I founded The Marketing Academy in the UK 5 years ago. In the middle of the worst recession to hit in 100 years, during a time when the markets were in chaos and companies cutting every budget, when ‘growth’ was becoming a figment of imagination, when the commercial atmosphere was tense at best and terrified at worst I decided to set up a non profit organisation focussed on developing talent in the world of marketing and advertising.
I’m often asked ‘why? And the answer is simple.
At that time the UK’s marketing industry – clients, media & creative agency’s – had a few concerns. For a long while there had been a growing sense that the leadership skills needed to run these brands and companies successfully were diminishing. That the emerging talent pool was somehow not getting the input, development and encouragement needed to thrive. Training budgets were being slashed at the very time the emerging leaders were being asked to do more for less, be faster, sharper, better.
New technology and changing working practices, whilst brilliant for speed and efficiency, started getting in the way of human connection and therefore the ability to learn from peers and superiors within the work place. Remote working, reliance on email communications, hot desking all in some ways negatively impacting our ability to observe best practice in our own environments.
So against that backdrop business leaders were asking a number of questions. How can we inspire hunger, drive, passion and ambition in our bright young things? How can we ensure they are thinking outside of the box, with true creativity and innovative solutions? How can we unleash their leadership potential? How do we broaden our emerging leaders experience in other sectors & industries and stimulate new ways of working, better solutions, and higher performance?
And it got me thinking. Just imagine how much could be achieved in the development, coaching and nurturing of our talent if the current generation of successful CEOs, CMOs, and Agency Presidents had a forum to truly share their knowledge, experience and wisdom with high potential marketers from across the entire industry, client side and agencies.
And so that’s what I set out to do. I spent a year building a voluntary organization providing world class marketing leadership development, mentoring and coaching to a cohort of the most naturally talented marketers in country. I spent days, weeks and months in board rooms across the UK persuading the elite of business, marketing and agency leaders to give ‘just one day’. One day of their time spread over a year to share their learning and give words of wisdom as mentors to the chosen few.
We gained support from organizations such as Mondelez, Microsoft, Nokia, Telefonica, Lloyd Banking Group, British Gas, British Airways, and McKinsey. We united all the trade associations & institutions in the UK; ISBA, Marketing Society. IPA, Direct Marketing Association, Chartered Institute of Marketing. We were given editorial and free adverting in all the UK trade press and we brought together a team of 80 ‘mentors’ and 30 coaches as voluntary team members.
Launching The Marketing Academy flagship ‘Scholarship Programme’ in February 2010 we identified 30 of the most exceptionally talented individuals from the entire marketing industry through a rigorous selection process now legendary in the UK. Each year these emerging leaders become ‘Scholars’ and embark on a one year, part time programme of one to one mentoring, coaching and bespoke learning provided by a team of high profile business leaders, coaches and world class organisations…for free.
And it works. At the last count the Marketing Academy in the UK had 369 people and around 30 companies contributing knowledge, experience, time and resources to develop the next generation of industry leaders. After 5 years, in addition to the Class of 2014, we have 120 Alumni. Since they graduated from the programme we’ve seen every single one be promoted, 63 more than twice, watched 14 becomes Marketing Directors and 9 become CEO’s. We’ve had 16 board appointments and our Alumni have won 47 awards. Crucially 100% of the Scholarship Alumni believe that as a direct result of attending the programme they are better leaders, their employers and teams have reaped untold rewards, they are brilliant marketers, their performance has dramatically improved and that they are capable of achieving anything they set out to do. They are all talented high flyers, nurtured by the entire industry, equipped to take our future in their hands.
Following the success of the Scholarship we’ve launched 3 additional programmes. One for 18 – 24 year olds ;Merlins Apprentice, one exclusively for CMO’s; The Fellowship Programme and one for everyone; The Merlin Lectures. All free, all face to face, all aimed at enabling people to be the best they can be and all utilizing the knowledge, wisdom, insight and experience of the guys at the top.
You see, simple.
