This post was written by Chad Merchant
 

IF YOU THOUGHT MARKETING WAS ONLY ABOUT ADVERTISING AND SALES, MEET DR. MARCELINE LEMARIÉ, A VISIONARY CEO WHOSE PASSION AND DRIVE MAKES HER THE PERFECT CHOICE TO SPEARHEAD THE WORLD MARKETING SUMMIT 2013 IN MALAYSIA. YOU MAY NEVER LOOK AT MARKETING THE SAME WAY AGAIN.

As Malaysia continues to make strides on the global stage, the latest feather in its cap was submitting the winning bid to host the World Marketing Summit (WMS) in 2013, beating out India, Qatar, Mauritius, and heavyweight China. Having been honoured with the selection, the task turned quickly to finding an organising chairman. That search came to an end with the appointment of Dr. Marceline Lemarié, the Group CEO and Head of Business Development Asia Pacific of Katchi Group Sdn Bhd. The Expat sat down with Marceline and discussed her passion for the goals set out by the WMS and how the event is set to achieve its stated goal of “creating a better world through marketing.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

That tagline might raise a few eyebrows. How can marketing help improve the world? If you think of marketing as little more than ad sales, then perhaps it can’t. But, Marceline pointed out, marketing is much more. She named Melinda Gates as a well-known example. “She’s a brand unto herself now, but more than that, she’s a game-changer.” Marceline spoke of Gates’ much-lauded foundation, which does so much admirable work in impoverished and disease-wracked countries. “Sure, the Gates have money,” she explained, “but they didn’t have to choose to give it away like they’re doing. And through marketing, people know about the efforts being made, and then decide to contribute on their own. Melinda becomes a catalyst and marketing enables her to expand her efforts beyond what she could ever accomplish on her own.”

Marceline is a fierce advocate for gender equality, too, and spoke briefly about some of the challenges of being a female CEO in Malaysia. French by birth and raised in the south of that country, Marceline has earned a Ph.D. in Strategy and Marketing as well as an MBA in Finance and Strategy. She has helmed various companies and won awards for her excellence and leadership. She says that Malaysia has made strides in gender equality, and hopes that the playing field here will become increasingly level in the future.

A VISION FOR A BETTER WORLD

So what does the WMS hope to accomplish, and what does Marceline see as some of the key points to emphasise? She gives an example of her vision for explaining the importance of marketing to create a better world.

“We can effectively use marketing to improve health in underdeveloped countries. Consider Bangladesh and the link between vitamin deficiency and poor bone growth and development. It’s a simple fix: drink more milk, especially when young. But how do you get that message to the people there, many of whom are illiterate? Marketing. And once you develop this platform and implement the marketing effectively, the United Nations can use it as a blueprint. They can create guidelines for educating illiterate people in other undeveloped countries and improve their health and quality of life.”

Marceline went on, “Marketing is really about people connecting with each other. It’s the most powerful tool we have if it’s well-executed. And we want to encourage companies to use marketing effectively and efficiently. But beyond that, we want to encourage them to be good companies, to be good stewards of their environmental and human capital, and to use marketing to achieve worthwhile and noble goals. We truly believe that companies who do this will be profitable, as well.”

The WMS has embraced the eight United Nations-named millennium development goals (MDGs), all of which focus on the global needs of today and transcend so-called CSR initiatives, seeking to really transform corporate and personal change by integrating marketing tools to generate and sustain profits in a socially responsible way. The MDGs encompass such noble goals as Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger, Reducing Child Mortality Rates, Combatting HIV/AIDS and Malaria, Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women, and Ensuring Environmental Sustainability, among others.

AN UNMISSABLE EVENT

These ambitious goals are underpinned by what will be a truly a global event, with over 2,500 delegates from five continents expected to be in attendance at the WMS in 2013. Keynote speakers from all over the world, including such luminaries as Prof. Philip Kotler from the esteemed Kellogg School of Management, the aforementioned Melinda Gates, Dr. Deepak Chopra, Nobel Prize-winning Dr. Luc Montagnier, and Malaysia’s own Prof. Dato’ Jimmy Choo OBE are among those slated to appear.

Marceline explained that the WMS showcases the power of marketing as a tool to address these global needs and to do so through both personal and corporate channels, all driven by marketing efforts. She explained that one of the goals of the WMS is to elevate marketing from a corporate tool used solely to drive sales and profits to a social equalizer, a method whereby profits can be generated through social responsibility. Another aim is to create and sustain a global alliance in which the best minds from the corporate realm work together with the public sector to translate marketing ideas and solutions for profitability into addressing and improving real-world socioeconomic problems.

With a scope like this, it’s clear that marketing can and does transcend being a mere sales platform. It can drive social responsibility, improve lives, and effect meaningful change worldwide. Malaysia can be proud of winning bid to host this auspicious global event, and 2013 will be a big year for the country.

Marceline and her capable team are well-suited to the task at hand and look forward to putting forth a truly successful and productive summit. She wraps up: “It’s a call to arms for corporations to be better, to do better. We believe that good companies are profitable companies and look forward to seeing the World Marketing Summit here in Malaysia. We just feel that it’s a very natural evolution for companies – and people – to continually better themselves and to look for solutions. That’s what this is about, and we’re going to showcase how marketing can lead the way.”

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Source: The Expat October 2012
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