The inaugural advisory board meeting of the global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council Africa will take place in Johannesburg tomorrow, bringing leading South African marketers together from most of the major banks, telecommunications providers and other key marketing companies together in one forum. Included are Happy Ntshingila (Absa); Santie Botha (MTN), Connie de Lange (DiData), Noah Greenhill (JSE), Sarah-Anne Orphanides (Standard Bank), Enzo Scarcella (Vodacom), Paul Appleton (Nando's) and Bizcommunity.com MD Robin Parker. As announced three months ago, Bizcommunity.com has partnered with the CMO to bring the influential network to Africa, and CMO founder Donovan Neale-May will be in the country to lead the first board meeting this week. The key theme at tomorrow's board meeting is growing the CMO Council in Africa. The CMO network includes more than 3500 senior marketing decision makers in 52 countries, controlling more than US$90 billion a year in annual marketing spend. The council focuses exclusively on intellectual capital building through continuous engagement, funding studies and thought-leadership programmes on relevant and critical challenges and issues facing senior marketing management. It aims to collaborate with all other marketing bodies and shape thought leadership in the industry in Africa. As an international, peer-powered affinity group, it is hoped that it will aid in elevating the industry to the professional heights it enjoyed before the dismal failure of the Marketing Federation of SA and the heights that marketing should enjoy in the boardroom.
Have a good week! Louise Marsland, editor: editor@bizcommunity.com. All marketing news to: marketingnews@bizcommunity.com. Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive or on our blog: http://blog.bizcommunity.com.