Having worked in marketing and advertising for 30 years, Imelda believes that adaptability to change is the key to a marketer’s success. As a consultant, she keeps up with the immediacy of communication, new interactive technologies but holds strong to the fundamental principles of marketing, such as avoiding an ADD culture.
Imelda Gott
Marketing & Advertising Consultant and Contractor
What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
Greatest skill a good marketing professional requires?
Adaptability to change—in the market and even in the client.
What's the recent "it" marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and the marketplace?
The recent phrase that resulted in a huge change in the company for which I work is “Move the Dot.” After being on vacation, I heard a co-worker discussing a very expensive presentation that was made to our top executives. The premise was that you wanted to do whatever was necessary to “move the dot” and make people want to buy your product. It really didn’t resonate, since the company is an energy wholesaler. All the business units were to operate as independent businesses, and I couldn’t really figure out how this would impact sales—until I realized that the “product” was not what the business units were producing—the excutives were going to sell the company. Four months later, the company is now in the process of a merger.
There have been fads in the marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
The immediacy of communication. While this has been building since the mid 1990s, with the growth of sophicated smaller devices with huge storage in the past couple of years, marketing has really changed. While this has tremendous advantages, I think that sometimes the creative process suffers from the standpoint of actually having enough time to develop concepts and ideas.
What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of Marketing specialty?
Reacting immediately: While sometimes our best idea is the first that comes to us, it is essential to think a few steps ahead and consider alternatives.
What's an immediate hurdle in the marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or business?
Actually I see two: Anonimity and our ADD culture. Although as marketers we attempt to create a personality in our communications, where is the person or people behind the message? For success, I think there must be the overture at least to a two-way communication. The other is the expectation by many audiences that five seconds is enough to convey the message.
Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
They do it all the time. I love to see the best commercials from other cultures—the humanity of comedy, the beauty of a country I’ve never been to. Clothing designers have done this for centuries. Globalization works, and there is no avoiding it. But there must be a local approach, something that says there is integrity in the product.
Best piece of advice you have received professional or personally?
“There’s perfect and there’s commercially acceptable.” This was told to me by a printer when I was really just starting in my career. Striving for perfection is great, but don’t be like one of those priests pacticed self-flagtion. Go on to the next project.
Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
An Interior Designer.
To Tweet or not to Tweet? Fad or here to stay?
I don’t tweet, but that is not to say that it’s not here to stay. I might tweet later. I might start tweeting next week—if I find something I can’t get any other way. It will be around for a while, but it might just end up the equivalent of a landline phone in a few years. Who knows?
Is Marketing an art or science?
I think that it’s both. The soul of the artist has to compete with the soul of the machine, but that is what makes marketing such an interesting field. Someone will think of the most creative way to present an idea, and it may also encompass reaching people with a very old marketing technique. Look at the Apple stores: the most innovative products using pure point of purchase to reach customers.
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