Interview with Marina Maciver

Tell us a bit more about yourself

I've got my BA (hons) Business Studies from Napier, before specialising in marketing with an MSc. My early career took me into financial services and manufacturing with Michelin Tyre before joining Scottish Enterprise where I have been for most of my career. At Scottish Enterprise I've worked as brand manager for Business Gateway, and Scottish Development International in Asia.  I then moved out of marketing to work in a number of business areas including our International Networks, policy development and heading up a team to deliver our work across 2014 on the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup. The lure of marketing was too great, and I re-joined the team around 5 years ago, heading up a team of brilliant marketers who deliver campaigns and analytics across our domestic and international businesses, and collaborating on Scotland is Now. I live In Glasgow with my husband and 2 children.

What have been the key highlights of your career so far? 

Working for Scottish Enterprise is always interesting because of the breadth of work we do, and the partners we collaborate with.  There are so many fantastic projects from the excitement of launching the first brand Scotland campaign to run in decades – Scotland is Now, to welcoming the world as part of Team Scotland in 2014, and winning marketing awards for our international marketing there really is never a dull moment.   I got what might be the ultimate compliment for a marketer.   Last year when colleagues in Business Gateway, having just done extensive customer testing as part of their brand refresh told me that there was still recall for my 2003/4 young persons start up grant – a grand says you can.

Who are your biggest inspirations in our industry? 

So of course, we all take our hats off to David Ogilvy, Seth Godin et al, but it’s always the new people who come into our profession that give me the real inspiration. They come in with so many new ideas, no fear and a different perspective, they will ensure our profession will continue to evolve, thrive and stay relevant to the businesses we work in.

What is your favourite marketing campaign ever? 

Apart from the many I’ve worked on – obviously!  From Scotland, it has to be the Irn Bru work. Ever since the 80s they have always captured the spirit of Scotland and our other national drink. I always love cause related collaborations, and a great example of this is breast cancer awareness and their pink ribbon campaigns.  Working across charities, global and local brands they have used creativity to build the brand and leverage relationships to gain reach, heighten awareness and raise money.  

What marketing trends will you be focussing on over the next year or so? 

At the moment I'm really Interested In how we best harness marketing technology to support our operations and make space for creativity.   

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in marketing? 

Choose a place of work you can believe in.  Take every opportunity that comes your way, be brave, be kind and work hard.

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