Senior Brand Manager | Marketing & Brand Strategy | Brand Management | Brand Innovation | Visual Facilitation
Over the last few months, I have been taking the Marketing Week Mini MBA with Mark Ritson in Brand Management. It has meant some late nights, long walks listening to podcasts, and a realisation that I know my noodles: I know brand marketing. I cannot recommend this course highly enough if you work in brand management. But maybe I should start with explaining my, 'why'. Why did I do this? I have an education in marketing but it's a little dusty and was academic in it's nature - if I say that I wrote my dissertation on Twitter and the airline industry, when there was no-one really even talking about social media marketing, it will perhaps reflect how much industry has changed! So I wanted to get back to the fundamentals of good brand management. The other reason was, that I doubted myself. I kept wondering why everyone thought that I was now working in colours and logos and not marketing, driving growth, profit, revenue etc. It seemed that I had moved to the, 'fun, fluffy, department.' Whilst I love my job and have fun, I wanted to build brand equity not be known purely for what we do with our brand assets (and believe me I am acutely aware of how important these are!). I thought to myself, 'Wait, I know the how and why of brand campaign marketing. I know about long and short (mass vs target marketing).' Somehow I needed to get that self belief back. Hence to the mMBA. I didn't think online learning could be this good! But it's engaging and insightful. I read more in 4 months than I had in years. But not academic papers that I couldn't hope to use, but in real practical examples brought to life through Prof Ritsons engaging lectures. I found my confidence again, went back to my learning from years ago (and I am someone who prints and reads, old school I know but there we are!), realised I do know brand marketing and I am now armed with the right tools and language to translate what I know into meaningful actions at work. Finally, the course ends with a brand simulation, which I blew up in fantastic style! I am never confident with pricing and I made some terrible mistakes which ensured I dropped the share price of my fictional 'Sonite' brand. But what a way to learn, especially when the competitors in this particular market were vicious (AI plays a rough game!). So what next? I will continue to read and learn and I am tempted to do the Mini MBA in Management. Most importantly however, when I get in the office every day, I know I can fight for a brand that I truly believe in and I know how to build a strategy to make it grow, how many courses do that in 4 months? 😎
It’s such a brilliant course. I completed it a couple of years ago and have now recommended it to colleagues. For me it was practical, insightful and also excellent at showing me that I did know what I’m doing! I can also recommend the marketing course for all the same reasons 😊
It’s a banger of an offering isn’t it? Can’t wait to recommend it to colleagues and teams down the line!
Very nicely put. I found the course immensely energising. Personally think the course should be renamed RMBA to recognise Mark creating a course that’s so utterly distinct (and excellent).
I took the Mini MBA Marketing over a year ago. It has really propelled my capabilities and I really enjoy the course. I would recommend Mark Ritson’s courses to anyone interested in the subject matter.
Congratulations AJ🎉, I can’t wait to hear more about your learning📚
Amazing to read!! And with this pen you could only take notes that would be insightful :)
Congrats! It's such a great course, isn't it?
Mastering brand management is more than just colours and logos. It's about driving growth, profit, and building meaningful brand equity.
Brand management is an art that requires both knowledge and confidence. Your journey with the Marketing Week Mini MBA is inspiring and a testament to the importance of continuous learning. Kudos to you for investing in yourself and your craft! AJ de Montjoie - CMktr, MCIM
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1wSome really good takeaways including updating, reskilling, confidence building to name a few. I can't speak for this course but I'm a big believer in practical short term fast paced education over long and overly academic courses.