to name female role-models in angel investing and so she created Womena to boost visibility of change-making women

The founder of Bulk Whiz, Amira Rashad, spoke of her personal truth that as basketball mum she was experiencing inefficient ways of working/doing things. Hence she launched the MENA equivalent of Cost-co. Her motto: Save me money, save me time, save me effort!

Mental health is a thorn in the industry.

In an Industry whose key currency is mental currency, the stresses and unrealistic expectations in terms of delivery, plus cultures of extreme pressure, lead to mass burn-outs. We need to be bold to fight the stigma associated with mental heals, head on.  As Meredith Carsonn stated, ‘we have to look at the shade to reveal the light’.

Novel social enterprises, Safe Space Dxb and Talkcircle, offer the necessary respite for professionals - the ‘gym for the mind’, where mental health issues are tackled in a different way. However, it is down the to corporations to not only leave it to individuals to take over their challenges but also offer support as part of their corporate well-being programmes.

Being Bravest = Doing something Crazy

These are the words which left a long-lasting impression: Womena’s founder stated: ‘being brave equals to doing something different. Trying something, even, completely crazy!’

And yes, as marketers, we owe it to ourselves and our creative genius, to do something crazy…To be inherently Brave.