10 takeouts from Under The Spotlight with Dawe and Jakubenko

This was my first time attending a Marketing Society event. I was a little nervous heading there on my own. However, I was glad I did, as I had the good fortune to meet the lovely Aimee Bryan in the cloakroom queue. We found out we had a lot in common with my background in the women’s network Bloom UK and Aimee’s new tech startup Project Kitchen Table.

Watch this space…

So the fireside talk was part of the #braveleaders series featuring 2017’s Marketing Society’s Leader and Young Leader of the year with Barnaby Dawe, Just Eat’s global CMO and Bo Jakubenko, global marketing manager, Treasury Wines.

The combo of leaders from both spectrums of their careers laid the foundation for some pretty open and honest conversations….

My top 10 takeouts:

1.   You won't get anywhere unless the business supports marketing as a function, and you (as CMO) have the backing of your CEO.

2. The key thing to get right in a marketing strategy is the execution. It has to be world class, and connect with the consumer. If it’s not, you’ve failed to communicate the great idea in the first place.

3. Be brave. Barnaby cited Just Eat’s ITV X Factor sponsorship as one of the bravest things he’s had to do. However it paid off, with incremental sales for the business.

4.  Keep a small proportion of your budget set aside for innovation and testing. Use this to experiment, and motivate your teams, as long as it ladders up to your wider marketing goals.

5. Talk to others about your business challenges. Talk to your mentors, your peers. They may have another way of looking at the problem.

6. It can get lonely at the top. As a leader, you can’t always hang out with your team - even if you really want to. Instead, form networks in other departments within the business.

9. What shadow do you cast? Think about your actions, and the example you’re setting for your teams. You have a responsibility now for those you lead.

7. When you’re starting out in your career, put your hand up for everything. You’ll learn a lot about how other parts of the business work, fast.

8. Don’t be afraid to call it out. Bo cited an incident with an aggressive senior in one of her first roles as a graduate. She didn't let age or experience hold her back.  She spoke up, advised it wasn’t appropriate behaviour for the workplace and it even made their relationship stronger over the long term.

9. Be human. Barnaby talked of a leader and mentor he admired in a previous role. She could be fiercely formidable yet incredibly kind. She had mastered an ability to flex according to the situation in hand, and wasn’t afraid to be human and show she cared.

10.  Take time out to set career stretch goals. Bo uses the Olympics as four year milestones to challenge herself to grow and develop.

For me, it was an evening of inspiration, with wise words from both Barnaby and Bo.

I’ve been inspired to use Bo’s framework, so I’m setting myself two years to become a Head of Marketing. #Tokyo2020 #braveleaders

By Stephanie Matthews, commercial audiences manager, ITV

@_steph_matthews