Last Wednesday we welcomed a very elite and distinguished set of speakers to our school for a panel discussion about "Emerging Trends and Challenges in Marketing and Consulting". The event was organized by Prof. Sriram Venkatraman, Assistant Professor of Marketing.

[caption id="attachment_78" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Prof. Venkataraman introducing the guests"][/caption]

Most panel discussions at any level are well attended; however, just from a glance at the panel list we guessed there would be no empty spaces in the room, and the students didn't disappoint. The hall was packed and it turned out to be an exciting evening. We welcomed Marc Mathieu, Ex-CMO / SVP Global Marketing of The Coca-Cola Company; Stan Sthanunathan, Vice President - Knowledge & Insights of The Coca-Cola Company; Tad Hutcheson , Global Vice President of Marketing and Sales of AirTran Airways; and Yasir Mirza, Principal at McKinsey and Company, Inc. and an alum of Goizueta 2001 Class. The discussion was very interactive, and panelists and students engaged in an open discussion throughout the evening.

[caption id="attachment_77" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="From Left to Right - Yasir Mirza, Tad Hutcheson, Stan Sthanunathan, Marc Mathieu"][/caption]

Among other things, the panelist talked about the various challenges that marketers are facing in this economy. Mark kicked off the discussion with his vision of bringing happiness to the people through a consistent brand message that relates to everyone and is relevant with time. Stan added his perspective by reminding us that the firms should try to build better products by not only listening to the customer’s needs, but also by taking the customers to a new space. He quoted the famous Henry Ford remark “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses," and stressed on the fact that the managers have to balance between listening to customer insights (Stan defined Insights as something which is retrospectively self-evident) and envisioning a radical new useful product which was never imagined by others.

[caption id="attachment_79" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mark Mathieu"][/caption]

Then the discussion moved onto the need of bringing in consultants and Tad reminded everybody the different perspectives and talents that consultants bring into a business setting which adds a sense of objectivity and pushes everyone to work together to solve complex business problems.

Regardig the effect of downturn in economy on marketing, the panel highlighted the need of micro-market management, and the rationale behind cutting non-consumer facing expenses. Stan also pointed to a very common mistake and its perils made by many firms, which is to stop talking to the customer to cut costs during these tight economies.

Then we changed the mood of the evening to some retrospection by making the panelists travel back to their b-school days and asking what they would’ve done differently knowing what they know today. The theme of their responses was always wrapped around the behavioral aspects of our learning, such as empathy, need of sustainable energy to drive social responsibility and creativity, and the drive towards building a social enterprise (I’m glad that we at Goizueta have already laid out the foundations of learning about the social enterprise). The take-away from that discussion was the need to enjoy and interact with others as much as possible while still challenging everyone to maintain high academic standards.

Finally we ended the session with Q&A.

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