It’s in our nature to constantly think of the future. Which is why I’m particularly excited by this year’s Marketing Society Conference theme of ‘Beyond’.
There are two key trends that I believe will impact the future of the marketing industry and both are reflected in this year’s speaker line-up.
Firstly, ‘marketing for good’ or as speaker Alain de Botton will refer to it, ‘meaning driven capitalism’. This has been a prominent theme in our industry over the last 12 months with initiatives like The Drum’s Do It Day and Tom Knox’s Presidency Manifesto at the IPA. Brands now feel a huge amount of pressure to ‘do the right thing’ and many campaigns like Always’ Like a Girl, Marks & Spencer’s Shwoppin’ scheme and Barclays’ Life Skills have already made an impact on society and influenced the way those brands are perceived. But there is still so far to go. To truly ‘do good’, brands need to be genuinely useful to consumers whilst not causing feelings of guilt or regret post purchase and agencies have a role to play in guiding their clients to achieve this.
Secondly, creating a culture of ‘life-long learning’. Nurturing young talent should be a crucial part of forging a successful future for any business. Particularly given that Gen Y has now overtaken the Gen X workforce and represents a whopping 44% of the US workforce (according to Mary Meekers’ 2015 Internet Trends Report). As I mentioned in our Cannes seminar earlier this year, the chance to do the best creative work of their life just isn’t enough for Gen Y’ers anymore. As employers – and more crucially, mentors – we have to help them achieve their goals. Speaker Anne-Marie Farrell will expand on this theme – urging all of us to ‘say yes’ to new learning opportunities and how to recognise the critical difference between a ‘fixed mind-set’ and a ‘growth mind-set’.
Whilst it’s something we’ve been trying to do at TMW Unlimited for a number of years (through our business incubator programme for example) I’m keen to learn more from a truly inspiring line-up of speakers. Looking forward to seeing you all there!
Read more from Chris Pearce and TMW in our Clubhouse.
Follow him @chrispearce.
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