Hugh Burkitt's thoughts on our Brave Conference

This year’s Annual Conference has departed radically from the Society’s usual pattern of inviting successful marketers to reveal their secrets, in favour of an in-depth exploration of what it means to be brave, by listening to the stories of all kinds of people that we do not normally encounter in the world of marketing. This is, in itself, a brave decision, and I am somewhat amazed to read the line-up.

For example; a surfer who rides ridiculously dangerous waves... a doctor of engineering who is trying to bring healthcare to 50% of the world who don’t currently have it... the first Saudi Arabian woman to climb Everest... a concert violinist whose priceless Stradivarius violin was stolen... and an English teacher who escaped the war in Syria, and was so desperate to claim asylum in the UK that he took huge risks on a perilous journey to get here...

Some commentators have already questioned whether mere marketers can ever be brave on quite the same scale as these heroes.

For example: is it really 'brave' to back radical creative work when the alternative is something bland and boring that no one will notice?

But I do think that marketers are often required to be brave in two ways -  that one of the other remarkable speakers in this year’s conference will demonstrate. Mark Thompson - CEO of The New York Times and former Director General of the BBC will talk about two things that marketers must always care about a lot:  the truth... and where it is to be found in a 'post truth' political age... and investing in the quality of your product, when all about you are cutting costs and reducing the quality of theirs.

This is a very tough time to be in the news business, when social media is flooded with content that costs nothing to produce - false rumours and ranting - and the traditional funding of newspapers has been dramatically reduced. But Mark Thompson believes there is a real market for the truth, and has ben investing in improving his news gathering and quality of analysis.

I am personally very much looking forward to hearing how well he is getting on. In a media business that suddenly finds itself in the middle of a digital tsunami, it takes real bravery to chart a course that attempts to do something that is not just keeping your head above water, while you are swept along by the waves.   

This piece was written by Marketing Society Global Ambassador Hugh Burkitt. Follow him @hughburkitt.

Photo credit: Chris Goodney | Bloomberg