DITCHING THE DIGITAL TITLES, AND OTHER TALENT TRUTHS

Part 1 of a 2-part series

In 2018 the Marketing Association brought together a group of marketing leaders from some of NZ’s biggest companies and brands to discuss issues facing our marketing industry. Despite different sectors, team structures, and marketing strategies, these 40 marketeers share several challenges - perhaps the most urgent being the perceived lack of well-rounded and skilled marketing talent.

There was consensus on three core concerns:

■ the increasing difficulty in finding, developing and keeping the best marketing talent;

■ the increase of specialisation in marketing roles (especially in digital), leading to a deficiency of generalist marketing skills;

■ also, the lack of complete marketing competence (core capabilities, technical competencies, and behavioural attributes) and, in particular, the lack of commercial acumen of many mid and senior-level marketers.

In this two-part Marketing Talent series, we’ll review these concerns, look at the possible root causes, and suggest a few practical