Marketing Strategists Are Underappreciated
I have discovered the most coveted position in marketing in the next 20 years. Yes, it is a job of a strategic planner. Here is why.
The Czech market is suffering from a lack of decent strategists in marketing departments and in agencies. Consider this. Every account at the London branch of Ogilvy has its own strategic planner, while the Czech division of Ogilvy has merely two planners working for the whole agency. I would like to point out that the amount of planners in the Czech Republic does not go over 20. I also dare to speculate that there are as less as ten. This is like having one airbag in every twelfth car manufactured.
If you look at the situation on the client side, you will see almost no differences. The major players have got strategy departments but they are mostly occupied by former marketers or finance professionals who have only a vague idea of what their role is within the organisational ecosystem.
According to Tomas Mrkvicka, Strategic Planner of Ogilvy Group in the Czech Republic, the level of strategic planning as a discipline is still not comparable to the Western markets.
“Clients keep spending only the bare minimum on strategic planning, instead of investing into this discipline properly. That is a perfect prerequisite for unsatisfactory quality of advice they receive. Only few firms stand out and provide high-quality counsel for the money they get in return.”
The lack of quality personnel allows for stagnation and hinders the development of the market. A Czech soon-to-be-reformed educational system is not helping the situation either. What’s the problem? There aren’t many people who have what it takes to become strategists. Insufficient awareness about the profession of a strategist, less than ideal role models and lack of skills are making this situation nigh impossible to resolve without radical changes. To narrow down the problem, what exactly are the skills of a good strategist? Sticking to “show, not tell” approach, here are more experienced people to shed light on the issue of a proper skill set.
In addition, the good planner should be proficient in the following skills of critical thinking, analytical interpretation of data as well as see the big picture. According to Marek Baco, failure in one of those skills can mean a death trap to the aspiring planner. I would go even further. Consider that the American and British businessmen who want to go into strategic planning study military history, have an increased workload of case studies and look at creativity from different angles (e.g. do a course in playwriting or poetry). All this is complemented by rigorous training in critical thinking and statistical analysis.
The future looks pretty bright for the young professionals and aspiring strategists. Those who will start building up these skills will be far ahead of the curve and the companies will notice them as one of the first people they will look for. On the other hand, it is up to the employers to determine the worth of a planner. Until there are more tolerant CEOs, who recognise the value of long-term planning, chances of the young aspirants are going to be as low as it is now.
A chicken and egg situation? No, we can change the status quo and start promoting the strategists as professionals with unique set of skills and attitudes who know what they are doing. Maybe you will be one of them too and establish the new marketing elite…
