The Work, Rest and Play issue...

• GLR Events this autumn
• Women in Marketing with a conscience
• What to do with your exam results
• GLR sponsors Marketing Award
• Studying Member Conference
• Beware the Olympics and ambush marketing
• Day in the Life
• New study tips podcasts available
• Prize Draw: Win a holiday in Italy
• Competition: Win ‘The Innovative Leader’

Get your diary out and take your pick from the excellent range of CIM events in the Greater London Region this autumn. With prices for members between £7 and £40 – and some events free – GLR’s professional events are unbeatable value. Make the most of your CIM Membership and come along.

Keep an eye out for a firm date for the next unmissable Women in Marketing event. Building on the huge success of last March’s event ‘Women in Marketing: The Creatives’, GLR volunteer Ade Onilude (pictured) is busy once again recruiting top level speakers. This time the event will carry the highly topical theme of Women in Marketing: The Ethical One. No details have been officially released yet but let’s just say, Ade is not known for aiming low…

See the gallery of pictures from the last Women in Marketing event.

With CIM exam and assignment results just out at the end of August GLR News thought now would be a good time to congratulate or commiserate. We spoke to CIM revision and study expert Jon Twomey from the Student Support Group to find out what are the next steps for CIM studying members this autumn. Here’s Jon’s advice.

You passed “A massive pat on the back to everyone who did pass and well done for all your hard work. Make sure you take the time to celebrate your success and give yourself a reward. I’ve known many successful students get into a good study pattern by working towards little reward/treat milestones. So now is the time to give yourself that juicy prize you’ve been promising yourself. Enjoy your success and enjoy making your qualification work for you.”

You failed (or ‘deferred your success to a later date’) “Rest assured you are not alone: about 35% of CIM students do not pass first time. You can retake your exams in December but the first thing to do is to give yourself a break – literally and metaphorically! Don’t leap to any speedy conclusions. Find out what went wrong and review your options for putting it right. Here are a few practical pointers for you to consider over the next few weeks: 1. CIM professional qualifications are difficult That's what makes them so valuable in helping you develop your marketing skills and career. If the qualifications were easy, they wouldn’t be worth having. So it’s not easy but it is logical: there is a learning formula that you can adopt to help you pass next time. CIM professional standards test your ability on three fronts: a) retain knowledge b) apply knowledge in context c) demonstrate the appropriate evaluative skills The CIM syllabus document for your subject lists all the things you need to be able to prove you can do. The sample exam questions (assignment briefs) and specimen answers help you benchmark your work. Have a look at the CIM website to see if you know what’s expected. 2. Do something different, get some help Sadly, whatever it was you did last time it didn't work for you, so adopt good study and practice habits early on to ensure you are properly prepared and up to standard this time. Practise questions at home or sign up to attend a syllabus and/or exam preparation workshop in October/November. This website provides heaps of free advice too including CIM terminology, hints and tips etc. 3. Did you maximise your chances of success? The CIM recommends approximately 40+ hours of personal study for each subject, so if you were unable to devote that much time it's understandable that you're not up to speed yet. Very often the pressure of work and/or family/social commitments do take over, so make a plan to start your studies early this term. Do a little bit every week to avoid any last minute panic when you retake in December. Make a revision plan that spans at least 8 weeks. For a free 5 R's revision planning checklist email Student Support Group. 4. Find out where you went wrong and fix it Look up the CIM Examiner’s Report for free on the CIM website for general comments about the exam. Log in at www.cim.co.uk/learningzone. For more tailored feedback, ask your college tutor to provide you with feedback on your unsuccessful Assignment or buy the Personal Feedback Report (from £45) for feedback on your own exam paper. Don't let the fee put you off, it really is essential you find out where you went wrong. This is an investment in your career. Alternatively, do a diagnostic quiz for £10 on the Student Support Group website, this will test your syllabus knowledge and identify which syllabus chunks need more focus. 5. Remember your end goal Remind yourself what it was that motivated you to get these qualifications in the first place and imagine how great it will feel when you become qualified (and get promoted)! Eventually you will achieve your goal and be able to celebrate with family & friends, so use your own mental image to re-motivate yourself to work harder and smarter this time. Above all, enjoy your studies.”

GLR recently announced that it will be sponsoring the Excellence in Marketing Award at November’s Thames Gateway Business Awards.

