World Marketing Summit Malaysia 2013: A better world through marketing

Tuesday, 13 August 2013 00:03 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

With the aim of elevating marketing from a corporate profit tool to a social equaliser that will deliver through a global stratagem and its promise of ‘Creating a Better World Through Marketing’, the World Marketing Summit Malaysia 2013 will take place from 28 September 2013 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) and is set to attract 2,500 delegates from around the globe. Having already registered delegates from five continents, the 3-day international summit will make its debut in Malaysia following its inaugural session in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2012. Dr. Marceline Lemarie, Chairperson of World Marketing Summit Malaysia 2013 (WMSM2013) said, “The underlying insight is that every company wants to effect a change but they don’t know how to do it without hurting their profitability.’’ ‘‘This summit is not just a melting pot of ideas, it is a case study exploration that will share how companies have incorporated elements of social purpose into their businesses and made a difference to the world, not only without negatively impacting revenue but in a lot of cases, actually growing revenue,” she added. Istiqaama, a boutique PR agency in Sri Lanka comes on board as Supporting Communications Agency for WMSM 2013. Thanzyl Thajudeen, Founder of Istiqaama said, “We are delighted to be associated with the summit, knowing that World Marketing Summit Malaysia 2013 is taking active strides to achieve the UN’s 8 Millennium Development Goals by the targeted year of 2015. ‘‘This will be a great platform for us to demonstrate our support toward creating a better world and will significantly transform the way we address global issues. We hope to see much enthusiasm and participation from Sri Lanka especially where marketing can play a major role in the country’s economic and social developments, and eventually contributing to the global landscape,” he added. In a world where consumer activism is playing a greater part in operations and marketing, one fact is apparent, consumers don’t mind their brands, products and purchases making money but they want them to do more and are even willing to pay more if they know their spend will make an absolute difference. The underlying premise of the WMSM2013 is that with a unified approach and a collective agreement from big industry, big FMCG and SMEs alike, the 8 Millennium Development Goals that were thought unattainable by 2015 can actually become a reality. “While yes it is true, we have come a long way in our global journey to address problems like poverty for example; there is still a long way to go. In 1990, 1.98 million people lived below the poverty threshold whereas in 2010, that number dropped to 1.215 million people. In 2012/ 2013, the UNDP’s total expenditure to address the issues related to the MDGs amounting to US$ 4.1 million, with a percentage of that earmarked for sustainable poverty eradication measures. In comparison, the top ten companies in the world declared profits of US$ 318.9 billion. WMSM2013 is the essential forum that says come, share, learn and implement proven best-practices that drive profitability and saves 8 billion futures.”

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