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Our second initiative would be to engage students while they are still in school. This is done through our ‘Marketing Rocks’ campaign which originally began as a seminar for fifty schools and has now taken on a life of its own which showcases the ‘fun’ element of marketing with a competitive edge. This year a hundred schools will take part in our Marketing Rocks campaign.
We have harnessed our relationship with our existing Alumni to provide knowledge and experience to their much younger counterparts. We believe this is the only marketing forum to date which offers an opportunity to share knowledge and to guide the younger workforce. This value addition has served to grow our numbers significantly. We currently enrol 4,000 students per annum.
SLIM has begun creating an online knowledge sharing hub which is still in its embryonic stage. This is an online portal through which marketing professionals can engage in knowledge sharing and improve their knowledge through the vast amounts of information found through this site. The portal will also enable professionals abroad to contribute and benefit alike.
Furthermore, we have continued to maintain a rewards and recognition mechanism. SLIM’s flagship event is the ‘SLIM Brand Excellence Awards’ which is held annually and is one of the most prestigious events in the marketing calendar. The ‘Peoples Awards’ is held in association with AC Nielsen and is a program that identifies and felicitates the most popular brands in the country and the National Sales Congress (NASCO) which recognises the excellence in the sales discipline and rewards professionals for their expertise and achievements.
An integral component of our growth strategy is to upgrade and expand our facilities and footprint. We have invested in a new Business School in Colombo and have already purchased land in Kandy.
Q: How do you think SLIM adds value to the student experience?
A: The interaction between our students, faculty and staff is a close one; you can say they are intertwined. In the past our educational programs used to be more exam-based. This has changed to give way to more practical and assignment based learning which allows the student to gain valuable industry exposure as they are able to interact with experts in the field. The new system allows for a more comprehensive preparation for the workplace.
Furthermore, we have introduced the Preliminary Certificate in Marketing online. This will allow students to study at home at their convenience. This is the first step in introducing courses online. If this succeeds we look to expand it into our other programs.
Q: Are you planning on working with any of the universities?
A: Currently, we are working with one of the universities. SLIM and the university are trying to bridge the gap that exists between the industry and the undergraduate. This enables SLIM to infuse marketing know-how and later grant exemptions on preliminary qualification levels for achieving undergraduates while the university conducts the programs and involves us in their research projects.
Q: How does SLIM add value to the marketing community?
A: SLIM hosts a number of high profile events throughout the year. Our Peoples Award Event is organised in partnership with AC Nielsen. The awards given are differentiated by the fact that they are presented to those individuals nominated by the public. Therefore, SLIM and AC Nielsen set out to capture the public’s nominated favourites in the fields of personality, brand, company, advertisement, film, teledramas and song.
Our other award scheme is through NASCO which recognises excellence in the field of sales. The SLIM Brand Excellence Awards scheme celebrates brand excellence at a national level and the Effie Awards recognises the most effective advertising efforts that have profited their brands well. The Effies began in 1968 under the American Marketing Association.
To provide value enhancement to our fellow marketers we are affiliated to the Insurance Association of Sri Lanka. Together with them we have introduced Insurance Marketing. Although the program isn’t mandatory it adds value to a marketer’s career. 
Furthermore, we have tied up with the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) to introduce a program in Pharmaceutical Marketing. In this instance medical representatives and anyone else seeking employment in the pharmaceutical industry will be required to follow this program. In both instances the course content has been structured using fundamental marketing and respective course content. SLIM provides an MBA program in affiliation with Buckinghamshire New University, UK and the SLIM Toastmasters Club is a young association which won the ‘Golden Gavel’ trophy in India. Furthermore, SLIM has continued to conduct ‘Speech Idol’ which affords marketers the opportunity to fine tune their oratory skills against each other.
All of these initiatives add value to the marketing community and helps the profession grow and develop. This also helps SLIM grow and develop its own membership.
Q: What is SLIM’s role in national issues such as country branding, country image building and bringing the role of marketing into the boardroom?
A: SLIM’s engagement with both local and foreign entities such as the IAA, 4As, CIM and the American Marketing Association (AMA) allows it to offer its members a vast database of learning and services which are invaluable for their future development.
SLIM is part of the Asian Marketing Federation (AMF) whose President is Takuya Goto. SLIM is acknowledged as one of the leading bodies which is a vindication of its standing in the international marketing community. Due to this we were able to market Sri Lanka after the war by conveying to our fellow members about the investment opportunities available within the country.
Q: Any CSR initiatives?
A: ‘Gamata Marketing’ began a few years ago in response to the situation where some of our indigenous arts and crafts were flailing due to various factors. One reason being the lack of focus, knowing what consumers want and need.
We brought together two entities, the Art and Design Faculty of the University of Moratuwa and the entrepreneur and defined a way for them to revive their cottage industry and thereby sustain their business. So far we have assisted cane weavers of Wewaldeniya and bamboo weavers in Kuruwita and Yatiyantota.
Furthermore, we worked with the National Inventors’ Commission by bringing innovators and marketers together to explore the various ways in which they could obtain the recognition they deserved for their work.
- Pic by Upul Abayasekara