Greater London Region Chair Colin Linton says “We are delighted to sponsor the Marketing category for these regional awards. GLR wholeheartedly shares the aims of the Thames Gateway Business Awards – to further skills, experience and business knowledge in this important geographical area. GLR members are committed to maintaining high standards of marketing across the profession and we hope these awards will showcase some of the Region’s best work”.

Are you eligible to enter the Excellence in Marketing Award?
Companies, teams and individuals are welcome to compete in the Marketing Excellence category. The main criteria for entry are that you or your business must have successfully delivered a campaign or initiative to promote a product/service/business in the area and have made a positive and measurable impact on turnover within the last 12 months. This can include either a:

• fully co-ordinated marketing campaign
• pioneering or creative marketing initiative/project or
• creative concept from individual media (e.g. a piece of advertising or marketing, a website etc)

What will you win?
In addition to the CV kudos and the sheer satisfaction of winning an award for your marketing, ALL FINALISTS will get free tickets to the glittering Gala Presentation Night - at the 02 arena no less - on 23 November. Winners in each category will also win £1000 worth of advertising for their business.

Join your fellow GLR students at the Studying Member Conference on 22 October
Run by CIM subject experts from across GLR, this event provides a choice of drop-in sessions to allow you to mix-and-match to suit your needs. Here’s why studying members should go to this event:

• New to CIM? Hear about key study resources and benefits of your membership.
• Re-taking exams? Find out how to study smarter and succeed this time.
• Thinking about your December exams or re-sits? Get top tips on CIM revision planning from the revision experts.
• Worried about SMIP? Discover how to tackle the giant PGDip Case Study in manageable chunks.
• Assignment looming large? Loads of hints & tips to save you time and stress.
• Distance learner or self-studier? Meet fellow students, swap contact details and share ideas on your subjects.
• Thinking about the next career step? Hone your networking skills and sharpen up your CV.

Programme, venue and booking details

With athletes in the 2012 Olympics competing at venues in and around the GLR territory, many of us could find ourselves innocently wondering how to capitalize on London’s successful bid in our own PR or marketing activities. Activities such as canoeing at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire and mountain-biking at Weald Country Park in Essex, sound like a potential advertising dream for companies active in this region.

However the new London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006 is set to clamp down on ‘ambush marketing’, where businesses try to bask in the event’s reflected glory by referring to the Olympics in their promotional activity. So even though the London Olympics are six years away, references to the event are already tightly restricted, through protected words and logos.

Where you might expect the use of the five rings symbol to be highly restricted, you might be surprised to know that use of words such as ‘Olympics’, ‘Olympians’, and ‘Paralympics’ are also controlled. Even the use of seemingly innocuous words, such as ‘London’, ‘games’, ‘twenty twelve’, ‘gold’, ‘silver’, ‘bronze’, ‘medals’ and even ‘summer’ may also be taken into account when errant advertisers are brought to account.

What is clear is that it’s unlawful to pass your business off as being officially linked with the Games (unless is it of course). What is less clear, is knowing where to draw the line.

What is ambush marketing? It’s any promotional activity aimed at suggesting a connection with an event, without being an official sponsor and paying for the privilege. Also known as stealing the show! Who’s been ambushed before? In Atlanta in 1996, Nike avoided paying the $50 million dollar sponsorship fee, successfully mounting a marketing campaign by plastering the city in billboards, handing out free banners to spectators and erecting an enormous Nike centre overlooking the stadium. Many thought that Nike was an official sponsor of the 1996 Olympics, rather than Reebok. Without infringing any of Australia’s newly-passed ‘anti-ambush laws’, in 2000 Qantas exploited its sponsorship of individual athletes and pre-Olympic events (such as pre-Olympic swimming trials) so effectively that following the Olympics, market research showed that there was a higher awareness of Qantas as an Olympic sponsor than Ansett, which was actually the official airline. At Wimbledon 2005, Colgate-Palmolive, sponsors of the 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, were handing out bottles of water emblazoned with a deodorant brand to fans in the queue. These were confiscated by officials since the ‘official’ water supplier to the championships was Buxton. The company later gave the water away to thirsty spectators as they left the club. Corona’s description of itself in TV advertising as the “official sponsor of Mexican supporters” gained them a bigger profile than the official beer of the Mexican national team, Corona’s competitor, Sol. What might happen if I do it? Anyone found guilty of an offence may be liable to huge fines as well as repaying any expenses incurred by the police in taking action. Plus the negative publicity of your company name being slated. How can I unlock any commercial potential without breaking the law? With the Olympics there’s going to be a fine line between clever themed marketing and unlawful promotion. Get any themed marketing approved by specialist intellectual property lawyers and/or seek the express permission of the British Olympic Association at www.olympics.org.uk.

