The DFW AMA Unites Area Marketers
DALLAS – The Dallas/Fort Worth American Marketing Association hosted Beyond Borders: Global Marketing Summit on April 15, 2009. Hundreds of marketing professionals, exhibitors, and speakers gathered to discuss the impact of the current economic conditions on global marketing initiatives and strategies to become a leader.
Paige V. Johnston, President, Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of the American Marketing Association, states: “We rarely have the opportunity to hear global insights and have a one-on-one discussion with marketing executives from Egypt, Venezuela, Austria, China, and across the U.S. at a one day summit. This event’s continued success is an example of the synergy that flourishes when dedicated volunteers and sponsors unite to help support our chapter’s mission of educating and supporting marketing professionals, and we’re sincerely appreciative of everyone’s contributions.”
Seasoned global marketing executives imparted their expertise and best practices on creative and effective approaches to manage brands, engage consumers, ensure the long-term growth, and sustain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace given the new market dynamics. Brief quotes from our executive speakers will give you an idea of what event attendees brought home from Beyond Borders:
On Emerging Markets:
Mike Kassab, SVP Director of Innovation at GfK, thinks that “in order to get the economic growth in the U.S. and the corporate growth that all companies seek, we must learn to better capture foreign markets, but in a much more highly competitive business climate than we have ever participated in.”
Xiaoyan Zhao, SVP, Roper Public Affairs, makes the connection with U.S. and China: “There are more new players in global business, and some of them come from countries that have not played leadership roles. But America is still seen as a place with cutting-edge technologies and this should be one of the anchors and cornerstones for American brands to go out there and leverage in the global marketplace.”
Tom Krasney, Managing Director, GfK Austria, shares his thoughts on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): “The CEE region is a developing market – it is a growth opportunity. It is even more important to try and get insight into these markets because without understanding them it is almost impossible to make any reasonable business decisions.”
Biggest Challenges facing marketers:
Kassab commented that one of the greatest challenges marketers face is “prioritization of country targets, consumer targets, and brand and product portfolios that are taken to market.”
Jill Matthews, Principal, Big Cactus, spoke of the necessity of staying relevant. “Marketers and businesses need to offer relevant products from/to local markets (not necessarily the products that do well in other markets). Norms, shopping behaviors, cultural trends, and expectations are key to marketing successfully.”
Kelly McDonald, President, McDonald Marketing, also strongly believes in “leaving our egocentric lens behind.” She said we need to learn to understand who we are selling to and how they are different to us.
Stewart McHie, Global Brand Manager, ExxonMobil: “Connecting with customer attitudes and behaviors and the need to develop strategies to deal with the changes consumers are going through.”
Biggest Mistakes companies are making with their marketing strategies:
Shauna Heran, Executive Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications, Flour, believes one of the key mistakes is “the knee jerk reaction by business managers to cut 20% across the board versus investing in marketing channels that can provide ROI and reach the customer to establish brand loyalty in these times.”
Ben Smithee, Spych Market Analytics, Senior Brand Manager, stressed that “some companies are afraid to try something new and when they do, often they do not respond to customer feedback, nor give customers a way to interact with the brand.”
Ryan Smith, Director, Qualtrics, honed in on “businesses that lack implementing metrics. We now have the ability to quantify all decision made in marketing from ad testing and search engine optimization to pay per click, so you can generate an ROI for every dollar you are spending.”
Executive opinions on solutions for competing and winning in the global marketplace share a common thread: stay relevant, focused, and keep it simple. Several speakers like McDonald and Matthews agree that knowing your consumers’ behavior patterns and cultural context are critical for successful branding and product development. Charles Haseman, President of Haseman & Associates, and DFW AMA member, advises companies to “stop throwing away money at technology, simplify the approaches and go back to the basics in making the strategic transformation.”
Summit attendees left armed with new approaches and insightful information to implement in their own organizations to help manage their brand/products, etc. in dynamic markets, struggling economies, and the new multilogue every marketer currently faces.
This successful event was made possible by the generous support of its sponsors: GfK custom Research North America, Dallas Business Journal, Getty Images, and Octagon World.
Anne Ferrante, Director, UTDallas Global Leadership EMBA program – GLEMBA — was delighted to reconnect with one of our distinguished alumni – Mike Kassab, Senior Vice President – Director of Innovation for GfK Custom Research North America to help frame the theme of the Beyond Borders Conference.
About the DFW AMA:
The DFW American Marketing Association (AMA) is the number one source for marketers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. With over 700 professional members and host to more than 50 informative and educational events annually, it is the ninth fastest growing chapter and the tenth largest in the nation. Recent event keynote speakers have included global marketing executives from Mary Kay, Frito-Lay, Texas Instruments, American Airlines, Xerox, JC Penney and La Quinta Hotels and Inns. For more information, go to: www.dfwama.com.
Want to connect with industry leaders, local marketing professionals and stay current on the hottest marketing topics? Join the AMA today!
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About the AMA:
The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the largest professional association for marketers with more than 38,000 members worldwide in every area of marketing. For over six decades, the AMA has been the leading source for information, knowledge sharing and professional development for marketing professionals. To learn more about the AMA, go to: www.marketingpower.com.
About GfK Custom Research North America:
Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America is part of the GfK Group. With home offices in Nuremberg, Germany, the GfK Group is fourth largest market research organization in the world. Its activities cover three business sectors: Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. With 115 companies covering over 100 countries, GfK Group has approximately 10,000 employees (as of September 30, 2008), 80% of which are based outside Germany. For more information, visit www.gfkamerica.com
