a)    Seeking and applying marketing best practice

identifying marketing and business driven learning needs and opportunities;  demonstrating openness to ideas, practices and learning from inside and outside the business;  systematically searching for and scanning sources of new marketing practices;  seeking opportunities to meet and learn from consumers, customers and competitors;  using knowledge management tools (e.g. IPM toolbox) to enhance decision making and action;  applying marketing best practice both as an individual and as a team leader;  establishing communities of practice for key marketing activities.

b)    Analysing and capturing learning

anticipating the potential learning to be gained from marketing projects and planned activities;  setting specific learning goals for post launch reviews, campaign  assessments, promotion evaluation, etc.;  distilling the lessons from market research findings;  building learning into market, pricing and campaign effectiveness  models; using techniques to translate experience into learning (e.g. story telling, case studies, visualisation); incorporating learning into own PDP;  capturing learning with knowledge management tools to (e.g. IPM learning, IPM toolbox, marketing databases);  being creative to capture qualitative, less tangible learning (e.g. video of presentations, meetings, electronic suggestion boards).

c)    Promoting and communicating learning

participating in ‘communities of interest’ to exchange and develop ideas and practices ;  contributing to and accessing category knowledge work (e.g. IPM and category databases); organising and running workshops to disseminate learning;  teaching on Marketing Academy events and programmes;  coaching, leading and promoting marketing learning;  contributing to Marketing Academy catalogue of case studies and good practice;  regularly communicating key lessons and insights to marketers and other professionals (within company and across businesses and categories).

d)    Experimenting to create new knowledge

encouraging calculated risk taking and learning from mistakes;  investigating, piloting and implementing new marketing tools and techniques;  selecting areas for ‘disciplined’ experimentation;   generating  the hypotheses to be tested;   setting up small-scale experiments to try out new ideas;  communicating  the results widely;  seeking challenge on own ideas and proposals;  finding and using alternative ways to recognise and celebrate learning.

Tasks:

·      Read the marketing press to pick up news of leading edge marketing techniques.

·      Set up sessions with marketeers in other categories to share ideas and experiences on key topics.

·      Check that learning objectives are built into any projects or activities you are involved in.

·      Take time to capture the lessons you pick up from your operational activities and share these with others.

·      Build in regular slots in the diary for coaching sessions between senior and junior managers.

·      Practice active listening in a meeting, especially when the topics are controversial or when you have a particularly strong view on a subject.

·      Create a plan of learning activities for yourself to address any knowledge or skill gaps you are concerned about.

·      Access the Marketing Academy website (http://marketingacademy.unilever.com) to find out about the full range of tools, materials and training opportunities available to you.

·      Make sure you tap in to the international Category network and intranets and the IPM database to exploit the ideas and knowledge available elsewhere in the world.

·      Attend meetings organised by your local professional marketing association.

·      Map your network of marketing contacts to see if there are any internal or external gaps.