Expedia Corporate Travel’s UK Marketing Executive, Samantha Robinson, recently won a Top Student prize for her Professional Diploma results. Sam, 24, from London is as enthusiastic about marketing as she is about the perks of working in travel….

What does your company do?
Expedia Corporate Travel creates online travel management systems for large corporate clients. From the Expedia main corporate site they can log into their own personalized system that allows them to book every aspect of business travel for their staff. As part of the system we offer lots of reporting tools so senior managers can analyse their company’s travel patterns, and monitor and control who’s booking what when. It’s a hugely valuable tool for global companies when you’ve got hundreds of staff flying all over the world all the time.

What does your job involve?
I’m responsible for all operational marketing in the UK: customer communications, client events, industry events, supporting the sales team, public relations. About 60% of my work is for e-marketing campaigns and online initiatives so my learning curve with the web team here was pretty steep when I joined. My CIM qualifications helped me understand where online fits into the marketing mix but there’s absolutely nothing like running your first email campaign to show you how much you don’t yet know!

What do you like most about your job?
I love the sheer variety of marketing activity that I get to work on. One day I’ll be developing ideas for a new loyalty programme or reviewing copy for a new e-shot, the next I’ll be attending an event for a client or thinking up with new ways to gain share of wallet among our existing base.

I love the fact that I regularly get out and about too: either going off to a big corporate travel event or a meeting with my counterparts from Expedia offices across Europe. Having said that, travelling abroad for business meetings is not as glamorous as it sounds! I usually jump on Eurostar at 6pm, arrive at my hotel in Paris close to midnight, get up in the morning for a day of meetings and then hop back on the train that evening! I do enjoy the pace though.

What do you like least?
I am the only marketing specialist in Expedia Corporate Travel UK. In fact I am the UK marketing team! So one thing I miss is the team environment where you can quickly bounce ideas off colleagues and have impromptu brainstorming sessions. I do have to be quite creative in my role and it can be quite limiting when you’ve only got yourself to spark ideas off with! I report directly to the Managing Director so when I can get some time with him that’s great but he’s obviously not available at the drop of a hat.

The positive angle is that I definitely don’t feel like a small cog in a big corporate wheel. I feel like my ideas become operational and my work makes a difference. If I’m off work for even a day, I’m missed and there are people waiting for answers when I get back!

How do you know when you’ve had a good day?
When I’ve had some good feedback from my manager. Since he also happens to be the MD, my work has quite a high profile and I’m always pleased when I run some ideas past him and they’ve been well-liked or positively received.

What are the perks of working in travel?
You can develop good relationships with hotels and airlines and they sometimes offer free or hugely reduced trips and nights in great places.

What are the big issues in the travel industry at the moment?
Environmental issues are of course quite high on the agenda. Expedia has a carbon-offsetting product that helps clients address environmental concerns involved with corporate travel.

What is Expedia like as an employer?
They’re great. The package is good and reflects a long-term investment in its employees with things like pensions.

What are your career ambitions?
Well I certainly want to stay in the travel industry. There’s great potential to work within the Expedia Group since they own some amazing brands such as tripadvisor.com and hotels.com. I’d certainly like to work overseas for a few years – ideally Sydney or the US. Outside the Group there are some great airline brands I’d like to work with such Virgin or BA.

Two brand new study tips podcasts are now available to download. There’s one for Assignment and one for Exam revision students so pick and listen according to your study format.

Created by CIM's North West Region in partnership with Student Support Group (SSG), the podcast provides CIM-specific study hints and tips to help you maximise use of your precious study time. Last term almost 300 students downloaded our study podcasts. These podcasts are ideal for all studying members but especially those who are new to CIM this term, this podcast can help you:

Back to School blues?
If you just got back from a summer break with that September sinking feeling, here’s something that might help you hang on until next April.

