12 BANDT.COM.AU MAY 29 2009

I recently made one of my biggest career moves. Ihave spent the bulk of my marketing career workingin big organisations. And when I mean big, I mean big– Goodman Fielder, Diageo, PepsiCo and Ninemsn.

Some may say I’m an establishment guy. Ifanyone had asked me five years ago where I wouldsee myself now, answering “running a start-upagency” would have been inconceivable.

But something happened. The thought came tome at about the same speed as the idea of havingkids. One minute kids were an annoyance onaeroplanes and the next I was tapping my wife onthe shoulder in the middle of the night.

Big organisations have their benefits – security,support, structure and for some, a position ofpower. Big budgets, big teams and big pay packetsare all attractive. You also have the ability to learn alot from those around you, about systems andprocesses, about dealing with people and standingout from the crowd. But, for me, it’s these exactthings that suddenly became the reasons why Ineeded a change. In large businesses, no matter howgood your processes, you end up spending a lot oftime talking internally. Now don’t get me wrong,internal communication is important to keep thebusiness ticking, but when you’re a marketer, andyou spend more time talking to one another ratherthan to the people who will hopefully buy yourproduct, there is an issue.

So, from someone who has just moved frombusinesses with 100,000 plus employees to a start-up, what are the main differences? Firstly, ideas canbe acted upon immediately without multiple layersof stakeholders watering them down. You have theability to be agile and change course without feelinglike you are steering a superliner. There is also aninnate feeling of team like nowhere else. Everyoneshares the vision and is motivated by the possibilityof building something out of nothing. Support is nota role, but is expected from everyone. Standing inthe queue at the post office is everyone’s job.Success is everyone’s and is celebrated no matterhow big and small. There is nowhere to turn whenthe pressure is on. You can’t blame the sales teamif you’re not hitting your numbers. The buck stopswith everyone.

Now, I am not suggesting which environment isbetter, or that every large organisation doesn’tdeliver on the above thoughts, but there is noquestion that size does matter when it comes toselecting the right environment for you. ■To comment go to fromthepopulation.blogspot.com

James Bond would be a nobody without a licenceto kill. Barristers get their name by passing theBar. Accountants wear their CPA badges withpride. Qualifications are a prerequisite for entry inmany professions, but in marketing they are oftena preference. But professionalism has its payback.

Last year the London-based CharteredInstitute of Marketing (CIM), the leadinginternational body for marketers, co-funded a50-page Economic Impact Assessment. For the

first time, eight of the leading professional bodiesin Britain (including CIM) had an estimation of the lifetime economic benefits of holdingprofessional qualifications and membership of aprofessional institute.

So, what is the payback from holding aprofessional qualification? According to theresearch the magic number is £81,000($A162,000). That figure is an average across theeight different professions, so obviously amountswill vary for each one.

Considering that a masters degree in marketingat the prestigious Melbourne Business School willcost a little over $40,000, that still seems like adecent career investment. But if you haven’t got aspare $40,000 laying around, you might alsoconsider studying the CIM’s globally-recognisedpostgraduate diploma in marketing. This will setyou back around $8000 and is now offeredthrough blended learning from the newly-established Australian College of Marketing.

But back to the report. It also looked at thelifetime payback from membership of aprofessional institute along the lines of CIM, orthe equivalent Down Under, the AustralianMarketing Institute (AMI). According to theresearch, the magic number is £71,000($A142,000). This makes the few hundred dollars ayear annual AMI membership feel like a goodinvestment too. On top of this, AMI members get anice laminated James Bond-style card which I liketo think of as my licence not to kill a brand.

But the pinnacle for Australian marketers hasto be Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM) status.The AMI describes CPM accreditation as the peakprofessional benchmark for marketers. It takesinto account professional qualifications as well asrelevant marketing experience.

There are more than 1000 CPMs in Australiaand their number is growing at an annual rate of13%. If the CIM report is true, these areincreasingly Australia’s most minted marketers. ■

comm

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SIZE MATTERS IF YOU’RESTEERING A SUPERLINER

THE MAN WITH THEGOLDEN CREDENTIALS

TO MAKE A COMMENT EMAIL EDITORIAL@BANDT.COM.AU

Tony ThomasManaging director,The Population

Adam Joseph Insights manager,Herald Sun Melbourne

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