Uniting Minds and Functions in 2024

4 forums, 3 markets, 1 topic

That’s why we created Forum Connect: an opportunity for these communities to work with counterparts in other forums, without losing the value of peer-to-peer learning.

The model is simple but effective: four forums (CMO, Media, Insight and Sourcing) in three regions (Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America), but with just one topic. In 2024, Forum Connect was all about better global marketing integration.

Integration… Not the sexiest topic for an event? Perhaps not. But for brand owners facing new, agile, competition and coming to terms with new technologies, this ‘evergreen’ topic has come sharply back into focus. It’s also critical for organisations if they are to deliver sustainable brand growth, worldwide.

However, to be frank, it’s still not something we’re doing too well at, as polls in Amsterdam, Singapore and New York told us. Apart from the dubious claims by 1% in each city to have achieved ‘alignment nirvana’, pretty much everyone knows there’s much to be done.

So what?

Each forum, in each market, tackled the same topic in their own way. But each were charged with identifying solutions from their sessions to ‘show and tell’ the other functions in the main plenary. These were then explored in more detail thanks to our brave ‘champions’ representing each community.

Across the three events we identified key areas of common ground with potential for actions that can deliver better integration.

Shared goals

As a discipline which bridges many areas of marketing, our sourcing colleagues were especially adept in explaining this point. In Amsterdam they urged everyone to “build teams around business objectives” and in Singapore called for “shared measurable KPIs that foster integrated behaviours”. CMOs at the same event in Singapore felt it was about the “value equation - aligning our vision for company growth”. Again, in Singapore, members of our media forum called for everyone to “identify shared language and KPIs. [because] complexity is the enemy of integration”.

Better internal communication

Internal communication came up in all our events but never more so than in Amsterdam, where our CMOs shared that we need to “listen! Have honest, open conversations with an enterprise mindset.”

Insights colleagues at the same event, urged their peers to “kiss and tell… keep it simple and tell the story to your colleagues”. Only last week in New York, our CMOs echoed these points, deciding to focus on “promoting better internal storytelling – make it more engaging for your teams”

Soft skills and empathy

Staying in New York, those same CMOs focused on the importance of soft skills for better integration, exploring the need to “improve the soft power of personal influence”. At the same event, Insights colleagues, typically known as an empathic function, sought to “find our champions and allies”. Media colleagues in Amsterdam advocated for a “need to focus on learning. But also 'unlearning' old practices that frustrate integration”. Finally, sourcing colleagues in Singapore sought to develop an “open and empathetic approach towards mutual understanding of ambitions and pain points”.

“A case study in global industry integration”

The goal of these sessions was to inspire action. Whether at a macro, industry, level or through micro changes, which will, of course, differ from company to company. That member value was recognised in the amazing attendance across all three cities and via superb feedback from our members.

The commonality in all three events was people with the right attitude – a willingness to change and improve. Perhaps ironically, nobody did a better job of putting that integration into action than the WFA team. Four distinct areas of focus bringing together their stakeholders in a dynamic setting in three corners of the world.

You probably know, or have heard of, our colleagues who take credit for this; Matt Green, Tom Ashby, Laura Forcetti, Alice Tomlinson, Ioana Danila, Julia Kraft and Brenna Brandes, alongside Hanne van de Ven, Joel Gan and Amparo Gomez.

We all have stages in our career when we work with people who care. Not just about themselves, but about the success of others around them. AI may, as predicted by some, help us achieve better integration but, in the end, success always comes down to working with people who share the empathy and talent to succeed together.