A HOST of leading names in the marketing business shared their vision of the industry’s future during a major event at Bournemouth University.

The Mike Warne Marketing Communications Lecture takes place annually at the university, organised by final year students with the support of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

And the guest speakers all stressed the need to focus on the traditional fundamentals of marketing rather than just digital media.

Anne Godfrey, chief executive of the CIM, said of the event: “People in work know some great students come out of here and it’s good to come and give something back.”

She said her key message to students was: “It’s not all about digital.

“It’s a sexy word, it’s lovely to do, everybody loves social media and digital, but maybe just because you can do it, it doesn’t mean you should,” she said.

She emphasised the traditional values of having a good message and product – as well as the challenges of ‘doing more with less’ in the face of budget cuts.

Traditional avenues such as direct mail and newspapers still had a part to play, she said.

Sarah Bulling, product communications manager at LV=, graduated from Bournemouth in 2007. She spoke about innovations such as wearable technology – but stressed the importance of traditional marketing channels in their evolving forms.

“People get excited by new stuff but you can’t ignore the traditional stuff,” she said.

“Newspapers have a great part to play. Sky are about to launch Sky Adsmart. It will completely change the way people buy television.”

Con Gornell, executive vice president of European film marketing for Warner Bros, said: “Marketing hasn’t changed because the basic discipline and what you need to approach your task are still the same. You need to be able to ask yourself the same questions you were 20 years ago when I started in marketing.

“The fact that you’ve got a greater variety of ways to spend your money adds a degree of complexity but unless you identify what the task is in the first place, it’s going to be a waste of effort.”

Jonathan Fraser, global head of strategy and ideas at Holler, said it was a ‘crime’ that separate digital marketing agencies had existed.

He said their approach needed to be integrated with other marketing channels rather than treated as a ‘silo’. He said of Bournemouth’s graduates: “We judge people not just on where they’ve come from but their ability. However, every graduate we’ve had from Bournemouth, everybody we’ve put on work experience and everybody we’ve worked with that came from Bournemouth in my experience has been excellent.”

• Lecture attracts impressive speakers

THE Annual Mike Warne Marketing Communications Lecture takes place in front of hundreds of marketing practitioners, students and business professionals.

It is organised by final year marketing students at Bournemouth University, with the support of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Graham Goode, senior lecturer in marketing and communications, said: “Each year a team of around 12 final year marketing students from the marketing degree in the media school, step forward and say, ‘We’ll have a go at this’.

Something like this will give them an opportunity to hone their skills – planning and organisation, skills, communication skills, liaising with people, liaising with senior people here at the university.”

He said Bournemouth’s reputation in the industry helped attract speakers.

“Ninety-five per cent of students who graduated last year were in graduate level employment by the time they came for graduation in November,” he added.