What a great event our Future of Marketing Practice conference was. The day was hosted by Aston Business School, CIM and the British Academy of Management, with a special keynote address from Chris Daly, Chief Executive of CIM.

The day was a sell out with eighty five delegates, marketers from across the West Midlands region coming together to debate the future of marketing practice.

The morning began with two thought proving presentations that led to much debate whilst networking during the morning coffee break.  Professor Katy Mason, BAM Vice Chair and Dr Keith Glanfield, Aston Business School looked at what marketers can learn from other professions.  This was followed by new insights into innovation in practice from Neil Davidson, Managing Partner from Hay Human and Susan Vidler, Head of Research at Harris Interactive.

After lunch the delegates split into three groups to debate the challenges and opportunities, sharing thoughts on marketing best practice.

Chris Daly concluded the day by outlining how CIM is working towards improving and sharing ‘best practice’ alongside the research carried out by Aston Business School and the British Academy of Management.

“We enjoyed a lively day with plenty of passionate and enthusiastic debate,” said Dr Keith Glanfield, CIM Midlands Vice Chair, education and learning.

“We have begun the important process of uncovering and sharing best practice and have more planned for the next twelve months.  Our aim is to develop a CIM ’marketing-as-practice’ tool kit that characterises different marketing environments and their challenges.  We also hope to include a set of ‘best practise’ interventions to make our marketing practice more effective.”

The feedback from delegates was exceedingly positive. Rebecca Harding from Saltwhistle said, “The quality of the presentations and the mix of attendees generated a lot of worthwhile ideas and debate.  I also enjoyed the extended networking time planned into the day and made some great new connections.”  

A follow up conference is planned for 2018, details of this and other CIM events can be found here.