Marketers Unite

While most of you were out enjoying the beautiful weather this past weekend, I was basking in the warm glow of companionship and creativity at the annual American Marketing Association'sLeadership Summit in Chicago. It's a chance for AMA Chapter leaders to begin planning their program year. Since I will be President of the 450 member Cincinnati Chapter starting this fall (officially July), much of the initiative in that planning falls upon me. The conference takes on a different feel every year. This year's theme centered on espioniage and was entitled Mission Possible. One of the highlights was a presentation by the International Spy Museum's Chief Operating Officer Paul Bosch who talked about the facility and its more than 9,000 artifacts. While the Museum has its creative roots in Cleveland, the Museum was placed in Washington DC for obvious reasons (spying and politics do go hand in hand, you know). I'm not sure how you coorelate spying and marketing, but it got me to thinking that there is an element of cloak and dagger in securing and maintaining customers. Both spying and marketing require a great deal of background work (research). Secret agents and CMOs also need to remember who their customers are. And each must develop a level of consistency and meeting current expectations while anticipating future needs.