Note from our CEO: October 2017

Dear members,

It’s been a busy month at The Marketing Society. As well as launching our seventh hub in New York with a week of events, we’ve also launched an important initiative, Marketing for Change.

Our reception in New York during our launch week was even better than we had anticipated. There was a huge amount of energy and excitement about the potential of our global network for the senior marketing leadership community. 

Beginning with a rooftop cocktail party, we also held an Advertising Week leadership session, featuring stateside marketers from Diageo, HSBC, IBM and Samsung. 

Finally, we hosted a fascinating leadership lunch with entrepreneur and surgeon, Dr Thomas Graham. 

Our brave agenda this year has reinforced the importance of tackling taboos and one of the most important things I’ve learned personally through the courage of our members sharing their stories, is that it’s okay not to be okay.

At our extraordinary event in London last week featuring Ruby Wax, we launched Marketing for Change in partnership with Time to Change, with the sole purpose to remove the stigma of mental health in our industry by creating safe spaces.

So how can you get involved? First, you can encourage your organisation to work together with Time to Change and become a pledged employee. But you can also take individual action to create a safe space in your workplace. For example, at the Society we all made our own pledges - mine is to give five minutes to anyone who needs it, Mike, our digital manager, pledged he would start being more honest with us all about his own state of mind.

We would also like to encourage you all, as marketing experts, to do what you do best – start influencing other stakeholders, start changing behaviour in your organisations, start making a difference.

It’s still early days, but we need to make some changes in our industry to protect our people. And I do know that our role in helping you all become bolder marketing leaders, needs to start with protecting your well-being.

And as if that wasn’t enough, our two flagship events are just around the corner on Wednesday 15 November. Our Brave Conference will feature storytellers, musicians, business leaders and more. 

And in the evening at our Annual Dinner expect performances to surprise and delight, including spoken word and improvisation like you have never seen before. 

I promise they will be brave and unforgettable. 

Very best,