Success, failure and ambition were on the menu at the Marketing Society Future Council’s event, ‘The F Word’. Spotlighting the marketing moments that didn’t quite hit the mark, the talks are tailored for marketers with up to five years experience. The speakers included UCD lecturer, Bord Bia Marketing Forum chairman and Marketing.ie contributor John Fanning, Fiona Field of Mediaworks and Aoife McGuigan of Lucozade Ribena Suntory.
Fanning drew in references to great Irish artists like Seamus Heaney and called on young marketers to use their insight and expertise to make better work. Encouraging the use of proven advertising case studies, a whole code of knowledge about how marketing communications works has been built up. “But because we’re so obsessed with the latest new thing, we forget about the knowledge we’ve built up. That’s a huge mistake,” Fanning insisted.
Sharing personal insights from his storied career, Fanning also urged the audience of young marketers to be ambitious, saying: “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be more ambitious… we need to be. Dublin could be a big centre for creative excellence. There’s no reason in a digital age why that isn’t possible,” the former McConnells’ boss added.
Along with the speakers, the Future Council announced details of their upcoming recruitment drive for new positions on the council. Applications to join will be on the Marketing Society website from next Thursday, March 2. Current members include Bord Bia’s Dermot Markey, Aoife Marron, Google, Hannah-Louise Dunne, Radical and Karen Sheehan, Ipsos MRBI.
Pictured above, John Fanning and Aoife Marron at the Marketing Society Council in Odessa
