Competitive advantage for life: an industry view of marketing communication education

ABSTRACTA competitive advantage is the desired outcome of a sound marketing communication strategy. However, there are scant explorations of how marketing communication education can build competitive advantages for students entering the workforce. Taking an industry perspective, a leading CEO reflects upon marketing communication practice and raises questions about disciplinary changes in practice and the necessary response of marketing communication education. We explore these questions and derive insights through a literature review which assembles existing research in marketing communication education, and we explore these insights further using Collective Intelligence. Thought leaders in the marketing communication industry interact and share ideas, revealing key insights into necessary skill sets. The paper concludes with a discussion of marketing communication education and its competitive advantage for both work and life.KEYWORDS: Marketing communicationUniversity educationindustry employabilityCollective intelligenceindustry perspective Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsGayle KerrGayle Kerr passion for advertising began as a copywriter working in the industry for more than a decade. She shifted from writing advertising to researching and teaching it as a Professor in the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at QUT. Gayle’s PhD was first in Australia in the field of IMC and her work in teaching, research and industry engagement was recognized with the inaugural Don Schultz Award for Innovation in IMC Teaching, Research and Practice 2022. Gayle has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and conference papers on creativity, digital media, advertising and IMC. She was the founding President of the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Advertising and served on the Executive of the American Academy of Advertising. She is also Deputy Editor of the Journal of Marketing Communications.Ian LingsIan Lings is Professor of Marketing and Head of the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations at the QUT Business School, Brisbane. His research on “firm – employee – customer” interfaces has been published in a range of journals. Ian co-authored the research focussed, Sage title: “Doing Business Research: A Guide to Theory and Practice”. Ian authored the seminal article on Internal Market Orientation (IMO), synthesising knowledge from the fields of operations management, human resources management, psychology and marketing to develop a model describing the physical and socio-emotional processes of service delivery. He developed, validated, and subsequently published the first measure of IMO. This measure has been adopted internationally and applied by a number of teams to new organisational contexts. He has undertaken research for a range of clients in differing industries and across different countries. Ian has led or contributed to a range of industry and government funded research projects including projects for the Australian Centre for Research Collaboration in Rail, involving researcher from several universities and representatives from organisations in the Australian rail industry and a large Australian Research Council Linkage project.Leigh TerryLeigh Terry is a highly-regarded media operator whose career has spanned Europe and APAC. A digital innovator at the forefront of the media industry, Leigh understands the significant impact technological advancement has on both the consumer and industry at large; and harnesses that information to guide his clients across the region. Having first entered the industry in account management and traditional media planning roles, Leigh was responsible for launching OMD Digital in the UK in 2000. In 2004, he set up OMD's Direct and Data offering while retaining overall responsibility for Digital. He moved to OMD Australia in October 2005 as Executive Director of OMD Digital and became Managing Partner in October 2006. In February 2011, Leigh was promoted to CEO Omnicom Media Group ANZ; charged with the leadership of all assets across Australia and New Zealand. In January 2017, Leigh joined the IPG Mediabrands network, where he is responsible for leading the 14 markets and 5,000+ people across the region. Passionate about technology and its impact on consumers and the advertising industry, Leigh is an inaugural Visiting Fellow in the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, QUT School of Business at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.Jef RichardsJef Richards Having previously served as department Chair of the two largest and most influential university advertising programs in the United States, the University of Texas and Michigan State University, he is author or co-author of more than 100 published books, book chapters, and articles about advertising, marketing, or communications. He is on the Advisory Council of the Institute for Advertising Ethics, on the Board of Directors for the ANA Educational Foundation, and has served as a Panel Member for the National Advertising Review Board of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council. He serves, or has served, on the Editorial Review Boards of 9 different research journals. He is former President of the American Academy of Advertising, a named Fellow of that organization, as well as a recipient of its prestigious Ivan L. Preston Outstanding Contribution to Research Award and its Billy I. Ross Advertising Education Award. He was the Inaugural Inductee into the Rowan University Advertising Hall of Fame.Bruce MuirheadBruce Muirhead is an accomplished academic and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in building partnerships between the public and private sectors, focusing on economic, public, and social innovation. He is the Founding CEO of Mindhive, a global collective intelligence platform, and ecosystem of over 14,000 thought leaders and partners dedicated to developing ideas through collaboration to improve public interest's economic and social outcomes. Prior to Mindhive, Bruce established and led the Eidos Institute, a public policy think tank that focused on research-informed human capital, productivity, and wellbeing policy. Bruce has a solid international academic network and has presented over 50 academic and seminar conference papers, published 42 public policy reports, and prepared 29 published articles. He has also led 35 past, current, and submitted multidisciplinary and applied projects totalling over $50M. Bruce's recognition as an internationally respected applied academic is evident by his adjunct professorial position at Griffith University and invitations to speak at international conferences in the USA, South Africa, and the UK. He has led more than $40M in research and development projects in Australia, Asia, Africa, UK, Europe, and the Middle East.