Demystifying digital marketing

• Industry veterans share their insights

The CIM Future Marketers Conference 2013, organised by The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Sri Lanka Region and the student committee of CIM Sri Lanka was held on recently at the Grand Ballroom Galadari Hotel Colombo.

This year’s conference was held on the theme of ‘Digital marketing’ and brought together four renowned digital marketing experts to educate aspiring marketers on what digitisation is about and how marketers should develop themselves to be successful in today’s fast paced world.

Virtusa Corporation Senior Vice President and General Manager Madu Ratnayake, Google Sri Lanka Country Consultant Rohan Jayaweera, TRPC Singapore Director Dr. Peter Lovelock and Director, Microsoft Sri Lanka Platform Developer Evangelism Wellington Perera, were the speakers of the event.

The panellists of the event included; Digital Commerce Lanka Chief Marketing Officer Irfan Ahamed, Nations Trust Bank Consumer Finance Chief Manager Lewie Diasz, Strategy College Senior Lecturer Failan Saleem, Mobitel Sri Lanka BPO General Manager and The Knowledge Factory Director/Senior Lecturer G.S. Sylvester, Pan Audio Private Limited Marketing Director and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing Senior Lecturer Michael Ranasinghe who is also the Synergy School of Marketing Director/Senior Lecturer.

Madu Ratnayake shared many insights on ‘Effect of digitisation on the organisations eco system’ and spoke about the economic prospects of the millennial, commenting: “In 2025 almost 60% to 70% will be a millennial workforce.”

Rohan Jayaweera commenced his session on ‘Digitisation is not just facebook or twitter’ and explained that with the revolutionary change it is important to understand what social media is all about. Jayaweera explained that 23 billion users are online globally out of which one billion is in Asia that is a penetration of 26 %.

He further stated that, “In days ahead there will be an audience that cannot be captured through TV or Radio and as a marketer is it important to create more opportunities, as mobile search is leaping in high numbers in Sri Lanka.”

Dr. Peter Lovelock addressed the audience on ‘Change in consumer behaviour due to the use of digital media’. Speaking on the topic, Lovelock said, “More than 50% of the Asian users are influenced to make purchases based on social media usage and that while consumers love the idea of social media, corporates seems to dislike the attributes towards this modem.” Lovelock further shared the top five brands by country to the audience for a better understanding on the dominance created by specific brands.

Wellington Perera shared his thoughts on ‘Innovations and concepts around the world in the digital space their impact on a brand/organisation’. Perera spoke about the categories in digital innovation; social media, smart devices, online search, cloud computing and apps, and how people socialise in the present time and use new concepts in creating revenue. Perera also spoke of the array of opportunities that social media has created to build brand awareness.

The session with the panellists took the conference to an interactive platform combining both the audience and the panel. Rohan Jayaweera moderated the panel discussion and the esteemed panellists shared their viewpoints on digital marketing, bringing the conference to a conclusion.

Speaking of the conference, CIM Sri Lanka Chairperson Nadi Dharmasiri said: “The world we live in is a digital revolution. As technology keeps evolving it is important that we move forward with new developments and concepts around us. Our theme for this year’s student conference was based after careful consideration, as all of us believed that digital marketing is a timely topic that we need to educate our most important audience with, our students. I am sure that this conference was beneficial to our audience in enhancing their knowledge.”

Amal Fernando, Head of Education of CIM Sri Lanka Region speaking of the conference stated: “The success of last year brought us together in organizing the CIM Future Marketers Conference for the second consecutive year. The “next big thing” was entirely a different challenge to the team. But to my delight, every single member rose up to the challenge and delivered more than one hundred percent. I can confidently state that the future of Marketing is definitely in safe hands with emerging leaders of this caliber. The presence in such large numbers also demonstrated the commitment that corporates in Sri Lanka has on the discipline of marketing. We would continue with this flagship event of CIM, our intention is to bring out an even better conference in 2014”.

The CIM Sri Lanka Region is capped on the global map as the first and only region to organize an Annual Student Conference for CIM, aiming its students. The Student Committee Sri Lanka is the first and only CIM Student Committee formed globally under the CIM umbrella, thus far. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) UK is the world’s largest professional body for marketing, represented locally by The CIM Sri Lanka Region. CIM Sri Lanka strives to continuously support and uplift Sri Lanka’s marketing profession through education and a host of training and development initiatives.