GLR News has teamed up with luxury spa hotel L’Albergo della Regina Isabella and the airline bmi to take one GLR reader (and partner) on a fantastic holiday for two in Ischia, Southern Italy.

The prize…
The winner and his/her partner will fly direct from London Heathrow to Naples with bmi to enjoy a 3 night long stay at L’Albergo della Regina Isabella – a luxury five-star hotel and spa.

Located in the village of Lacco Ameno, on the northern coast of Ischia, overlooking the Bay of Naples and Capri, l’Albergo della Regina Isabella is a world-class destination.

The hotel nestles on a tranquil cove framed by rocky cliffs and Mediterranean pinewoods. It is furnished with authentic Capodimote ceramic floors, Murano glass chandeliers and exquisite baroque antiques. There are 128 stunning rooms, and the seven Royal Suites come with private plunge pools.

Since its opening, the l’Albergo della Regina Isabella has attracted the international jet-set and Hollywood royalty, along with generations of in-the-know Europeans. Many guests return to Regina Isabella year after year to enjoy one of Italy’s most luxurious wellness destinations.

Includes…

• 2 economy class flights from London Heathrow to Naples (flying out with bmi on Saturday 12 April 2008 and returning with bmi on Tuesday 15 April 2008)
• 3 nights Bed & Breakfast at L’Albergo della Regina Isabella (Saturday 12, Sunday 13 and Monday 14 April 2008).

Work hard. Play hard. GLR News helps you do both!

We’ve got three copies of new book ‘The Innovative Leader’ to give away.

Author Paul Sloane is founder of www.destination-innovation.com. He writes, speaks and gives workshops on lateral thinking and innovation. The book, organized into six short, sharp sections and snappy bite-size chunks, aims to give a practical and simple guide to instilling a culture of innovation in yourself, your team or your company. Peppered with examples and case studies gaining competitive advantage by encouraging change and innovation, it’s ideal for dipping into on the tube or between meetings. Big ideas and little tips on:

1. Leading innovation
2. Problem analysis
3. Generating idea
4. Implementing innovation processes
5. Building a creative culture
6. Personal creativity

Paul’s creative approach to problem-solving
Let’s say you are wrestling with a tough issue – maybe at work, at home, with your children or in your social life. You have been stuck for a while and you can’t seem to make a breakthrough. You want to come up with some really creative ideas. What can you do? Here are ten practical ways to boost your inventiveness and to crack the problem:

1. Ask why, why? Ask, ‘why has this issue arisen?’ Come up with six different reasons and for each of them ask, ‘why did this happen?’ Keep asking why for each cause. This helps you to better understand the different reasons why this is a problem and so in turn you will see different possible solutions.
2. Talk to your mum. Talk it over with someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the situation. They will often ask basic questions or make seemingly silly suggestions that prompt good ideas. Two heads are better than one but people who are too close to the issue will often come up with the same ideas as you, so try an outsider.
3. What would Bob Geldof do? Ask how some celebrity would tackle the issue – what would Bill Gates do? Richard Branson, or Salvador Dali or Margaret Thatcher or Madonna or Sherlock Holmes? Take each individual’s approach to its extremes and it will likely give you some radical solutions.
4. Grab a golf club. Pick up any object at random and say to yourself, ‘this item contains the key to solving the problem.’ Then force some ideas. Try this with several different objects and you will have a selection of radical and inventive ideas.
5. Use similes. Try to think of a different problem in another walk of life that is like your problem. Say you want your clients to consider a new way of working. You might imagine that this is like getting children to eat Brussel sprouts. List various methods you might use with your children to encourage or persuade them to try the vegetables. Then go through the list and then see if any of the ideas can be converted into things you can try at work.
6. Open a dictionary and take any noun at random. Write down six attributes of that noun – so for tree you might write - root, branch, family, apple, trunk and tall. Then force some links between the word or its attributes and the problem in order to come up with fresh ideas. You will be surprised at how well this works – for individuals or in a group.
7. Draw a picture of the situation showing the people and the issues in simple cartoon style. Put it up on the wall and then imagine how the story could develop. Think of it as a cartoon strip. Many people’s brains work better in images than in words or numbers so this can lead to fantastic ideas.