The Mavericks of
MarComm
A Quashspeak Series
Robb Lee
Chief Marketing and
Communications Officer, ASAE
As the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for ASAE,
Robb’s responsibilities include management of marketing, branding, Web site,
public relations, social media and Associations
Now, ASAE’s flagship publication. He has more than 20 years of experience
managing national and international multi-media branding, advertising and
public relations campaigns for products represented by organizations such as
Mitsubishi, GEICO, Post Cereals, Kraft/General Foods Coffees and government
clients such as The EPA. He has worked
at several top 10 advertising and public relations agencies.
WHAT DROVE YOU TO THIS INDUSTRY?
The creativity. While I was in journalism school at the
University of Kansas, this created a good pipeline to Madison Avenue. I discovered an attraction
to the business of advertising because of the creativity. Though I didn’t want
to do sales, I loved the idea of
sales.
WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT MARKETING / COMMUNICATIONS [MARCOMM] TODAY?
The opportunity to be wrong about something which means
there’s a better opportunity to be right. There is always the element of risk,
which eliminates boredom and I don’t want to be bored.
WHAT TRENDS DO YOU SEE?
I can name a bunch of trends, but what I see is that distraction
breeds mediocrity. Our industry seems compelled to ask ‘what’s the next thing
we should try and include to achieve results?’ But we need to remember
outcome-based decision making. If we get too caught up in trends, we will get
distracted from the outcomes we need to achieve.
WHAT BRANDS ARE DOING IT RIGHT?
IBM. GE. Both have held on to their legacies by remaking themselves
through content marketing to different generations and on to different issues,
that have proven useful for their brands to advance.
WHAT MISTAKES DO YOU STILL SEE?
Not taking ownership and responsibility for the business
results. In order for marketing and communications professionals to contribute
to sustainability, we need to focus on business results. We need to remind
ourselves that great creative will back up the data you have. Using strategic sound judgment – that doesn’t
go away.
ONE THING THAT PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU?
I have a calm demeanor but I’m very unsettled and can be
impatient, but I don’t show that often.
WHAT APP DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Zite. It’s a great aggregator
of content.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR APPROACH TO MARCOMM?
I always want to ask the question, ‘why are we doing
something?’ rather than ‘how?’ I’d like to focus on what are we trying to achieve, not what path
we’d take to get there.
© 2014. Tom Quash
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