CIM Annual Conference ends in grand success

The 12th Annual Conference of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Sri Lanka Region ended in grand success, helping Sri Lankan marketers to prepare their best defence to face challenging times.

The conference was inaugurated by Attorney General Palitha Fernando on Monday 13 August while the technical sessions were held on Tuesday 14 August 2012 at Waters Edge, Battaramulla. Over 350 participants from diverse industries representing sales, marketing, packaging, finance and operations were in attendance.  

This year’s conference was hosted with the aim of assisting marketers to rise to the financial and ethical challenges in 2012 and beyond and to win in competitive environments by instigating the right marketing strategies.

The theme ‘Thrive with Lean, Mean and Clean Marketing’ was deliberated and discussed in two sessions, featuring in-depth case studies, practical insights and techniques by seven renowned speakers, who demonstrated to the audience on how marketing can improve the bottom line and help businesses grow in the most challenging times. The speakers also discussed how employees would require a broader skill set to succeed in marketing as the global crisis continues.

The conference commenced with a keynote address on ‘Marketing in a Changing Landscape: The Future’ by renowned speaker and marketing expert Dr. Hermawan Kartajaya, President – World Marketing Association, Indonesia.

This was followed by the Founder and CEO of Mark Plus Inc. and Co-founder of the Russian leading publishing house Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, Dr. Igor Mann who spoke on ‘Marketing with Zero Budgets’.

Lawrence Chong, Chief Executive Officer of Consulus and President, Design Business Chamber Singapore presentation who spoke on ‘How to Create Successful Asian Brands by Challenging the Convention’ was accepted with much enthusiasm, while Prof. Uditha Liyanage, Director Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) whose model of ‘From CSR to SRB’ was an eye opener for many.

Shiraz Latiff, Trustee of The Chartered Institute of Marketing UK and Chairman/Managing Director of Humming Bird International presented a paper on ‘New Media Shaping New Markets,’ while Sunil K. Alagh, Chairman, SKA Advisors Business Strategy and Marketing Consultant offered tips on ‘How to Create Market Demand in a Recession’.

Uchita de Zoysa, Chairman Global Sustainability Solutions (GLOSS) and author, activist and leader shaping the Global Sustainability Movement ended the conference with his very intense and thought-provoking presentation on ‘Marketers’ Role in Creating Global Sustainability’.

The morning panel discussions were moderated by Rohantha Athukorala, Head of National Portfolio Development, United Nations (UNOPS) and Ravi Jayawardena, Chief Executive Officer Sales and Marketing, Maliban Biscuit Manufacturing (Pvt) Ltd. took over the evening session.

For the 10th consecutive year, Sri Lanka Telecom partnered with CIM as the main sponsor of the Conference. The other sponsors of the event were as follows:

Silver Sponsors: Brandix, Sampath Bank and Singer Sri Lanka; Bronze Sponsor: Sri Lanka Insurance, Corporate Sponsors: Imperial Institute of Higher Education and Pan Audio; Official Airline Partner: SriLankan Airlines; Communication Partner: Sarva Integrated; Sponsors: Mydeal.lk and Zillione Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd.; and Official Mobile Partner: Zmessenger.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the world’s largest and most prestigious professional body for marketing, with over 60,000 members world-wide. The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka region is the fastest growing CIM body, with approximately 1,080 members and almost 3,000 student members in Sri Lanka alone.