Student marketers show the way for the future
This week, I have helped to judge the finalists of The IDM Student Direct Marketing Competition and both entries showed a fantastic respect for digital marketing and its advancing capabilities.
You might think that this is simply a DM story and doesn’t fit into the digital marketing category. But, actually the methods proposed by the entrants have embraced the need for integration and recognised the advances across the industry that can help make a data-based campaign a success.
What struck me by the entries was just how forward-thinking they were. Having read them after a busy two days at Marketing Week Live!, it was great to see just how hard these students had worked to produce a proposal that embraced all modern aspects of marketing mixed in with some of the more classical marketing methods we’ve all come to love.
It’s a credit to both finalists that they are able to think outside the box and combine different marketing trends to form solid proposals that return great results on limited budgets.
Marketing constantly has to adapt to the testing modern times. What these students have shown is just how marketers need to think of the complete picture when it comes to planning. The days of working on just one media are long gone.
The speed at which digital is advancing is arguably the most important component of marketing that we all must keep on top of. The mindsets of these juniors should be seen as a boost for all of us.
Indeed a number of the sessions at Marketing Week Live! showed just how important the integration of digital is to successful marketing campaigns.
As our keynote speakers from Coca-Cola and LinkedIn discussed at Marketing Week Live! digital is not an add-on, but a core component of marketing for the foreseeable future.
Coca-Cola’s departing UK & Ireland marketing director Cathryn Sleight demonstrated how taking risks by “lighting fires” using digital tools could help brands thrive.
Kevin Eyres, managing director of LinkedIn Europe and Hans Notenboom, global director of online marketing and communications for Philips gave an entertaining discussion on how brands can harness thought leaders on social media sites to provoke professional discussions and shared solutions.
Congratulations to all the entrants for the IDM Student Direct Marketing Competition this year and good luck with all your future endeavours.
